End-user perspective on small office tools & technology

Dan Berninger’s “Telecom Turnaround”

HDConnectLogoEarlier this week Dan Berninger, CEO of the newly formed HDConnect trade group offered up another guest post on Jeff Pulver’s blog. In this post, entitled “Telecom Turnaround,” Dan outlines the decline in demand for traditional voice services over the past decade. He also hints at the typical arguments that nay-sayers offer against wideband telephony. It’s all good stuff.

There’s something that I’d like to add to what Dan puts forward. By whatever name it’s known, HDVoice, HD VoIP, or simply wideband telephony…improved call quality is only the beginning. When voice is just another application on an IP network there are a many advantages that can be realized. Improved call quality is just the first benefit that we’ll see (hear?), and possibly the easiest to sell both to the public and regulators.

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VoIP Over 3G In The UK

vodafone-3g-usb-modemIn mid-July I traveled to the UK, visiting my employer’s head office in Cambridge. Being away from my home office is in some ways a drag. I’m so accustomed to being in control of my local network, which is certainly not the case when I’m abroad. Suffice it to say that I can’t use anything VoIP related from within the office LAN at HQ, with the possible exception of Skype.

At the hotel where we typically stay near HQ there is wired internet access provided by Swisscom. It’s a decent service, reasonably fast and reliable. However, at 15 Pounds Sterling (around $22 USD!) per 24-hour period it’s also very dear. To get around some of this cost one of my co-workers loaned me a company issued Vodaphone 3G USB dongle. This was the first time that I’d used one of these little gadgets.

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Considering Wideband Audio Over The Traditional PSTN

polycomlogoQuestion: What was the first HDVoice product that Polycom offered?

Answer: The Polycom VTX 1000 conference phone.

The thing that makes this fact so curious is not immediately obvious. The VTX 1000 is not a SIP device, nor even IP capable. Like it’s closest relative the Polycom SoundStation 2, it’s designed to connect to a plain old analog phone line (a.k.a. POTS, the PSTN).

Of course, the common wisdom is that you just can’t have wideband telephony over the PSTN. Yet the VTX 1000, circa 2003, delivers wideband conference calls so it seems that assertion is not strictly true. Understanding this is in a little more depth would seem like a good thing. Happily, Polycom published a white paper describing the internals of the VTX 1000.

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Gigaset Keypads Are Backlit

I can't recall where but someone recently asked me if the keypads on the Gigaset SIP/DECT handsets are backlit. At that very moment I didn't know, but I have since confirmed that all three (A58H, S67H and SL78) are in…

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HBOs “True Blood” & Polycom Kirk DECT Gear

Maybe it’s a guilty pleasure, but I admit that HBO’s ‘True Blood” is one of my favorite programs at the moment. Imagine my surprise when watching this past Sunday’s new episode when I recognized an unusual phone ins a scene.

The scene has a pair of vampires sorta camping out at a posh hotel in the Dallas area. One is trying to leave, or at least make a call to a friend. Another is trying to stop him on both counts. Cut to the close up shot of the handset….

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It’s All Good Over At Skype

skype_logoOver at Skype Journal the always interesting Evan Wolf has a very good post called, “The Skype’s Not Falling.” His assertions are simple, factual and sensible. The end is most definitely not near for the alternative telecom giant. They face some issues, but who doesn’t.

The fact that they are legal issues means that time is a factor. They have lots of time to work out the problems either technically or politically. They can code their way out of trouble. Some have pointed out that making the project open source could allow them to move faster, if that’s a concern. They could negotiate their way out of the mess. That’s just about dollars, and they have a stack of those.

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