VOIP Solution and Service

Many people see the initial savings over traditional phone service and think they are getting a good deal, however many times they are paying almost double for VoIP just to have a single bill for all three services. So if you are already paying for Cable TV and High Speed Internet from the cable company dont be tricked into adding VoIP from them also.

Using the cable companies for your VoIP needs can cost you $23.00 more a month just to keep your Cable, Internet, and Phone on one bill. The VoIP service that the cable companies are offering is usually no better than most VoIP providers out there regardless of what the sales person tells you. Take a look at what these cable companies have to offer:

• Comcast Digital Voice: Comcast offers an unlimited US & Canada calling package for $39.95 a month when you purchase their high speed internet service. If you would like to keep your existing internet service from a competitor then the price jumps to $54.95.

• Wide Open West (WOW): WOW offers two choices, the WOW phone Basic and Advanced plans. The basic service offer unlimited calling in the US with Call Waiting, Call Forwarding, 3Way Calling, and Call Return(*69). The Advanced plan offers the same features as the basic plan and Caller ID, Repeat Dial, Selective Call Forwarding, and Voice Mail. The Basic plan costs around $25.00 a month when you purchase their high speed internet service. The Advanced plan costs around $30.00 a month when you purchase their high speed internet service. WOW does not offer VoIP unless you purchase internet service from them.

• Bright HouseNetworks: Bright house offers what they call Digital Phone for their VoIP plan. The plan offers unlimited calling in the US with Call Waiting, Call Forwarding, 3Way Calling, and Call Return(*69), Caller ID, Repeat Dial, and Selective Call Forwarding. The plan costs $39.99 a month when you purchase their high speed internet service or $49.99 if you use your existing internet service provider.

• Time Warner: Time Warner offers what they call Digital Phone for their VoIP plan. The plan offers unlimited calling in the US with Call Waiting, Call Forwarding, 3Way Calling, and Call Return(*69), Caller ID, Repeat Dial, and Selective Call Forwarding plus a few more. The plan costs $39.99 a month when you purchase their high speed internet service.

Nokia launched a new solution for broadband operators at the Broadband World Forum in Venice, Italy. This will enable broadband operators to combine VoIP services with broadband.

The Nokia Voice solution brings POTS (Plain Old Telephone Service) compatibility to the Nokia D500 IP DSLAM, connecting traditional voice connections to a packet-based network.

Operators using the Nokia Voice solution can now introduce voice services into the broadband network. The solution will help fixed operators to save costs, capture segments of the market and increase Average Revenue per User.

The Nokia D500 IP Digital Subscriber Line Access Multiplexer allows operators to migrate to a VoIP solution by supporting both Voice over Broadband connections, and basic analogue 2 wire POTS connections from the same platform. It also supports Session Initiation Protocol (SIP) enabling fast deployment of new services, including interworking “convergence” applications such as voice and multimedia applications for fixed and mobile operators. The Nokia D500 also provides the Quality of Service features for connectivity with WLAN enabled terminals and PCs.

The Nokia D500 delivers integrated IP functionality unlike any other IP DSLAM in the broadband industry. It also includes ADSL2+ features for enhanced bandwidth and greater reach.

Orange plans to offer mobile phones that can also make VoIP calls over a home Wi-Fi router. Orange had first announced its plans for the service naming it as Unik (for “unique”) on May 31. With this announcement Orange joins a growing number of European network operators offering similar services.

The new service will be available to Orange customers who subscribe to both its GSM mobile phone network and its DSL broadband Internet access service. Using a special mobile phone costing from €99 ($125), they will be able to make unlimited calls from home, connecting via Wi-Fi to their Livebox DSL home router. When they are outdoors, calls will be carried over Orange’s GSM network at the usual rates.

The Livebox can carry up to three simultaneous Wi-Fi calls, Orange said. Although Orange also offers GSM and DSL services in the U.K, it had said earlier that Unik would only be available in France.

