News Archive - August 2004

Overseas Sales Boost ZTE
August 31, 2004

Chinese equipment firm ZTE Corp. doubled its revenues and net profits in the first half of 2004.
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Nintendo DS to Have Wi-Fi Voice Over IP
August 31, 2004

Information has come out about Nintendo's upcoming DS handheld's ability to serve as a voice-over-IP handset, allowing DS gamers to make phone calls when connected to a Wi-Fi access point.
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Skype takes VoIP software to the Mac
August 31, 2004

Skype Technologies launched a version of its Internet telephony package for Mac owners on Tuesday, as it battles a growing number of competitors offering VoIP products.
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VOIP Growth Won't Benefit All
August 30, 2004

Based on all indications, the major players in voice communication today will be the same players in communication in the future. — I believe I've said that for a long time now.
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AOL testing VoIP
August 30, 2004

America Online confirmed it is testing its own Internet phone service, planning to offer a offer a homemade VoIP service. — Yet another non-standard, market-fragmenting implementation?
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AT&T chief refuses to 'miss' VoIP
August 30, 2004

AT&T let AOL, EarthLink, and others take a lot of the Internet business in the 90's, but it is determined not to allow the same thing to happen with VoIP.
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VoIP picks up momentum
August 30, 2004

The number of U.S. Internet telephony subscribers is expected to grow to 1 million by the end of this year from 131,000 in 2003.
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Webcam images go mobile on Sprint
August 30, 2004

Sprint is hooking up with live Webcam service EarthCam to let subscribers view streamed videos on their camera phones.
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Sprint backs Apple tech for video streaming
August 27, 2004

Apple will help content creators make streaming multimedia available over Sprint's cellular network.
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Sprint, SBC join forces on Wi-Fi
August 27, 2004

Sprint has made a deal with SBC that will let it nearly double the number of places it offers short-range wireless Internet connections.
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Motorola, DoCoMo to make 3G phones for businesses
August 26, 2004

Motorola and NTT DoCoMo plan to jointly develop third-generation handsets aimed at business users.
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Nokia, Vodafone team up on Java effort
August 26, 2004

Phone makers continue the push of Java onto mobile phones, working now to provide conistent platforms across handsets. — I personally wish they would stop with making painfully slow user interfaces and write in C.
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Net2Phone Out2Dry?
August 26, 2004

Sprint picked up a cable-telephony contract with Mediacom Communications Corp., which could spell trouble for Net2Phone, a company that has recently turned its attention to the same market.
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Linksys, Netgear prep soho VoIP kit
August 25, 2004

WLAN kit makers Linksys and Netgear have rolled out consumer and small-business oriented wireless access points with integrated VoIP support.
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Consumers Trade in Home Phones for Mobile and Web
August 25, 2004

The money spent on traditional fixed telephone lines is moving to cable TV providers offering telephony, to mobile phones, and increasingly to always-on broadband Internet connections now available from prices as low as 15 euros ($18) a month.
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Vonage Dials Up $105M
August 25, 2004

Vonage just closed a $105 million Series D funding round, bringing its total funding to date to $208 million. — Will AT&T buy this company? I can only fear.
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Cisco's video CallManager
August 25, 2004

Cisco's CallManager series is releasing the Tandberg 1000 which sports a 12.2 inch LCD screen, built-in speakers and microphone.
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AT&T plans to offer its residential Net phone service to consumers on Amazon.com
August 25, 2004

AT&T continues to push its CallVantage service by reaching a deal to sell its service through Amazon.
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Verizon blames federal rules for broadband holdup
August 24, 2004

Verizon would like to wire tens of millions of homes in the northeast United States with high-speed fiber connections but is being stymied by arcane federal regulations.
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Session Controllers in Demand
August 24, 2004

Sales of VoIP gear in the carrier market rose to $389 million in Q2 2004, up from $350 million the previous quarter. The sales of Session Border Controllers was up 24%.
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Vonage in Deal with Cisco in Subscriber Push
August 24, 2004

