Working Anywhere

Wireless Competition Increases in the USA

Talking for less just got easier in the USA.

The spectrum swap and bi-lateral roaming agreement between Leap Wireless (Cricket) and Metro PCS, a value priced leader in mobile, means that the incumbent giants Verizon Wireless, Sprint, T-Mobile and AT&T now have to look over their shoulders at the two companies.

While both have traditionally focused on the local market non-travel type customer, this new roaming agreement basically creates a national footprint for both, or lays the foundation for it. What's also interesting is if this includes data roaming, as Cricket just announced some very reasonably priced data deals, but which don't permit VoIP.

New SkypePhone Rates in UK Out Soon

The Times of London has the news on the new rates for Skype users who acquire the SkypePhone. The big news is now you'll be able to call non-Skype users via Skype on the SkypePhone just like you can from Skype today on your PC. This is Huge....

With the kind of pricing that's coming down the line (7.99 pounds for global calling per month) a pay as you go phone from 3 (the UK carrier) means that for less than $20 dollars a month (you have a 5 pound per month data plan) when you're in the UK to make calls to landlines. Of course Mobile call termination is still higher, but for International calling, this is a very interesting play.

3 is by far the mobile operator with the best grasp on where the market is heading. Their data plans are about the best deals around. Their marketing is crisp and message is easy to understand.

I'd even go so far to say as I would not be surprised to see them end up somehow in the USA in the near future via some kind of deal with either T-Mobile or AT&T.

Easy Way To Be an MVNO-MaxRoam

Give it to pal Pat Phelan and his team of developers. They have built a global roaming based mobile operator solution that now gives just about anyone the ability to be their own mobile operator.

What they is really good for companies and associations who have a team of global road warriors that need to have consistent calling rates as they cross borders and need to have phone numbers that stay constant. The multiple number capability of MaxRoam is one of their core strengths, with the other being an online pre-pay system.

This is all about "on-boarding." The more minutes MaxRoam has on their network, the better rates they get from the wholesale carriers. The more new services MaxRoam can offer (features and applications) the higher their profit margin is. MaxRoam is not about cheap minutes. They're about adding value and filling in the gaps that the traditional mobile operator doesn't offer.

Watch for more good things from Pat and his team.

Texting Up, Talking Down

The New York Times reports that for the first time SMS (Texting) was more popular than talk.

In the fourth quarter of 2007, American cellphone subscribers for the first time sent text messages more than they phoned, according to Nielsen Mobile. Since then, the average subscriber’s volume of text messages has shot upward by 64 percent, while the average number of calls has dropped slightly.

This is wonderfully supportive story for the traditional telcos who operate or are investing in mobile networks, but also a huge and supportive story for the services like client Palringo, plus Meebo and Nimbuzz, all of which are into the no cost (other than a data plan) IM world.

The use of SMS brings high profit to the carriers. Just as Skype and other IP based voice and IM services have cut into the traditional land line business for calls (something that likely was not reflected in the study, and wasn't referred to in story) through disruption, these next generation cross service platforms will also begin to erode and disrupt the user base of SMS as they'll offer more robustness than the original. As the carriers offer more data plans at lower prices these services will cut into the share of SMS revenue simply because they offer more and are "cool."

The coolness factor can't be overlooked. It plays a big part in the youth of our generation adopting something. Just as Skype was/is a cool way to communicate, these new services bring that same degree of "coolness" and as colleague Bill Ryan likes to say, "it's all about Speed To Cool."

The Smart Show

Meet Damon. He produces the Smart Show, a cool show about life and technology. I'm going to be on an upcoming episode.

UK Mobile Broadband Gets Better and Better

If this is a glimpse at what T-Mobile in the USA will be doing, we have lots of data options ahead.

T-Mobile basically has created a no-contract necessary rate with their new pricing of 20 pounds a month, or 2 pounds a day, 10 pounds a week. You buy a T-Mobile broadband data stick and you're off and running.

Hat Tip to pal Jason Harris who emailed me the news.

Truphone and Other Cost Cutting Tactics for the International Traveler

Tim Leffel of Tripso has a story on the MSNBC site about cost cutting telephone tactics. One of the services Leffel gives high praise to is Truphone, an agency client.

The key points Leffel makes is that there are alternatives to high roaming rates that are easy to use, and won't break the bank.

Boingo Get's High Marks

Client Boingo received high praise from the folks at ZDNET today.

In a post about trying out the service, Dennis Howlett, tabs Boingo as "a traveler's lifesaver" saying that it is "an easy way to avoid all those ludicrous $X per day charges that hotels and airport operators try to gouge out of you when on the road and especially when out of range of your home network provider."

I agree. Even before Comunicano began representing Boingo, I was a multiple account holder. It's always been Working Anywhere Approved and deserves to be. With folks like the independent voice of Howlett and others, it seems to be approved by more than me.

A Very Common Sense Approach To Virtual Working

This is a very good read as the article weaves through the plusses and minuses of virtual conferencing including video and web based.

What I like about the article is that the author has brought a sense of reality into the equation by suggesting that some meetings still need to be done "in person" not only face to face.

Portable Hotspots Critiqued

ZDNet's SOHO Networking writer Sean Portnoy has taken a good look at two of the applications that make it easier for you to tether a laptop to your cell phone to get 3G connectivity.

He profiles my favorite, JoikuSpot, and a second product called the Walking HotSpot from Taproot Software.

Joiku has been a lifesaver of late. It works flawlessly on the Nokia E71 I am using and provides multiple people with 3G access. I've used it in hotel lobbies and coffee shops when everyone didn't have access to the WiFi that was being offered.