Similar services combining GSM and Wi-Fi are available elsewhere in Europe, including BT Group’s Fusion, launched in the U.K. last year, Deutsche Telekom’s T-One, which opened in Germany in August, and TeliaSonera’s service Home Free, now available in Denmark.

Golden, Colorado-based New Global Telecom has announced the launch of a new quality control initiative for its 6DegreesIP customer community. 6DegreesIP is NGT’s wholesale hosted and trunk-based VoIP service, which is resold by service providers to small- and mid-sized business customers. NGT’s 6DegreesIP product suite of managed wholesale VoIP products offers Service Providers a highly effective, comprehensive solution to address residential and business end-user needs. 6DegreesIP includes a complete range of telephony features, extensive local & long-distance calling footprint, worldwide conferencing capability, E911 service, training and other support. TDM-to-IP and IP-to-IP switching services are also available.

The new product provides deployment best practices and design and configuration standardization for the firm’s resellers, as well as LAN assessment, installation, and testing.

NGT’s Network Performance Platform was created to ensure that 6DegreesIP retail partners exceed the business customer’s expectations for high quality communications services on a 24-7 basis. The program will be rolled out in phases over the next 12 months, with initial phases focused on standardized CPE combinations and configurations, as well as a consistent service delivery model that includes formal LAN assessments, installations, and testing. Additional components of the initiative include CPE surveillance and troubleshooting tools and automated configuration management, security initiatives, hosted test and assessment tools, and QoS based access services.

New Global Telecom, Inc. is the leading provider of wholesale hosted and trunk-based VoIP solutions and outsourced network management services.

More and more Cable Companies are jumping into the VoIP loop. Recently many internet service providers such as Comcast and WOW have started offering VoIP service as a package price plan when you purchase their cable. Cable and traditional phone companies are realizing that VoIP is here to stay and want to join in.

In 2005, more than 90 percent of cable VoIP users were Cablevision or Time Warner customers. But the scenario changes as a number of providers, including Comcast, Cox and Adelphia in the United States, and Shaw and Rogers in Canada roll out VoIP services to markets.

However, at a time when US telecom regulator, the FCC has allowed top cable operators to pitch for wireless spectrum, I find it surprising that the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (Trai) has just decided to keep local cable operators outside the loop of 3G radio spectrum. Trai’s decision is a blow for the cable operators of India who were gearing up to pitch for 3G spectrum to hit the next level by launching mobile TV, broadband, video-on-demand and e-commerce related services.

Motorola has agreed to pay $3.9 billion in cash to acquire Symbol Technologies, the companies announced Tuesday.

Motorola will pay $15 a share for Symbol Technologies, the company best known for bar code scanning systems. The firm also makes handheld computers, wireless networking equipment and radio frequency identification systems.

Motorola is primarily known as a cellular-phone maker, trailing only Nokia Corp. For over 50 years, Motorola has continued to drive the broadband industry forward, working to develop innovative new technologies that support the efficient delivery of emerging services to both residential and enterprise subscribers.

The Voice and Data Solutions Group provides the IP subscriber premises and infrastructure solutions that allow cable operators worldwide to leverage standards-based technologies to deliver profitable data, voice, and video services.

Motorola is a world leader in delivering PacketCable VoIP solutions based on embedded Multimedia Terminal Adaptors (eMTAs), carrier-class integrated Cable Modem Termination System (CMTS)/routers, and high-performance transport

Motorola is the global leader in standards-based cable access equipment for subscriber locations and offers the following products to provide broadband operators maximum flexibility for deploying VoIP services to the home.

Xnet Communications has released a public beta version of Megafon, their Voice over IP (VoIP) software specifically designed for Mac users only. Xnet Communications, Inc. is an independent technology center whose core business is the creation of high-end solutions for data communications. Xnet is also a system integrator that combines standard components as well as original products to customized solutions to solve the complexities of data logistics.

The company is offering Megafon for free until June 2007; then it will cost $79. Users can also buy a prepaid subscription now for $49.