Vonage will sell $89 Cisco Linksys phone adapters and home routers to offer VoIP services to customers. The devices will be sold through Staples and on-line.
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Best Buy to sell AT&T's Internet phone service
August 23, 2004

Best Buy will sell AT&T's residential voice over Internet protocol service through 628 stores nationwide and online. Best Buy is already selling Vonage's service through its stores.
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Baby Bell networks hit with price freeze
August 23, 2004

U.S. communications regulators on Friday issued interim rules that would put a six-month freeze on wholesale rates for leasing access to the Baby Bells' networks, to try to preserve competition.
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Wiretaps may mute Nextel rivals
August 23, 2004

The FBI is pushing hard to be able to tap into "push-to-talk" services, potentially damaging plans of new players in this market looking to roll out this service.
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Mobile Business: Stay in the picture during conferencing
August 23, 2004

Using the location of pixels that fit into a pre-determined spectrum defined as possible skin colours, a 'face-centred' mobile technology application stabilises the image of the face, hence eliminating any unwanted camera motion.
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H.264 on TI DSP
August 23, 2004

WWComs, Inc. today announced the launch of its new H.264 Baseline Profile codec (BC-264), which delivers simultaneous encoding and decoding while consuming less than 50 percent of the processing power on a single TMS320DM642 DSP-based digital media processor.
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The Call Is Cheap. The Wiretap Is Extra.
August 23, 2004

Compelling businesses to make it possible for law enforcement agencies to eavesdrop on Internet calls could undermine some of the reasons Internet phones are starting to become popular: lower cost and more flexible features.
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Cablevision Extends $90 Triple-Service Promotion
August 20, 2004

Cablevision Systems Corp. has, what appears to be, a good offer for voice, video, and data services, but some business people do not like that. How much money should one pay for combined voice, video, and data?
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Challenging phone company ''regulatory'' surcharges
August 20, 2004

In the first quarter this year, T-Mobile improved its bottom line by counting fees allowed by the FCC as revenue. — Imagine going to eat and being charged a sitting fee, a napkin fee, and a dish washing fee. I agree with the person who said these fees are dishonest.
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Sonus Posts Profit, Files 10-Q
August 20, 2004

Sonus, finally getting past its accounting headaches, has filed results for Q2 2004, posting a profit of US$4.9 million on revenues of US$42.4 million.
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Tekelec Splashes Out Again
August 20, 2004

Tekelec is buying OSS firm Steleus in a cash and stock deal worth $56 million, more than twice Steleus's annual revenues.
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ATT CEO Dave Dorman's love letter to VoIP
August 20, 2004

AT&T CEO tells News.com that he's turning the company around with a focus on VoIP, which he believes represents the future of voice communications.
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Cisco Leads in Enterprise IP Telephony
August 20, 2004

Cisco was not a player in the enterprise voice market just a few years ago, but is now the #4 enterprise voice vendor and #1 in VoIP, shipping more than 437,000 IP phones in Q2/2004.
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Nortel Cuts 3,500 Jobs
August 19, 2004

In an attempt bring expenses in line with revenue, Nortel is looking to cut about 3,500 more employees in North America. Nortel currently has about 35,000 employees world-wide.
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VoIP firm tussles with states over phone numbers
August 19, 2004

A dispute between SBC IP Communications and state utility agencies over how to distribute phone numbers promises to shape regulations that are key to the future of the fledgling Net telephony industry.
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AT&T strikes VoIP deals with cable
August 19, 2004

In an attempt to spark growth in its Net phone service, AT&T has turned to cable companies to pitch the technology to more consumers.
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AT&T CallVantage Expands
August 19, 2004

AT&T announced that it's CallVantage service is expanding to 21 new markets in seven states. With this continued push and its announcement that it will stop seeking traditional residential PSTN subscribers, AT&T recognizes that VoIP is the only future in the residential market.
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Telcos buying a new FCC chair?
August 18, 2004

This report suggests that telcos might be trying to buy favors at the FCC in the future. Telcos ought to be pouring money into technology innovations, not politics.
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Vonage Offers 311 Dialing
August 18, 2004

