VoIPWatch

Hotels, WebRTC and Port Blocking

For years I've been a road warrior. And in all those years, it never fails that some hotel, somewhere, is employing port blocking under the guise of security. And, since WebRTC uses a range of ports for inbound and outbound communications, and since packet sniffing technology can be put anywhere in a network, the chances of what looks like rogue packets can be the end of the use of WebRTC based communications services.

What this usually is though, is really a case of simple ignorance to the way of the world of communications and collaboration tools. The guise of security, the combination of admitted lack of knowledge about technology in some hotels, leads to this type of situation. 

The work around, and one I've employed is simply the request to have my devices whitelisted. As a loyal guest of the brand or hotel group, a call to the IT support desk, and a request to be escalated to tier 2 or 3 usually does the trick. You simply provide your MAC address, and they remove the rules affecting the overall network and the problem goes away.  One hotel property which I frequent a four times a year or more went so far as to establish an SSID just for me, and a private network for my Amazon Echo. But the secret SSID is the real blessing, as it avoids my need to log-on or register, and the IT team has given me full pipe access. No blocking of ports, no delays and no more need to call the IT help desk for solutions.

The approach is really though all about the hotel IT team treating their network like a real enterprise network.

One suggestion is to include the ability to log on to the network from within the mobile apps hotel chains have, and make that the means to control access. In essence if Marriott or IHG or Accor did that, the ability to drop into communal spaces of hotels by locals would skyrocket, and as a loyal member of their rewards program they would earn bonus points for spends at restaurants and bars, two areas where locals rarely go in traditional hotels, so as brands like Kimpton, Mama Shelter and others court the more mobile youth workers to come into their bars and restaurants, a change in how loyalty programs functions needs to come.

WebRTC with the data channel, apps from hotel brands, and the elimination of port blocking, when put together could be a powerful solution, but it starts with understanding that all traffic isn't over PORT 80, 5060, 69 and whatever POP and IMAP use.

The world of staying connected has changed, and smart hotel operators  need to change with it.

Andy on ESPN 610 Philadelphia

I had the good fortune to be on the Museum of Sports broadcast on ESPN 610 in Philadelphia with Lou Scheinfeld and the crew today. We talked about my early career in sports with The Philadelphia Wings, Flyers, Hockey Central and The Celebrity All Star Hockey Team. It was a fun hour to be part of the past and to help insure that the sports past of Philadelphia forever is remembered. The recording is an hour long but well worth hearing.

You can hear the clip here.

It's Not Just About UBER Anymore

For the longest time UBER was the disruptor vs. taxi-cabs and limousines. UBER provided a way to get a ride on demand, when and where you needed it. First it was with black car limousines that were sitting idle. Then it was with regular people who wanted to make money driving other people around. In a big way, UBER brought the masses to the gig-economy. And in doing so changed the way people get around.

But UBER's exclusivity is gone. In the USA LYFT is a worthy competitor, offering an experience much like UBER, and at similar prices. But once you leave the USA is where the game really changes. Over the past month of travel, all across Europe my use of UBER was almost nil. I bolted for BOLT, a service I have used in the past, but never as my primary mode of car based transportation.

In Malta Bolt was my only option as UBER doesn't operate there and taxi's are priced higher as you expect. In Marseille, Prague, Lisbon and London, I decided to try it out without worry, knowing I had UBER to fall back on, or in London, regular black cabs.

What did I learn--

1) Mapping Accuracy-UBER is a slightly more accurate app than Bolt, but I think the errors I experienced - mostly drivers going to pick up spots a block away, something that likely has more to do with the way businesses like restaurants are "addressed" in Prague, or operator error,  as  I had a few block long walks. Other that that, the rides were great. Pickups were timely and cars were fairly comfortable. Cancellations are mostly fee free up to a point in case you make an error, and the app asks why you cancelled.

2) Pick Up Laws Vary City By City-unless you know how the pick up laws and where a vehicle can stop, it can also get confusing. In London for example there are some places cars can't stop for pick ups. Once you learn the tricks of the pick up I found that pick ups and drop offs are pretty much like they are with UBER.

3) Condition of Cars-Here again, UBER has set a standard, but those standards change country by country. For the most part, other than a few cars in Prague that needed a washing, I found the BOLT cars to be of similar quality.

4) The Sound of Silence-UBER and LYFT in the USA have done a very good job of educating their drivers about having the radio or music either off or at fairly low level. With BOLT I often entered cars where the music was blaring, or the driver was talking non-stop on their phones like London cabbies tend to do. As someone who makes calls between meetings, I found myself having to ask for the radio to be tuned down. All drivers complied, but for some people it could be uncomfortable to make the ask.