Megafon enables users to talk with other Megafon users for free. However, Megafon is designed to communicate with all devices on all platforms that use VoIP, not just Macs. Megafon users can also call mobile phones, land lines and more, and they can receive calls from normal telephones as well.

The users can also create private telephone networks by using the option to add multiple Session Initiation Protocol (SIP) service providers. It also supports Virtual Private Network (VPN) software, for secure remote connections to a corporate network.

Megafon is offered as a Universal binary application that runs natively on Intel and PowerPC-based Macs.

Wireless VoIP can help schools reduce their capital and operational costs by eliminating the need to install new wiring or upgrade an existing network.

With wireless technology, faculty and staff can be reached anywhere on campus, maintaining their connectivity to the network throughout their “mobile” workday.

Wireless VoIP helps school to combine its existing wired links with wireless connectivity between buildings to add coverage. Also, for schools that have students living on campus, VoIP is a cost-effective way to give students phone access while reducing the school’s expense for providing such services. These two examples clearly indicate the growing popularity of VoIP in schools and colleges.

Dartmouth College, located in the Connecticut River Valley in Hanover, N.H., was one of the first to deploy a campuswide wireless network a few years ago. Now, it’s adding voice services also. The plans are to distribute the softphone clients in rounds of 200, with all 1000 first-year students expected to have the software in about two weeks. Ultimately, the school intends to extend the service to the entire community of 13,000, including faculty and staff. For the initial rollout, Dartmouth is using Cisco IP Softphones,

Rateliff, network administrator for the Lakeville School District in Minnesota, rolled out a $600,000 VoIP system to the massive 10,000 student-, 1,500 staff- member school system.

Helsinki-headquartered F-Secure Corp, a leader in the internet and mobile security space, launched its technology centre in Kuala Lumpur this week. This is in sync with the company’s plans to bolster its presence in Asia. F-Secure is market leader in offering security through internet service providers (ISPs), having cornered 36% market share in the European Broadband ISP space and 25% in the combined European and North American markets.

F-Secure already has a technology centre in Helsinki. The Kuala Lumpur centre will be responsible for detecting and removing malware, spyware and rootkits, besides protecting customers from phishing attempts.

Voice over Internet protocol (VOIP), Wireless local area network (WLAN), Skype, etc. are some of the areas vulnerable to future virus attacks in Asia. Also, Internet security threats are on the rise with the expansion of broadband facilities. Cheaply available Voice over Internet Protocol numbers and Net calling are helping crooks launch new data-thieving scams.

In a twist on phishing, fraudsters are now calling their intended victims instead of e-mailing them. The fraudsters likely use stolen identities to set up a voice-response system and acquire local VoIP phone numbers.

When Apple Computer Inc first introduced digital music palyer and companion iTunes music software, it created a legitimate market for music downloads and solved a problem vexing the technology industry. Nearly five years later, analysts anticipate Apple will deliver a product to solve the entertainment industry’s current dilemma: how to bridge the gap between the living room television and the computer.

Analysts speculated that Apple may stream movie videos directly on to television sets, or connect Apple’s smallest desktop computer, the MacMini, to the TV with a more user-friendly interface, or use an upgraded video iPod to make the link.

Apple is introducing new technologies…OK. But we, as VoIP adorers, are waiting with baited breath when apple explores this market.

Recently every other industry heavyweights is being swept with the VoIP craze. Just this month, Microsoft added VoIP features to Windows Live Messenger, which will be available to users of its forthcoming Vista operating system. Meanwhile, last year Google released Google Talk, a similar software-based service.

So, for those who are waiting for VoIP news from Apple, insiders say that Software engineers at Apple Computer have been toiling away on a new set of features that will allow users of its next-generation Mac OS X operating system to place phone calls over their Internet connection. Apple is expected to bundle iChat 4.0 with the operating system overhaul, code-named Leopard and VoIP Internet dialing may just be one of several new features in it. This move will pit the Apple-branded video conferencing and instant message software against existing VoIP solutions from the likes of Skype, Google and Microsoft.