Vonage announced it is now offering its subscribers 311 dialing for city information services. Best of all, it is absolutely free. — Vonage definitely has that winning spirit
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BT chalks up new broadband milestone
August 18, 2004

BT announced that is has passed the 3-million broadband subscriber mark, signing up 6,000 new subscribers every day.
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MCI taps Ericsson
August 18, 2004

Ericsson and MCI announced an agreement wherein MCI will deploy Ericsson's Engine solution to migrate its US-based international gateway traffic from traditional circuit switching to VoIP.
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Kagoor Goes Cable Crazy
August 18, 2004

Kagoor has its first MSO customer in Japan after opening offices there a few months ago. — NexTone said in the article it does not care about the cable market.
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Crypto researchers abuzz over flaws
August 17, 2004

Encryption circles are buzzing with news that mathematical functions embedded in common security applications have previously unknown weaknesses.
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Fonix Delivers VoIP via Power Lines
August 17, 2004

Fonix Corporation is now offering broadband services over powerlines, technology referred to as Power Line Communications).
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Huawei Fires Supercomm Snooper
August 17, 2004

A Huawei employee caught taking photographs of other vendors unreleased products at Supercomm has been fired, says the company. — If he had only been successful...
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Teleglobe Launches Bribes Probe
August 17, 2004

Teleglobe has reported that it has launched an internal investigation into corrupt business practices.
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IP Telephony Tests Go Global
August 17, 2004

The Global MSF Interoperability tests October 4-16, 2004 are intended to "demonstrate the commercial readiness of next generation IP services and technology."
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Lingo to Offer International Phone Numbers
August 16, 2004

In connection with its Broadband VoIP Service, Lingo will allow users to select phone numbers from any of 12 cities from around the world.
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Sprint to Stream Audio and Video to Mobile Phone
August 13, 2004

With Spint's PCS Vision Multimedia Services, customers can get streaming audio and video to their Samsung mobile phones.
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Can AT&T Stand Alone?
August 13, 2004

Some believe that AT&T may be a target for acquisition. Whatever the case, valid questions remain as to whether AT&T can survive on its own in this new telecom era.
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Nortel Networks has won its first major wireless contract in India
August 13, 2004

Newspapers reported that Nortel won a major portion of an $863 million wireless contract with Bharat Sanchar Nigam Ltd., India's largest phone provider.
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Some VoIP calls being blocked
August 12, 2004

While the facts in this story are not generally true for VoIP as a whole, it did provoke thought over the fact that cable companies can really control third parties like AT&T and Vonage.
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Group proposes faster Wi-Fi specification
August 12, 2004

A consortium of networking companies has readied its proposal for the next wireless networking standard, as battle lines are drawn between rival groups. The new spec will allow rates of up to 100Mbps.
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Vonage hangs up on some callers
August 12, 2004

Vonage confirmed that some of its 200,000 customers experienced a temporary problems in their service, requiring some customers to reboot their phone adapters.
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Nasdaq to Delist Sonus
August 12, 2004

The troubled equipment manufacturer appearently did not file the proper paperwork in a timely manner— apparently ignoring previous warnings from Nasdaq.
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StarNet's VoiceEclipse Now Available in Retail Cellular Stores
August 12, 2004

StarNet has signed a distribution agreement with Small World Communications to distribute StarNet's VoiceEclipse service through all of their retail locations.
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Nortel Tries On a New Suit
August 12, 2004

Nortel stock dropped on news that it is being sued— again. The equipment manufacturer has really taken a beating in the market over the past few months and projections do not look too good in the short-term.
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MERA Announces Security Update of Its MVTS Session Controller
August 11, 2004

MERA Systems announced a major security enhancement of its MVTS session controller, which serves to cope up with a security threat to VoIP networks.
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'Push to talk' meets Wi-Fi
August 11, 2004

Cellular carriers are said to be working on extending the walkie-talkie feature to Wi-Fi networks—which could mean to VoIP phones.
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VoIP Carriers Calculate Tap Tariff
August 11, 2004

