VoIP Watch

Is Vonage Going To Be Acquired?

One Wall Street analyst thinks so in today's New York Times.

More Skype Flaws?

I'm losing track of the number of reports of similar bug issues with Skype. At this this point the issues are reminding me more of Internet Explorer and other Microsoft type of issues.

Gee. Maybe Microsoft should buy eBay !!

VoIP, Vonage, Skype In Canada by PCWorld.Ca

PCWorld Canada has a summary on Vonage in Canada and VoIP and deems it worthy.

Psst...I've Got A Number for You

My number is a secret, but you can call me here....

The new rave in the telco biz is the annonymous number. I call them, SHADOW numbers....pass it on.

Mobile VoIP to Skyprocket

Um..this is the obvious. It can only go two ways..no growth or up. Since Mobile VoIP is all about convergence then it has to go up.

This is thus very good news for companies like Siemens, BridgePort Networks, Net2Phone all of whom are working to deliver the end user the opportunity to blend their cell service with their IP connections.

Vonage On CNBC

I just received word that Vonage's Chief Financial Officer, John S. Rego, will appear Tuesday morning on
CNBC's Squawk Box. He plans to discuss Vonage's Customer Directed Share
Program, Vonage's business and industry competition.

This is the kind of messaging public companies do, and it's not surprising to me that Rego is doing the talking and taking a tv slot that normally goes to the CEO.

52,000 In Canada For Vonage

Vonage numbers keep getting more clearly identified, thanks to some math calculations by Mark Evans.

Get Talkety?

First there was Mint Telecom that allows calls to be made from one number to a designaed number for less by moving the call from your cell phone over to a VOIP network then dumping the call back to the PSTN.

Then PhoneGnome's David Beckemeyer created MobileGnome which lets you set up a call from our cell phone's data connectivity using a small XML application

Now along comes Talkety, a web browser based suped up call out/call back service that uses a web interface to pair up calls making both legs of the call an inbound call.

The benefit here is with the International market where the Calling Party Pays so the calls end up being less than if dialed from a regular cell phone. Now with an EDGE or UMTS phone that's always on, an in country data plan means savings on voice minutes....Interesting.

Note: As Aswath asks this is not too different from JaJah until you read the fine print. The company allows free Talkety calls between users on the same network, but for now only in Germany.

Will Verizon Sanction Jeff for Mashing Up EvDO and SlingBox

Jeff Pulver and I both are unabashed supporters of using Verizon's Broadband Access, their so called unlimited wireless Internet access service. I think Rich Tehrani is too. Now I'm reading how in Verizon's contract they have the right to stop users from downloading, uploading, streaming, making VoIP calls, P2P file sharing and just about anything beyond web browsing and email.

Talk about trying to kill the idea before it takes off. This is typical of the Voice guys being able to dictate to the Verizon Data leadership how to run the network. Here's a chance for Qualcomm to really flex their muscles to grow EvDO usae and extoll all it can deliver, but my instincts tell me they won't push Verizon at all, or speak out on this issue the way they do vs. WiFi and soon WiMax. Who cares if the next generation of EvDO can handle 3.1 megs down and about 1/3 of that up. What am I going to push? Bigger PowerPoints..Come on FCC and all involved in the use of the airwaves both licensed and unlicensed.

The airwaves are for the public's use, let's not limit them, let's use them.

AOL and Vonage At Odds

Jonathan Berr of TheStreet.com has a story about some Vonage customers having trouble using the broadband phone service over AOL Broadband.

My guess is the modem is the cause. What would be interesting to see is if AOL's Total Talk or any other VoIP service works at those locations.