VoIPWatch

Thoughts on Standards Call Centers, Call Routing, VoIP Codecs, Port Blocking and Transit of Voice

Let's face it. We live in a very connected, always on world where being reached is essential. As a global nomad of the nth degree i rely on my various communications providers like SimpleSignal and a string of services ranging from GoogleVoice, Skype, Calliflower, WebEx, GoToMeeting, UberConference, Voxeet, Truphone and various mobile operators to keep me connected to all the people who matter. The top line here deals with standards that are either the same for everyone, or they're not being followed. Sure you can have a call placed direct to say your USA mobile phone, but when roaming that adds all kinds of greater expense and signalling/media path complexity. So in theory, using IP transiting of voice should be the way to go...but with so many different hops, POPS and jumps, things simply break...and they are.

Being in the middle of a 60 day away from home trip I'm hearing things I don't really like. And it starts simply with how calls that originate or terminate to call centers sound...and they sound awful.  It continues with Skype and the issues surrounding origination and termination of Skype In and Out calls sound when a Skype user is international and the hassles continue with things like Wi-Fi log ons becoming challenging, WiFi hotspot location managers not knowingly port blocking and more.

Here in Europe Skype calls to call centers are just plain brutal. If you think calls to mobile phones from Skype in the USA suffer from quality issues, try calling call centers here in Europe. Twice this past week the exact comment from two different call centers for companies based in the UK and France were "are you using Skype?" And in both cases, the calls ended up in Morocco which is a hotbed for call centers because of its labor pool and proximity to Europe. I hung up and called using my mobile phone and the quality was better, but those calls were still not great. 

Port blocking or port openings also are our enemy. Sometimes someone gets blocked and that means the call doesn't get through. And where that's impacting most is with WebRTC. While the signalling path sets up the call session, the media path gets lost. Just try explaining WebRTC to a hotel IT guy.....if you can find one who really knows what's going on.

The next is DTMF and Caller ID--there are basic standards for both, but of late I'm seeing more financial institutions not displaying caller ID under the guise of security--For example, like many, I hate answering calls from both numbers I don't recognize as well as blocked numbers. A second and more challening issue comes from DTMF both on Skype and now with GoogleVoice where the tones just aren't correct. Wanna bet some telecom tranist company is in the middle of both, and causing things to simply stop working?

The company that looks at these issues and solves the problem, will be who wins global business, even if it costs a bit more. We're in a global world and we can't think locally any more. With calls being sent all over the world this calls for proper call routing, transiting of the media, minimizing the hops will matter, and as we move towards LTE being the mobile means of voice, these problems will only get worse before they get better.

The next issue that is rising from what I can see occurs mostly with hotels and is triggered by hotspot operators who largely use authentication servers and routers from a handful of companies, with Nomadix and Cisco being the first two that pop up when issues arise--especially for Mac users who have upgraded.

While Apple has simplified logging on to WiFi compared to Windows, sometimes there are locations which use Java and unless you want to install that in your browser, it just won't work. What ever happened to plain old browser based authentication.

And who is to blame? Implementors of Cisco gear at airports are a big culprit of what I have begun to call airport log on extremis. This is the experience one has when one can't log on to airport WiFi--usually because of browser or authentication issues, or sometimes because the authentication router is simply maxed out of available IP addresses now that eveyrone carries more than one device and wants to STAY CONNECTED. 

Next up is not staying current. If the service provider can't stay current to standards or updates to browsers like Chrome, Firefox or Safari your screwed. And, when you get told that you should use Internet Explorer just call it a day.

