Ted at Signal-to-noise posted about Sam Houston State University (SHSU) switching to Asterisk IP PBXes from Nortel PBXes. They have also moved 1600 IP phones from Cisco CallManager to Asterisk. They've set up a redundant system with multiple Dell servers. Sounds exciting; other universities could certainly save money following suit - maybe even pass on the savings in terms of tuition rate reductions. Just as long as they choose wisely and don't get hosed on poor choices. Years ago, the university I attended was somehow persuaded to buy the Rolm telephony system when it was already outdated. Later, when I worked at a giant telecom company, an insider told me how the sales guys (from elsewhere) had laughed afterwards about how they snowed the university on the Rolm system.

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Call quality issues for VoIP is getting attention from some of the biggies in the industry. Apparent Networks and Nortel Networks have signed a deal to look into quality issues. One project will result in software which Nortel intends to embed in their VoIP products. With such software system users will be able to trace the source of potential quality problems. [via eWeek] The premise is that call quality is subject to many factors, and not necessarily caused by faulty VoIP hardware. Since Nortel is a hardware vendor, such software would help them remotely track customer problems and thus both reduce support costs and result in happier customers sooner.

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An old joke amongst men in the 1970s and 1980s was that they subscribed to Playboy magazine "for the articles." Well, men may be saying the same thing in this decade about Penthouse Media Group's new content for mobile devices, which will include text, games, audio, and of course images and video clip. Is that fly on the (wind)screen, or are you just happy to see me? [source: Cellullar News] Of course, judging by past success with per-minute adult calling services, the real money will probably come from similar adult VoIP calling services, even video. Maybe they should team up with Globe7. Then again, if they do, they may have to turn back potential customers.

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Despite that grand title, the method is simple. Ignore RFPs (Request for Proposals) and just start doing the work. That's what one company in Florida did. Instead of bothering to submit a proposal for St. Petersburg's municipal Wi-Fi project, like their five competitors did, they just started piping in Wi-Fi access to downtown.

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According to a report by Informa Telecoms & Media, we can expect more advertising on mobile devices such as cell phones. Within five years, mobile ad spending will be close to US$12 B. [via Cellular News] Another area that advertising is getting into is VoIP services, such Globe7's offer of free calling minutes based on how much video content you watch - for which they presumably get paid for by content providers such as movie production companies.

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EarthLink Inc. is expanding its bundled Internet and IP telephony service in the United States to eight new cities, including Atlanta (where it's based), NYC, LA, D.C., and others. The service will include enhanced 911 calling, work with existing phone jacks, and function during power outages. [via Atlanta Business Chronicle]

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UK-based Babble.net is now offering their own USB VoIP flash memory stick. The so called Babble Stick is GBP 19.99 (Great British Pounds), has 256 Mb of space, comes with a microphone and headphones, and holds your Babble account details. Babble's FreeB offer is still on, which for a one-time fee of GBP 1.50 gives you 30 minutes of free calling for at least 3 months. They also have a Babble web-calling toolbar, which lets you call phone numbers on a web page from the Internet Explorer web browser.

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Singaporeans will be getting dual-mode 2G/3G cellular/ WLAN (Wireless LAN) Nokia phones via SingTel. These phones will support both the regular cellular network as well as VoIP calls over Wi-Fi networks. [via VoIP News] Dual-mode phones are expected to rival simple Wi-Fi phones because they can switch between cellular and Wi-Fi networks.

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If you're a Linux operating system fan, you probably already know this by know, but Trolltech ASA thinks the first mobile phones based on the Linux OS will be available by 2007. There's already a group work on Open Linux for Palm devices, so you can probably expect to see some announcements about Palm Linux phones next year, too.

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French Skype users will now enjoy the same offer that Canadian and American users get. They can now get free SkypeOut calls to landlines (from and to France) until New Year's Eve. Skype is also offering currently offering free calls to toll-free landlines in Taiwan. SkypeOut calls can be made from your computer or from a Skype-certified Wi-Fi phone.

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ISP Mozcom Becomes VoIP Provider
Mozcom, the first commercial ISP in the Philippines, launched their new VCall VoIP service, which is targeted at anyone who would benefit from VoIP in their daily operations. [via The Manila Times]

Sprint Settles Patent Dispute
A suit levied by tglo.com and Theglobe.com on Sprint Nextel Corp has been settled according to the latter company. The issue was a supposed digital telephony patent infringement. [via eWeek] Sprint themselves sued Vonage late last year.

Two New Skype Phones From USRobotics
Networking hardware makers such as Netgear, D-Link, and USRobotics must think they've found a pot of gold in VoIP, judging by all the IP phones they've collectively released this year. USRobotics just released two new Skype-certified cell phones - the USR9601 USB Internet Phone (~US$50) and the USR9602 USB Internet Mini Phone (~US$25). [via Boston.com]

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The DCITA (Dept of Communications, Information Technology and the Arts) in Australia recently picked BTAS to implement a VoIP telephony system made by Alcatel. The system will be installed at four points in Canberra, and calling will be accomplished with both soft phones and around 950 IP handsets . [via ZDNet Australia]

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Comcast Corp is already an established cable company in the US. They're now offering their triple-play of services (IP telephony, cable TV, and Internet) for US$99/m in the Nashville, Tennessee area, and will be rolling out to other nearby areas shortly. Comcast is promoting the service in 20 US cities. They are up against companies like Vonage and SunRocket but still plan to hire 100 salespeople in the Middle Tennessee region this year. [via Tennessean]

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Sentinel Communications has just entered the VoIP market, offering both calling plans as well as business products and services - including IP PBXes, network design and implementation, T-1 lines, toll-free numbers and more. [via eMediaWire]

While they are based in North America, they appear to be targeting worldwide residential and business customers.

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Australia's mig33, a mobile VoIP provider, says that they now have over one million users worldwide, since launching in Dec 2005. Calls are made using a Java-enabled mobile phone or PDA, and the service can be used to initiate a call between any two phones. [via ACN Newswire]

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ISP Chariot has been planning a launch of their VoIP service for this year in Australia, but has apparently gone through a number of troubles, including being taken to court by their partner, Transcom International. The resulting negative media hurt the company and delayed the launch., which should be live by the time you read this. [via VoIP News Australia]

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After frequently visiting Asterisk VoIP News a lot lately, I'm convinced that Dal and the rest of the crew watched a lot of science fiction, horror and spy movies/ TV shows. Dal reports that a new version, 0.4, of the Asterisk Voice Changer is available. You heard me. You know, change the pitch of your voice and all that, a la the Scream series of movies. [via Asterisk VOIP News]

What I'm wondering is if this software could be used to improve VoIP call quality on pc2phone calls.

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Despite discussions here that VoIP call quality is at undesirable levels in certain scenarios, pc2pc calls are usually of fairly good quality. My Skype2Skype calls have been mostly clear as a bell, when my computer's RAM isn't overloaded. What's the reason behind this quality? GIPS (Global IP Sound) Voice Engine modules, which Skype licenses. Jim Courtney provides more details at Skype Journal.

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Mac Skype users now have free software, AudioSwitch, that lets them switch between speakerphone and wireless headsets. [via Signal to Noise] Skype recently released a new Mac version.

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Fusion Telecomunications has struck up a partnership with Jinti, a Chinese community services site claiming over 3 million unique visitors from mainland China per month. As part of the partnership, Fusion will be marketing their Efonica VoIP services on the website. [via Asterisk VoIP News]

This is an interesting development considering that VoIP services are banned in China. Even text services are expected to filter out "banned words" for conversations where one or more parties are in China.

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