Graves on SOHO Technology

Not long ago I mentioned the Nova project being launched by Dan Berninger and FWD. I was curious at what kind of uptake he was seeing at the FWD web site (http://www.siptosip.net) Dan responded that he’s had around 400 people fill out the application form, but has accepted only about 20% of the applicants. Therefore there are some spaces left in the planned 100 seat trial.

I’m a little surprised that the interest has been that solid, but pleased as well. It’s an interesting experiment. The very fact that recent VUC post call sessions have run into 6+ hours kinda reinforces the fact that such shared conference capabilities do hold some interest and value.

Back On December 22nd FWDs Dan Berninger sent out the following e-mail:

Dear FWD Member,

You are invited to participate in the next FWD HD trial starting January 1, 2010.

We have room for 100 participants in the trial which tests a web like model (the Nova) for enabling HD communications.

The blog post attached below describes the Nova concept and motivation for the trial.

Please fill-out the application at http://www.siptosip.net/content.html.

Participation in the trial requires a $100 USD setup fee.

High definition represents the next frontier for communications.

First generation high definition offers twice the sound of standard definition devices and delivers nuances associated with the emotional content of speech.

We will notify you of acceptance via email within 24 hours and start a waiting list after filling the available slots.

The trial will explore the use of the Nova as a business collaboration tool, as a means for families to stay in touch, and as a shared space for live events.

Please feel free to contact me with any questions.
Regards,
Dan

The email references his post as a guest on Jeff Pulver’s blog. In that post entitled, “FWD Nova Trial: HD Communications via a Web Model” he outlines the idea of the “Nova.”

This email was also noted elsewhere. It raised some eyebrows amongst folks in the Broadband Reports VoIP Forum.

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The HDVoice trio of HDConnect, FWD & Polycom have announced a seminar on HDVoice in Washington DC on December 10th. Here’ s the gist of the matter from the Polycom press release:

The HDConnect Project and Polycom, Inc. invite members of the Washington, D.C. tech policy community to experience high definition telephone calls via an HD calling trial starting Dec. 10, 2009. HDConnect Steering Committee members will hold a seminar and demonstrations in Washington, D.C. to help legislators and others learn more about why high definition telephony promises to transform the communication landscape. After the seminar, attendees may register to participate in the trial.

…further…

High definition telephony offers more than twice the voice quality of standard phone calls, and is the biggest advancement telephony has seen in more than 100 years. HD calling makes telephone calls significantly more productive because it all but eliminates the misunderstandings that arise because the standard phone system cuts out four-fifths of the human voice.

Sometimes a legislative mastery of the patently obvious is not so easy to achieve. Best of luck to Mssrs Pulver, Berninger & Rodman as they work to persuade the regulatory crowd that the 1930s technical standards of the PSTN are simply not adequate in the 21st century.

Yesterday I got the email from Dan Berninger at FWD. My one year paid subscription is coming to an end. They’re offering the opportunity to renew if I want, but not signing up any new accounts. I guess that means that after a long and pioneering run FWD is finally winding down.

In truth, there’s just no need to sustain the account. Anyone who needs a free SIP  account can get them from other sources like OnSIP, IdeaSIP and Gizmo5. Once you have a SIP account the entire realm SIP URIs is available to you, including me.

I can’t help but have fond memories of using Free World Dialup in my earliest experiments with VoIP, SIP, et al. I’m grateful that Pulver & Company offered the service.

Earlier today someone started a thread about FWD over at the VoIP Tech Chat forum on http://www.broadbandreports.com. Several forum regulars questioned the status of FWD, which is a fair question as not much has been heard from those involved. Certainly the web site has changed, and a lot of the old resource material seems to have gone away.

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I’ve been traveling a lot lately so the phones around my home office have been idle. Even so, I was a little surprised to find that my snom m3 was not making or receiving calls this morning. Well, it was and it wasn’t. I could dial out and the call appeared to be placed, but I never heard any audio. Once clear of today’s VUC call with Dan Behringer, and lunch with my wife, I was able to investigate this further and get the matter resolved.

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This just in….

Please update the SIP domain for connecting to FWD from fwd.pulver.com to sip.fwdi.net before March 31, 2009.

FWD is moving to a new SIP platform as a part of a focus on HD voice.

The platform offers the present functionality, but we will retain only those features members express interest.

NAT traversal gets addressed automatically, so there is no longer a need for fwdnat2.pulver.com or stun.fwdnet.net.

The transition includes a March 31, 2009 end of life for my.FWD, FWD.Communicator, 800 # access, and the voicemail platform.

Until the new portal gets launched, request additional FWD numbers via numbers@fwdi.net.

Send transition related support requests to transition@fwdi.net.

Regards,

Dan

………………………………..
Daniel Berninger
CEO, FWD

GigaOm has a nice guest post by FWD’s Dan Berninger. Dan describes the benefits of wideband voice encoding, as well as the obstacles to its more widespread acceptance. He rightly points to internet connected devices as being the only way to reap the benefits of wideband voice.

I’m happy to say that in the past year members of VUC have started adopting wideband telephony. From the time when I first reviewed the Polycom IP550 & IP650 to now more and more people are wideband capable, having decided to invest in the hardware themselves. We will soon have access to the Siemens Gigaset range in the US, which include some wideband capable DECT devices. And finally, we have a fully interoperable soft phone in Counterpath’s Eyebeam v1.5 for Windows.

We are making progress toward wideband IP telephony.

Today Jeff Pulver posted a blog entry giving his sense that HDVoice will spark a renaissance in the VoIP world. He feels that carriers will be able to differentiate themselves on the basis of quality and earn customer loyalty. He’s outright enthusiastic about HDVoice.

I find Jeff’s focus in this area encouraging. Jeff has a lot of clout and could help push wideband telephony into the thoughts of people who might otherwise pass it by.

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For quite some time I’ve had a SIP URI of one sort or another. It started with FWD, but I also have Gizmo5 and OnSIP accounts as well. I’ve made some of them public for over three years. I even published one in an article on SmallNetBuilder, which surprised the publisher a little. If you’re looking at the blog on my web site just glance to your right and you’ll find my current SIP URI.

Well Friday, while working in the yard setting up the displays for Halloween, I received a completely out-of-the-blue call from a gentleman in Romania…routed via that SIP URI. This is to my recollection the very first such call that I’ve ever received.

I was at first a little confused as the gentleman was not really trying to reach me, he was testing to see if the call would go through. It did, in fact it was forwarded to my cell phone, which I answered while in the front yard.

I hope that the next call takes a lot less time to come through. I’d like to see people using SIP URIs more and bypassing the PSTN completely. That will position us to see more of the as-yet-unrealized benefits of VoIP.