News and info briefs for the VoIP indusry.

Customers of XO Communications spent nearly 4 billion minutes chatting over VoIP in Q2 2006, almost one and a half times Q2 2005. Source: [VON Magazine]

Vonage reputedly spends over $20 mln per month on advertising. This includes TV as well as spyware-style and online banner ads. Apparently, CEO and chairman Jeffrey Citron confirmed a 2006 advertising campaign of nearly $400 mln. Source: [21 Talks]

An Australian market research company says that only 60% of VoIP providers in that country belong to the TIO (Telecommunications Industry Ombudsman) scheme. The Ombudsman recommends that VoIP providers join this scheme to avoid "a regulatory clampdown".

Red Hat, the now venerable software vendor for the open source Linux operating system, has started up a telecom partner program. [via eWeek] Their strategy is to extend themselves into the embedded systems markets. With the number of PMC (Personal Mobile Communication) devices, with or without VoIP, growing steadily, it'sprobably a wise strategy.

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WebProNews asks: is there such a thing as free VoIP service? A lot of previously free services have changed their terms, or various long-distance call promotions have ended. Still, there are a lot of free VoIP services still around.

In fact, one more VoIP provider is offering free PC-to-PSTN phone calls. SIPphone announced these free calls for active members of their Gizmo Project soft client. Skype currently offers free PC-to-PSTN calls for Skype members within Canada and the US. However, Skype's promo offer is over at the end of this year. SIPphone's offer is permanent and includes 60 countries, but caller and callee must both be Gizmo Project members. Members list all their phone numbers in their user profile.

Consider that with Skype this week, I called, for free, the support line of one my web hosting companies, as well as someone I was interviewing for an article, neither of whom had to be Skype members. I also called a someone who has no computer earlier in the week. In light of this, I think Gizmo Project will have some time to go before they move from their current user count (reportedly under a million worldwide) to have as wide a market share as Skype (reportedly 280 million users worldwide).

But I think that Gizmo Project will have the advantage in the long run, not only because of the free calls to 60 countries, but because they are based on the open source SIP (Session Initiation Protocol) standard. That means that anyone using other SIP-based VoIP soft clients, such as Sightspeed, would be able to VoIP Gizmo Project members and vice versa.

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Skype recently announced "the world's first WiFi phones for Skype". This is an odd declaration for a press release dated July 20, 2006, considering that at least the Netgear phones was announced in June, but will not be available until August.

The four new phones (one from each of four companies) apparently have an interface that's relatively easy to use, and of course support Skype. Here's a picture of the Belkin phone, which at nearly $190 seems a bit pricey.

If you live in Canada or the US, with one one of these phones, you can basically call anywhere in these two countries for free right now. That's provided you have Wi-Fi Internet access. (Free SkypeOut calling within Canada and the US is available only until the end of Dec 2006.)

Personally, while I love Skype, I've already got a Palm Treo 650 with cellular and wireless data access. I have no desire to buy yet another phone (I'm on my sixth in ten years). So I've been trying to find software that will let me make VoIP calls, with little luck. All the software solutions I've tried just do not work on the Treo 650, mainly because the 650s running on the Palm OS cannot handle phone calls and wireless access simultaneously. Que sera sera. If I find something that actually works - instead of just claiming to - you'll hear about it

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News and info briefs for the VoIP industry.

VoIP News:

• Wondering what the difference between VoIP and Internet telephony is? Ted Wallingford explains in his Macworld article.
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• Both Microsoft and Apple have recently become involved in the VoIP market. Microsoft recently release Windows Live Messenger, and Apple is expected to follow suit by upgrading their IM client iChat.
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• Vonage, the VoIP service provider that's been taking in a beating in the stock market for the last few months, recently release their USB-based VoIP phone/ keyfob, V-Phone. Plugging the V-Phone into your laptop gives you access to your Vonage VoIP calling plan while you're on the go, and provided you have WiFi access to the Internet handy.
• Of course, if you have Skype, you can call other Skypers around the world for free. If not, and you and the person you're calling are in Canada or the United States, you can call free from PC to phone until the end of December.
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• In what may be a first, Philips Corporation has come out with new VoIP handsets that work with not only Skype but Microsoft Windows Live Messenger VoIP/ IM client software. Skype themselves have come out with a dual-purpose phone that allows both Skype VoIP calling and regular landline use.
  