5) Conversation-I had some really sparkling conversations with drivers in Malta, and of course London. Prague was hit or miss, and in Lisbon/Cascais the rides were often short, as I tended to use more rail than ride-shares, except at night or when on a date. The Maltese drivers were often like local tour guides. Other than on some rides in Prague, English was clearly understood and in most cases the drivers could converse easily and really enjoyed the ability to practice their English language skills. 

6) Airport Pick Ups-At airports most have done a really good job of making it easy for the ride share cars to pick you up moving them to the short stay lots that are within walking distance to the arrivals baggage claim terminals. In Malta, Prague and Lisbon, my pick ups were never more than a five or six minute wait, and in Malta the car was there waiting as I hailed it after clearing immigration. In Prague I walked to the designated pick up location, at the airport Courtyard by Marriott and my car was a nice station wagon that had a family exiting to go to the hotel making my wait almost only my walk across the pick up area. In Lisbon the wait was about two minutes, as it was the Xmas Holiday period and all the Skoda's look the same.

In effect my Bolt airport pick ups were far better than what we now experience in San Francisco, Boston or Los Angeles Airports, and more like what I experience in Seattle and even San Diego, where the cars get to the pick up points so fast that the wait is almost non-existent. 

7) What About Taxi's--Over the trip, I took two taxi rides in London, none elsewhere. The London taxi rides were simply they were both short and for about the same price as BOLT or UBER and the cabs were right there when I needed on, and no waiting on a windy day. 

Bolt is a real competitor to UBER and after a month of using it, there's no question that if an when they come to the USA, that UBER and LYFT both will have a very formidable rival 

The Coming of Retail VoIP

In the past, when telecom industry professionals in the VoIP world talked about VoIP and Retail in the same sentence it usually referred to Vonage or other services in the past, like AT&T's Call Vantage, being sold in retail big box stores like Best Buy, CompUSA (remember them), Staples or Office Depot. Lots of time and money was spent, and trials conducted by the likes of PhoneGnome, only to determine that between the costs of getting product onto the shelves, lack of training of retail clerks about VoIP and just the state of broadband in the 00's led to pretty much Vonage surviving in that game, MagicJack causing some disruption, but in reality, VoIP wasn't really a big retail play.

With next week's National Retail Federation conference and trade show happening in New York City, VoIP and Retail have taken on a new life. But not as something being sold at retail, as that ship has sailed, but with some new twists and turns VoIP is taking for the retailers. Two items of news yesterday caught my eye, the first from Microsoft and how their new Frontline Workers effort is going to change how retail workers, and actually field forces, can communicate.

The second came from longtime VoIP industry stalwart, CounterPath and their deal with Honeywell. Honeywell acts as the integrator, pulling all the pieces together for retailer communications on so many levels these days, so the idea of a platform for calling, texting and more that ties to the companies PBX but can offer greater functionality is what Honeywell, and actually what Microsoft are both doing. 

Why and why now?

Retail is now going through a transformation. WiFi in stores with branded ID's is no longer just at Starbucks. Scan any store and you'll see one or more private and protected networks full of Wi-Fi. With faster, bigger and more stable connectivity to properties these days, and the ability to tap dark fiber in many metro areas, the reliability of VoIP now rivals that of traditional telephony. So where many calls between employees during the work never need to leave the local network, even between locations, the cost of calling was eating into retail profits. It also led to communication silos, something Microsoft's Frontline Workers hopes to solve.  

Taken separately these two pieces of news look like PR fluff going into a trade show, but taken together and thought about on a higher level, signals a market sector that about to change. Telecom operators would be wise to recognize what's going on and see the opportunities with Microsoft Teams and also with what CounterPath is doing and figure out how that plays nicely into their ecosystem.

Observations from A Long Trip

As a virtual worker for most of my life, today, a certified global nomad, and someone who has a perceptual black belt in working anywhere, the last few weeks on the road have helped me identify a lot of technology-based travel and communications trends that are worth noting.

Your Mobile Phone Planning

For example, in the past, when I went from country to country, the first thing I would do is buy a local SIM card for two phones and an iPad.

Not as much on this trip.