The Comunicano Daily for December 4 2013

The Comunicano Daily

The past week has been a blur. Coming off the holiday weekend which because I'm in Australia and a day ahead meant a six day weekend and that really piled things up. Conference calls using a combination of Calliflower, Voxeet, UberConference, GoToMeeting, WebEx and Skype. Lots of social media. Calls at 4 AM on Google Hangouts to recap the TADS Summit for this week's VUC weekly session, plus reading, writing has meant one thing. I needed to stay connected. A MiFi with a GigSky SIM, a phone with Truphone, plus a back up local SIM from OPTUS. Google Voice ringing everything, honestly, other than the 19 hour time difference, I haven't felt that far away. And that's the way we're able to work. As a global nomad staying connected has become a game for me. Will I have strong enough WiFi or a wired connection in my hotel. Is 4G going to cut it? Will they block my UC provider Simple Signal? Will Skype work? When it does...as it has from the moment I landed in Bangkok until now...so staying connected, no problem. Sleeping normal..well that's another story...Now..on to the news.         Long time pal Ian Rogers keeps turning out the hits. Ian, who knows music and technology better than anyone I know recently took the helm at Beats Music. Their new service will take on Pandora, Spotify and iTunes so watch them do more than the others, as Ian's inside the industry approach and past successes (we helped him launch MediaCode that was acquired quickly by Yahoo) will mean, he's surely got the beat bopping along.           Beats Music Streaming Service Launches January 2014, Fires Up Username Reservations The new Beats Music streaming music service will launch January 2014, according to CEO Ian Rogers. The service also launched a ' name claiming' site today that lets you snag a primo username early. The project has been in private alpha for a while under the code-name Project Daisy, and has been garnering some heated attention.     [continue...]       There is no question texting and messaging are big. How big? Well the stats don't lie.       87% of American Teenagers Send Text Messages Each Month We all know teens are glued to their cellphones. New data from the Family Online Safety Institute shows which mobile activities are keeping them hooked. Text messaging is the most popular activity, which 87% of teens have done in the past 30 days.     [continue...]       Being at the TADS Summit and ITU Telecom World two weeks ago showed me how much telecom and mobile is expanding in the Far East, Middle East and Africa. And the Dark Continent is seeing explosive growth.       African mobile penetration hits 80% (and is growing faster than anywhere else) We tend to have certain paradigms about the "developed world" and the "developing world." Including, of course, media-fed images of Africa as a place of almost irredeemable poverty, deprivation, and pain. Many of our paradigms are, of course, illusions.     [continue...]       Former Skype partner in the UK, THREE has struck back on International Roaming, creating a program where going away is the same as staying home. And they added the USA. Now when my friends in the UK visit they can take their THREE phone and use it here just as if they were there. Sounds alot like the Truphone Zone to me.       Great Roaming Rip-off takes another hit as U.K.'s Three axes premiums for U.S. trips In a thoroughly consumer-friendly move that challenges its rivals, the British mobile operator Three has effectively eliminated all its roaming premiums for customers traveling to the United States. Three has form in this arena.     [continue...]       Speaking of Truphone. The company's first foray into sports marketing brought their brand of innovation to the Caterham FI team. Truphone delivered a Converged Operator Service solution that brought together Truphone's brand of global mobile service with Caterham's own VoIP provider so their team could always stay connected.           Caterham F1 cuts its phone bill as 2014 season beckons F1 team Caterham is looking to squeeze every penny of value out of its IT services as it refocuses its effort on major rule changes coming into force next season. As one of Formula One's newest teams, Caterham was able to start with a clean slate when it was first accepted onto the grid in 2010, with no legacy IT to deal with.     [continue...]       GigaOm's Kevin Tofel, who can claim to be the second to last person I ever had a Philly Cheese Steak wid (Philly folks will get the local foodie humor) picked up on client Gigsky and their global roaming data SIM that lets you buy just what you need, where you need it just in time for the holiday travel season.       Roaming the world on holiday? GigSky, a global SIM card, wants to travel with you It's amazing that we can use a private company to put satellites into space, yet international roaming with a smartphone, tablet or laptop is still such a hassle. I thought about this recently as some friends are planning to travel abroad this holiday season and they asked me what their options are.     [continue...]       