VoIP service providers worry that new FCC wiretap laws may force them to introduce expensive changes into their service, forcing them to raise prices to customers.
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WiMax to turbo charge alternative carriers
August 10, 2004

Research group thinks broadband wireless technology will give competitors leg up against local operators.
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Net phone customers brace for 'VoIP spam'
August 10, 2004

If you're sick of spam, imagine wading through dozens of prerecorded porn and Viagra messages on your voice mail.
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VoIP Terms of Service May Surprise You
August 10, 2004

If you are thinking of ditching a land-line for a VOIP provider such as Vonage or Net2Phone, you might want to think again. Software "End User license Agreements" have gotten a lot of attention in the past over their onerous and restrictive terms, but who would expect such things from your phone company?
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Nokia, Loudeye to partner on music software
August 10, 2004

Loudeye announced a deal with Nokia to develop a wireless music platform for mobile service providers.
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Nortel Update May Include Layoffs
August 9, 2004

Nortel may announce that it will lay off as many as 5,000 more employees. — Damn! Is there anybody left to turn off the lights?? Do these people not know how to run a company? Give it to me. I can do far better.
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Better News on Internet Backbones
August 6, 2004

Research shows that traffic in the Internet backbone is on the rise, setting the stage for capital expenses on more equipment to power the Internet.
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Wi-Fi Phones Make a Splash
August 5, 2004

Cell phone makers plan to release Wi-Fi phones ahead of schedule, bringing new threats and opportunities to wireless carriers and traditional phone service providers.
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Baby Bells win another FCC victory
August 5, 2004

The FCC ruled that the baby bells can build fiber-optic networks into apartment buildings without sharing their infrastructure with rivals.
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Verizon, Cingular get hooked to IM
August 5, 2004

Both Verizon and Cingular announced that they will be offering Instant Messaging services to their subscribers. Verizon is partnering with MSN, Cindular with Yahoo.
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FCC Boss Offers to Tweak Interim Phone Rules
August 4, 2004

FCC Chairman Michael Powell said that he was willing to tweak recently approved rules for leasing access to local telephone networks to win over dissenting Democrats.
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VoIP 911 Still Trails Wireline
August 4, 2004

VoIP service providers still have a lot of work to do to offer the reliability of the PSTN, including 911. — Even so, they will.
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BellSouth Debuts DirecTV Service
August 4, 2004

Apparently, the Baby Bells will sell anything to stay alive.
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China Leads World in Voice, Video
August 4, 2004

China has the world's fastest growing economy and is fully behind voice and video over IP, embracing the new technologies in every area of business.
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FCC Says to Allow VoIP Wiretapping
August 4, 2004

In a notice of proposed rulemaking, the FCC said that it believes that VoIP calls should be subject to wiretapping like traditional phone calls.
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Qwest flexes OneFlex in new arenas
August 3, 2004

The nation's number four local phone provider expands its OneFlex Net phone service into four more markets.
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Study: Cable giants to flex VoIP muscle
August 3, 2004

Cable giants will edge out VoIP specialists as leaders in selling telephone service over cable broadband this year, according to a new study.
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Hackers Are Discovering a New Frontier: Internet Telephone Service
August 3, 2004

Internet phones and the routers and servers that steer and store the digitized calls are susceptible to the bugs, viruses and worms that have plagued computer data systems for years.
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New Siemens phone connects to BlackBerry
August 2, 2004

Siemens announced a new phone that it says incorporates full BlackBerry functionality.
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Smugglers send Net phone accounts to Panama
August 2, 2004

It's the newest thing in contraband—cheap Vonage accounts. What else can you do when your own country slaps a fee on VoIP calls?
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VoIP provider Vonage suffers outage
August 2, 2004

Some customers can't place calls for about an hour, underscoring risk of switching from a landline phone network.
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Sprint expands VoIP reach
August 2, 2004

Sprint has signed a deal with regional cable and Internet service provider USA Companies to provide voice services in California, Montana and Nebraska.
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