I landed in London and used my 3 SIM there and in France at the very start. I purchased a 30-day package, and it worked out perfectly. I have a few days more in London, so I'll either top up with a smaller bundle for the last 72 hours, or so I'll be there, or I'll go to the other option, my Google Fi SIM. I used the 3 SIM my five days in France, but when I landed in Malta, given how cheap the service is there, for my five days, I opted for a 20 Euro plan and made it data only. Between the low cost and the substantial data bundle, it was a no brainer as I'm capped at 22 gigs on the 3 Plan, and some quick math showed I would run out before back in London. That buy was advantageous as I was firing away with lots of photos on Facebook and Instagram, which chews up data and making a bunch of conference calls. The data only plan also gave me higher speeds than the basic plan, so I was seeing speeds at upwards of 50-80 megabits per second in both directions while on the island. When I got to Lisbon, I grabbed a local SIM from Vodafone, here again, it was knowing that I would be photo intensive and lots of calls via VoIP back to the states around new years. That plus the experience at Lisbon airport is one of the fastest SIM buying you'll ever see. 

The key to deciding what and if to buy is knowing your data consumption. After the first week, I saw that I was using about 750 megs of data a day just before the Xmas break. I guessed correctly that at the rate I was going, and where I was going to be, out more than in, that WiFi was really an excellent option, but that the speeds and the connectivity may not be there when I needed it. By purchasing the two SIM cards in Malta and Portugal, I covered the spread, so to speak, and still had gobs of data for three days in London, three in Prague, and now back in London. This is very different than when I'm at home and more of a heavy WiFi user than mobile data-centric.

So what does this mean:

1. In the UK, Portugal, and Malta, I was local. This really came in handy, calling friends and restaurants in Portugal and the UK. 
2. In the Czech Republic and France, I was roaming on 3 and didn't see any speed or performance issues, nor any coverage gaps.
3. I never experienced that long lag you experience when you roam using AT&T, Verizon, or T-Mobile. 

But here's where it gets fascinating. In my iPad and in my Android, a new One Plus 7T Pro MacLaren, I used only my Google Fi SIMs as part of their new $70 a month plan for all the data you can handle, but again, capped at 22 Gigs. I used it more for work-related activities and noticed that I would use it more for calls back home than calling people where I was. In all situations, there was almost no noticeable difference in call quality or performance. If anything, in Prague, I felt Google Fi was a slight bit better in audio quality than the iPhone on 3 was, but that may also be the Dolby Atmos technology in the One Plus.

The bottom line is I could get by with just Fi, and you could too.

Restaurants and Reservations

Now, let's move on to dining around. For many years I've been a significant user of OpenTable, and the many look-alikes, including The Fork here in the UK and EU. But they're not the only games in town. Just like Resy has become a reliable option in the USA, around the globe, more services are popping up. ResDiary is one I've been using in London. It's more back end to restaurants but fast and easy. Another I found is Design My Night, and while it looks to be something independent restaurants are using to avoid the Open Table "tax," it does tie together the customer to prevent double-booking at the same time of different establishments. 

What's this mean? Well, for starters, I'm far less dependent on concierges than I used to be. In Prague, Lisbon, and London, I made almost all of my own bookings-ONLINE. In Malta, I made most of them but had the concierge make some calls to confirm. In Marseille, given my friendship with their stellar team, I picked, but they booked and reconfirmed. This was more due to the French language, and the holiday season where closings can happen, and no one bothers to tell the dinner guests.

The bottom line is you can do more of your own bookings, and if you're without a concierge, getting tables at great places is now no longer a barrier due to language.

Getting Around The Calendar, The Map and the Ride

I've been using Uber since it started. And as I traveled in the past, it rapidly replaced local taxis. But on this trip, Uber has taken a backseat to Bolt. Not only is Bolt cheaper, but it's also available in places Uber isn't. But I've also been a massive user of public transit in London and Lisbon, not only because it's the way to go cheaply, but I'm also somewhat familiar with the two cities. But my familiarity is powered by apps. Google Maps, CityMapper, and a London Tube app speedily get me on my way around. I feel more like a local, and rarely am I ending up in the wrong location or delayed going to where I need to be when I need to be there. 

The bottom line--getting around has never been easier. You just need the right apps for that.

You Gotta Have The Power

Power outlets, USB outlets, and battery packs are essential to the traveler. I carry a small cigarette pack size battery pack and iOS Lightning and USB-C cables as well as the local EU or UK power plug. Given how I'm often out of the hotel all day, having the power in your pocket is a significant relief, as the smartphone is really now my guiding light, organizer, flashlight, calling device, and outsourced brain.

The bottom line. Be a boy scout. Plan. Prepare and pack the power.

Thinking back to my first trip abroad in 1981, it was maps, guidebooks, and more. I traveled with a suitcase that required checking before I flew. Now I travel with two bags, and I don't check them. Of course, the one downside with what I carry is you do need to know what to take out and leave in when you go through security, so I allow extra time. Still, instead of being upset when they ask to look at things, I just smile when they ask, "what's that' as carrying cutting edge tech sometimes puts you in a class by yourself.