UK based Lyca Mobile is adding more countries. As an internationally focused MVNO, Lyca's main focus is on the pre-paid traveler and immigrant markets.           Lycamobile Group targets eight new markets by Feb-14; Italian unit replaces H3G with Vodafone UK-based mobile virtual network operator (MVNO) Lycamobile has reportedly identified eight further markets in which it hopes to launch by February 2014, including Canada and unspecified countries across Latin America and Asia. Lycamobile, which generated sales of more than EUR1 billion (USD1.35 billion) in FY2012/13, currently claims a global MVNO base of more than 30 million users.     [continue...]       Just like in the USA, where stolen phones are a problem,  in the UK OFCOM and the operators are working together to create a database that stops stolen phones from being usable while also attacking roaming fees........       UK mobile networks agree to £50 charges cap on stolen phones, work towards eliminating roaming fees Four of the UK's largest mobile phone networks have agreed to change some of the rules around pricing and contracts in a bid to reduce the charges that arise when roaming abroad or if a device is lost or stolen.     [continue...]       Long time friends and clients, Alon Cohen and Ari Rabban should be smiling. The duo behind rapidly growing Phone.com just scored their first patent, where they have brought some of their technology wizardy to SMS.           Phone.com earns first patent with innovative SMS capability - CIOL     Phone.com earns first patent with innovative SMS capability - CIOL     [continue...]       IMS. All I'll say is it's about time someone pronounced it dead.       The Death of IMS and the Rise of the Internet RIP IMS If you haven't read Chad's break up, then you should. It is touching. And true. And the comments on it are great. We've had a ball at the Expo event, but that last day got me pissed off - it was the service providers track, with many of its vendors suggesting their IMS systems should be hooked up to WebRTC in order to save it.     [continue...]       If you have a need for speed you're not in the majority. At least that's what the major broadband providers are claiming. I bet Google has something else to say.       Why Comcast and other cable ISPs aren't selling you gigabit Internet Gigabit-class broadband is capturing the imagination of Internet users throughout the country. With Google and other companies bringing fiber-based services that deliver a gigabit of data each second to the home, communities are accelerating their push to get the highest speeds.     [continue...]       On the Googlewatch front. Over in London they have created an open "campus" that is attracting all kinds of new business starting types, bringing them into the Google Ecosystem in what is known as the Hub.           After 20 Months Google's Campus London Hub Has 22,000 Members, So Where Next? Opened in April 2012, Campus London, Google's East London 'startup hub' was something of a new departure for Google. It was taking out a ten year lease of a building which would be populated by co-working spaces, hackers and startups that Google had nothing to do with and Google would not have a stake it in.     [continue...]       Video is still in the news..and people are using it. Taking part in a global Hangout today that was offering amazing quality, even on my iPad Air, only tells me it's not that far away from being mainstream...           Ubiquitous business video calling: Are we ready for our close-up?     With video conferencing unshackled from the confines of the expensive, high-end telepresence room, enterprises are exploring a wider swath of video options -- like desktop video calling and managed or cloud-based video services that could improve their businesses. The arrival of more accessible video endpoints is removing one of the final barriers to every conferencing vendor's dream: ubiquitous business video calling.     [continue...]       And that's where WebRTC comes in...           Three Things to Take Away from WebRTC Conference & Expo Santa Clara Last week was the third rendition of the WebRTC Conference & Expo, and it covered a range of topics from business implementations and applications to more technical aspects like signaling and the WebRTC data channel. There was also a lot of discussion about the current state of the IETF movement to decide on a video codec standard for WebRTC, mainly between H.264 and VP8.     [continue...]       And now, two stories to get you thinking....           When building a company, it's the destination, not the journey Platitudes are a dangerous way to build a company. What passes today as start-up wisdom can be attractive, even seductive to new entrepreneurs. We have witnessed the creation of a sub-industry of how-to advice on creating the next tech blockbuster.     [continue...]     Financing 100,000 Entrepreneurs This kind of expansion means hundreds of thousands more cars must come onto the Uber system. So, in true Uber fashion, we're finding innovative ways to power billions of dollars in car purchases.     [continue...]