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• Skype is currently considering going after the enterprise VoIP market, which has actually been slow to adopt VoIP, compared to individuals and small businesses. However, with products such as Microsoft's Communications Server offering VoIP ability via Office Communicator 2007, Skype is going to have a hard time cracking the enterprise market.
  

These VoIP summaries give you a synopsis of goings-on in the voice and video over IP (internet protocol) industry so that you can quickly browse the info and click on the provided links for more detailed information. This includes information about free VoIP, handsets, headsets, VoIP providers, voice + video calling IM (Instant Messaging) client software, regulations and standards, router and other VoIP technology, and general telephony.

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News and info briefs for the VoIP industry.

Free VoIP IM clients:

• Skype: VoIP client with IM text messaging. Free calling from PC to PC around the world. Free calling from PC-to-phone in Canada and the US until the end of 2006. Varying per minute rates for other types of VoIP-to-PSTN (Public Switched Telephone Network) calls. Free third-party video calling plugin available. Skype isnow owned by eBay.
  
• Sightspeed: VoIP client with IM text messaging and built-in video calling. Free calling from PC to PC around the world. Varying per minute rates for VoIP-to-PSTN calls. Free unlimited videomail storage for 30 days. Four-way video conferencing available (along with other features) for US$4.95/m or US$44.95/yr. Skype used to be my fave VoIP client; now Sightspeed is.
  

VoIP News:

• True Corp in Bangkok, Thailand, is gearing up to provide VoIP services, selling 400+ mln private shares. Thailand currently only has 10,000 VoIP users, but True forsees the potential for a larger market, given that they currently have 500,000 broadband users and expect 800,000 by the end of the year. [via Bangkok Post]
• Taipei, Taiwan is putting a VoIP infrastructure in place and changing from PSTN to VoIP for their administrative offices and for public schools. They expect to have as many as 200,000 VoIP users by the end of the year. [via News/ TechWhack]
• Affiniti in the UK is partnering with Griffin ISP to offer VoIP services. [via Computing UK] No word on what regions this service will be offered in.
• US telephony vendor Inter-Tel announced a "next-gen" VoIP switch to be released in August. The Inter-Tel 7000 VoIP platform is an open platform, competing with proprietary platforms by Avaya, Cisco, and others. It runs on Intel/ Linux hardware/os combo and is compatible with SIP gateways. [via eWeek]
  
• More and more Estonian hospitals are offering WiFi access, giving patients the chance to work on their laptops or PDA devices. [via Skype Blogs] Excuse me, but isn't the point of being in the hospital to recuperate? I don't know about you, but despite being a hardcore techie glued to my laptop or desktop at least 16 hrs/day, I'd be stressed out if I were in a hospital with a WiFi capable device.
  

Definitions + Acronyms:

• ITSP: Internet Telephony Service Provider.
• PDA: Personal Digital Assistant.
  
• SIP: Session Initiation Protocol.
  
• VoIP: Voice over Internet Protocol.
• WiFi: Wireless Fidelity - general wireless network access, sometimes referring to Internet access.
  

These VoIP summaries give you a synopsis of goings-on in the voice and video over IP (internet protocol) industry so that you can quickly browse the info and click on the provided links for more detailed information. This includes information about free VoIP, handsets, headsets, VoIP providers, voice + video calling IM (Instant Messaging) client software, regulations and standards, router and other VoIP technology, and general telephony. On occasion, I've thrown in a bit of commentary as well.

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VoIP stands for Voice over Internet Protocol. It also stands for Video over Internet Protocol. Some people use the term WoIP when voice + video are combined. VoIP allows you to talk over the Internet, pretty much as you would with a phone, except usually for a lot less money. Throw in video, and you can communicate live with your friends, family, contacts and even people you meet at various communities.

This site is a summary of happenings in the VoIP industry, and includes news, reviews, profiles and articles relating to VoIP, WoIP, video and voice calling, IM (Instant Messaging), and issues about Internet telephony in general.

Please note that these are summaries. I write more complete articles about VoIP at several other websites. (Links to come.)

Most new content will appear on weekends. However, there may occasionally be new postings during the week.

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