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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If you speak Turkish, be wary of an email written in the language that has a link to a fake Skype website, and which hosts a file (skypekur.exe) that will steal all kinds of passwords from your computer and email them back to the originator. [via SurfControl]

With all the complaints that the QoS (Quality of Service) of VoIP, Pandora Networks is hoping their new suite of services will make a difference. They're aiming at the SMB (Small to Medium Business) market. [via TMC Net]

Telcos who are starting to offer VoIP services are going to be unlikely to do so at discount rates, according to Infonetics Research. Instead, they're more likely to add extra features and charge a premium rate. [via Computing]

A couple of weeks ago, Ed Whitacre, CEO of AT&T, shot his mouth off about his view of network neutrality. Basically, he said that no one should get a free ride. But as Russell Shaw points out in the article, quoting the It's Our Net Coalition, telcos already make US$14 billion per year from Internet companies and US$20 billion per year from broadband subscriber fees.

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New research from CompTIA finds that IT channels assign a much higher priority for VoIP than SMBs (Small to Medium Businesses). IT considers it top VoIP in the top three of technolgies that are expected to enjoy growth in 2007. But SMBs rank it ninth in priority. [via New Telephony]

Looking for reviews of various VoIP services, or want to write your own? Have a look at WhichVoIP. [via PR Leap]

The number of US VoIP subscribers increase about 21% in Q2 2006 to nearly 7 million, with cable VoIP taking the biggest increases in volume. [via TeleGeography] Translation: Vonage is still leading, but they'd better watch out, they'd better not cry...

Now here's a great application of WoIP (Video + Voice over IP). A number of hospitals in California are using WoIP for real-time language interpretation so that English-speaking doctors can serve patients with minimal English language skills. Spanish is currently the most commonly spoken foreign language at these hospitals, but they also have interpreters for four other languages. Hospitals in other states are considering offering the same type of service. [via Information Week, VoIP Magazine]

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Sphere Communications is targeting OEMs and ISVs with their new SphereCSE Communications Service Engine, which is an IP PBX software development platform that is built XML and SOAP and several other web service formats. They offer a free SDK (Software Development Kit) for download. [via TMC Net]

If you're about network threats via VoIP, Network Box has their Unified Threat Management (UTM) appliance and service that provides anti-spam, anti-virus, anti-phishing and other features. It's compatible with SIP and H.323 [via IT Backbones]

The Internet-based telephone subscriber base grew in the US by 21 percent in Q2 2006. Cable companies have been the winner in this increase. [via Chicago Tribune]

The Square Mile downtown financial core of London, UK, will have Wi-Fi coverage by the end of this year. The move will give city workers access to mobile VoIP service. The network will be set up using street "furniture" such as signs and lamp posts. [via Contractor UK]

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Microsoft is increasing its involvement in VoIP by getting into the PBX and IP PBX arena. This move is expected to disrupt the VoIP market over the next few years. [via NE Asia Online]

Microsoft is also expanding their VoIP iniative by following in Skype's footsteps. They are partnering with consumer electronics accessory companies to bundle up Windows Live Messenger with gear such as headsets.

Initially, the bundle is being offered with Plantronics Audio 350 headsets at Best Buy , Circuit City, and CompUSA stores in the US. [via Ars Technica] Hiliariously, one commenter Ars Technica weighed in the beauty (or lack of) of the headset.

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Looking for free international VoIP (Internet) calls? Globe7 offers a soft client which lets you earn credits of US$0.005 for every minute of video content you watch. You get to choose the content, which includes news clips and movie or TV show trailers. (You can also watch the videos directly from the website, but then you don't get credit.)

Additional features include video calling, free pc2pc calling, pc2mobile calls based on credits, 1 gigabyte of free web storage space (images, audio, video). There's no limit to the number of videos you can watch, and a US phone number comes with a Gold Member account. (Austin Powers need not apply.) You can also view news feeds in the Globe 7 client.

Globe7 currently only supports Windows 2000 + XP, and you must have Adobe Flash 8 player (free) or above. Registration requires you to divulge a fair bit of personal info. You get a $1 credit on signup.