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Thoughts on WebRTC and OTT Services

Just about two weeks ago I was attending the ITU Telecom World where I joined Dean Bubley's panel and then moderating the TADS Summit in Bangkok, Thailand. Bangkok is an interesting place and my mobile experience, not only with a SIM but seeing how mobile centric that part of the world is, even more than what I experience in Europe or the USA exposed me to a lot of new ideas, as the TADS Summit served to reaffirm many forward looking ideas I've had about WebRTC and OTT.

The biggest concept I heard expressed was "Fast Fail" an approach that developer and early stage entrepreneurs have taken on. Being the optimist, I immediately spun that into the idea of succeed soon. And that's where WebRTC is. It has to succeed soon and the companies working to develop new method of communications have to learn that failing fast doesn't mean giving up. It means doing it better, and succeeding sooner.

OTT apps like WhatsApp and Line have succeeded soon and continue to grow. They are taking revenue away from the major telcos on one side (the SMS market) but at the same time shifting costs to other networks or the network side of the telco, while reducing the telcos labor and overhead cost. 

Thus I would contend that OTT services like WebRTC don't really replace the carrier, they simply shift the burden of operating and delivering the service from the service provider to being the carrier while someone else operates the service. This is not much different from a concessionaire serving food inside a stadium while the landlord collects a piece of the action without having to buy the food or staff the stands.

The more a carrier opens up their network to OTT players and lets them take on the burden of building the audience, managing the relationship, and the less marketing the carrier or mobile operator has to do, the more profitable they can become because they can invest in technology that makes them better and more competitive versus their competitors, while providing the best field of play for the newcomers who use software and smarts vs. hardware and brawn to power their business.

The best and most profitable carriers will be the ones who embrace the new OTT players, find ways to incorporate WebRTC technology into their platforms or simply open up their pipe and network to let them in so they can carry more traffic.

Isn't that what carriers should be doing?  

Jajah Going ByeBye-What Does this Do To Yahoo Messenger?

Jajah is being shut down. Jajah was acquired about five years back for the inflated sum of a reported $207 million dollars by Telefonica. The purcahse was intented to give Telefonica a deeper involvment in VoIP and then enabled them to take over the operations of Yahoo Voice when Yahoo basically started to ween itself away from communications services, in the era where they were rudderless. UPDATE- I just recalled that in January of 2013 Yahoo and Jajah ended their voice service relationship. This tells me the plan was in the works for some time. First Yahoo, then more.

The planned shut down of Jajah by Telefonica also follows the shuttering earlier this year of mobile VoIP play Tu Me and is evidence of the internal fighting at Telefonica as the TuGo product is surviving (for now).

Recently on a panel moderated by Dean Bubley during the ITU Telecom World in Bangkok, I commented how non-innovative Telefonica really was, as aquisitions are not innovation and referred to Jajah as "two servers in a broom closet connected to a few Tier One networks" at their time of acquisition. It looks like I wasn't that far off as shutting down a $200 million dollar purchase rivals the BT purchase of Ribbit for over $100 million dollars, which BT has basically wound down after buying the company for what was to be six services BT had on their roadmap, but never executed on either.

These two failures demonstrate the difference between Google, Microsoft and Apple who buy strategically, while old line telcos buy out of fear and uncertainty.

For the past few years the few people who have had a Yahoo Voice number were basically paying Jajah to maintain their phone numbers and use credit that was paid for to Jajah under the Yahoo name. What this does to Yahoo Voice is anyone's guess, but I'm betting they shut it down, until the company can figure out where it's really going, as a VoIP service tied to an antiquated Yahoo Messenger, that is not really as good as Skype is not the kind of effort the new leadership at Yahoo is getting behind.

Back in its day, in the Brad Garlinghouse, Craig Walker, Vincent Paquet and then Jeff Bonforte eras, VoIP inside Yahoo Messenger was to be a Skype killer. Yahoo spent lots of money buying and starting to build out a Skype threat, worked on rates to lower prices but in the end Bonforte was told to not make it a big deal and it basically was on life support since then.

The Jajah piece came to life about three or four years back where Yahoo basically outsourced the Voice piece to them and it simply billed customers. 

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