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Phil Zimmerman, best known for his PGP (Pretty Good Privacy) open source tools, has been working on his new Zfone secure VoIP soft client plugin. The Zfone is designed to protect users from the kind of VoIP security issues that are starting to crop up, including vishing.

It should be noted that the Zfone is not a soft client, despite what I said previously. Instead, it's more of a plugin for clients that are "standards compliant". A beta version of Zfone is available now.

Sources: The Inquirer.

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HyunWon's Boxon MP3 player isn't the only device rumoured to have VoIP capabilities. Microsoft is coming out with the Zune later this year, which is supposed to have VoWiFi (VoIP over WiFi). If you want to learn more, visit this extremely difficult to read transcript of the Microsoft financial analyst meeting 2006.

Funny. The term VoIP never appears once once on the page. But if it's true, Microsoft will join the growing list of companies offering WiFi phones, Skype-enabled or otherwise.

Sources: VoIP News.

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A lot of people want to know how they can make free VoIP phone calls from their computer to either another computer or a regular phone or cell phone. There are now literally dozens of free or inexpensive services, most of them good. It's a matter of finding some time and writing a few reviews. I didn't want to write teeny-weeny reviews like the summaries I've had here so far. So I'm taking my time and working on VoIP reviews, and I'll post each one as I complete it.

For the time being, I'll just point to info at other sites, if I don't have my own review. Keep an eye out, and feel free to use the site-search feature somewhere in the far right column. (Or left, if I've changed the layout around.)

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Speakers at the VoIPSA (VoIP Security Alliance) conference in Las Vegas warned that VoIP attacks are likely to increase. Methods of attack include DDoS (Distributed Denial of Service), caused by overloading a system - a common tactic for disrupting websites. Of course, there's are also the new vishing scams, which involve phishing using VoIP services.

During another Las Vegas conference, BlackHat 2006, Phil Zimmermann (creator of the PGP encryption tool) said that due to impending VoIP abuse, people are very interested in a secure VoIP client. Zimmermann has come up with such software, called Zfone.

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Right now, free internet phone calls mostly require using a computer with a broadband connection. However, there are a few web services that that allow pc2phone or even phone2phone calls if one or both parties are members. Jajah and Gizmo Project are a couple of examples.

But a number of companies are trying to make sure that you don't need a computer to make VoIP calls without a computer. For example, US Robotics are introducing VoIP router devices that support Skype and other softphones without the use of a computer. A broadband Internet connection is still required. This is different from Skype Wi-Fi phones which still require that there's a computer somewhere nearby.

Sources: Computeract!ve.

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Forget cell phones that can do VoIP, or even WiFi phones. MP3 players want a piece of the action, and are just as willing to play the convergence game. Enter HyunWon's Boxon MP3 player, a small device with a large screen and an identity crisis. It's packed with features and can play MP3s (of course) and video, has a photo viewer, an English-Korean dictionary, and VoIP.[via Mobile Mag, Anything But iPod]

Unfortunately, there are no details about the VoIP features. A scan through HyunWon's MobiBlu websites reveals nothing, as the product isn't out until later in August.

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VoX Communications will be providing VoIP services to US Dept of Homeland Security (DHS). They were selected by F4W, Inc. for their TWEB (Tactical Wireless Emergency Broadband) network products. The TWEB products are designed for DHS, law enforcement agencies, first responders, and disaster recovery workers. [via Wireless IQ]

F4W has already had experience in disaster recovery work after four hurricanes, working with US Coast Guard and EPA (Environmental Protection Agency). VoX is a subsidiary of eLEC Communications and were named the "Most Innovative VoIP Technology Provider" by Internet Telephony Magazine.

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A cable industry report says that the cable VoIP market is increasing steadily in the US and Canada. Current figures are estimated four million subscribers. Another seven million are expected by the end of 2007.

In the lead are Cablevision Systems and Time Warner Cable, who collectively have around 62% of the market. [via VoIP News]

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