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When you look at how low mobile broadband pricing is getting in the UK with a 2 year agreement, you have to just scratch your heads in the USA and wonder why we are being asked to pay so much, especially when the coverage for 3G is so sparse.

It seems the USA based mobile operators bought the spectrum but never really built it out, preferring to make as much as they could on older and slower technology. Now with the pressure on from Clearwire and Sprint, everyone is pushing to get the speeds up, and the networks built out. That's what happens when competition is reduced to an oligopoly like we are seeing.

That's why the best thing that can happen is the entry in the USA mobile space of Cox, Comcast and Cablevision. Each will bring their own form of clout into the industry which has been running by ancient minded voice folks for too long.

Prepaid data for the same price as a contract? Well, that's nothing to sneeze at. As a matter of fact, the no contract rate with Virgin Mobile now available in the USA mirrors what I see when I travel internationally. The arrival of real true pre-paid data in the USA.

Today, I deleted my foursquare.com account. I did it for one reason, and one reason only. I don't like "playing games." Oh, I don't mean the idea of being a Mayor, or getting badges. Those things I did as a boy. "Playing." But Andy grew up a long time a go. A very long time ago, and candidly, as much as I like to know what my friends and colleagues are up to, these days everyone you know isn't really your friend. They just know of you. When it comes to my "friends" I know what they are up to. And if I don't I can easily find out. I don't need some LBS snooper service to tell me like a lurker or a stalker.

A few years ago I came up with the expanded circle of trust concept when talking with a client. It's one that is really needed these days when one realizes just how wide a circle is cast under the guise of a "social" network is, and it's what's really needed as a reference base in the era of LBS (location based services) tied to your mobile phone's GPS. Given how easily your movements can be tracked, traced and yes, likely tampered with it's time to think about who knows what and when.

So here's the layers of the circle of trust. Lower score, means high trust and relationship.

1. Immediate Family

2. Personal friends

3. Colleagues

4. Relatives

5. People you work with (It's only business)

6. People who live around you (You have access to them)

7. People who work around you (They have access to you)

8. People who you know of (they are in you friends of friends or business circle)

9. People who know of you (they are in you friends of friends or business circle)

10. People you don't know personally-You're a fan

11. People who don't know you personally-They're a fan (or worse)

The farther down the line you go, the less anyone should expect trust to be implicit. It just doesn't work that way. So with the kind of friend requests I've been getting via FourSqure and my dislike of "games" I just took myself out of the "game."

Will you get a load of which Silicon Valley giant is behind the AT&T Microcell...It's Cisco.

Word is slowly leaking out that CableVision will play the mobile voice and data game where their footprint stops extending. This is an interesting play, and my guess is the carrier will be T-Mobile or Sprint as they are the least likely to be viewed as competition, and Spint brings with them Clearwire in some ways, and that brings with it some cable partners like Comcast.

Here's why I am betting on T-Mobile and not AT&T in the GSM world or Sprint winning over Verizon in the CDMA world:

1) T-Mobile has no interest in cable TV in the USA, nor do they compete in any way, shape or form. AT&T has uVerse.

2) T-Mobile has a hotspot business, but it's in building and ever since they dropped Starbucks there hasn't been any growth; AT&T bought Wayport to be in the business of WiFi

3) T-Mobile dropped home phone service (the @HOME offering); AT&T is in the landline business (still)

4) T-Mobile has network capacity to sell and share; AT&T is very overloaded and will be for some time to come.

Now for why Sprint vs. the rest of the CDMA players

1) Sprint has deep ties to the cable industry.

2) Sprint is into 4G and alternative networks and has been for years

3) Verizon is a dead on competitor for landline, FIOS and TV content delivery

4) Verizon is pushing their Mobile Broadband data solutions heavily

Bill Miller, one of the few people from Digium who could ever tell me what they were up to (the other is John Todd) is leaving. I wish him well wherever he is headed. He's one of the folks who can take geekspeak and make it understandable.

Before there was the iPod there were MP3 players. Before there was the iPhone there have been mobile phones. And before the iPad comes along people will say there was the Kindle and other eBook readers. And, just like the former, the latter will be thought of nicely, but not embraced the way the iPad will be by the industry that has the most to gain, but will first look at it and say "we have the most to lose." That industry is the traditional publishing world of books, magazines and newspapers. And that group will make all kinds of noise, with more veteran executives saying things like "over my dead body."

With the announcement today from CondeNast, and how they're embracing the iPad, we see the first, of what will be a series of publishers who recognize that if they don't change their ways of delivering content, and what they deliver, they know they will be going down the same precipitous slope that the record labels, like Terra Firma are sliding down faster than they can dig in and entrench for the next wave of how music and video are consumed. You see, the iPad is a mixed-mode, multimedia and mixed media device. That means a whole new way of authoring content, producing it and delivering it are coming, all surrounded by interactive (both realtime and time delayed) communications by communities. We will see all kinds of new "mashups" including those that are one to one, one to group, group to group participation around the new content, delivered in a way that will live up to all the "phenomenal" and "amazing" adjectives tossed out by his Jobliness, Steve Jobs back in January.

This also means that those real-time communications messages, as well as the content they include, and how they are actually delivered, will change too. For example, I won't just have a Skype or Gizmo chat or call with one person. I'll have a group call that stems from comments made on Twitter (can you spell Phweet) inside Mashable (have you seen what they are doing inside Google's Buzz?) or as part of a Google Wave (and you wonder what Eric Schmidt was thinking about in all those board meetings at Apple--it wasn't hardware.) These real-time threaded conversations will quickly go to real time voice calls using Skype and GoogleVoice (imagine that inside Buzz and Wave) or better yet, just as the gaming world has taken to Voxygen (an agency client) whose development efforts with Blabbelon we'll see all kinds of new ways that voice and collaboration services begin to interact with the multimedia delivered via the iPad.

Media companies will thus need to be more understanding of what telecommunications is, and how its not only the new ways the content is delivered, for they will have to become more aware of what's possible and how to monetize it from both the consumers AND the advertisers. One company which is clearly grasping the need for the pipe is Cablevision, which via their cable, High Speed Internet and now public WiFi cloud has clearly grasped the most important aspect of what this all will mean in their world first. Distribution.

Right behind them is Comcast, which is making similar moves but albeit more slowly and is likely farther out, but because of sheer mass, could easily go from their 4G and Business sector pursuits and quickly deploy public WiFi just like Cablevision. Unfortunately, the third company in cable which could have done very well here, TimeWarner--because of their publishing expertise, holdings in video, music and print, as well as via AOL and their own publishing relationships that goes back decades with Appleh ave over the past two years shown how much they fail to grasp the obvious, having spun out their cable and AOL properties. Talk about being premature. They came and went so fast and so early that no one enjoyed the screwing.

The other longterm winner will be at retail and that will be WalMart which over the past few years has been gaining an understanding and buying up smart teams, and hiring the kind of people which understand new media. Music and video sales are already declining at retail. So too are books and magazines. By seeing the future in digital, multimedia content and figuring out how to own the source material (or at least have rights to it) then be able to sell it (not just monetize it) the retail giant will be in a position to dominate along side Apple.

All this means that what we've seen before in eBook readers, is nothing like what we'll see from the iPad as to its effect on a targeted industry---publishing. No one should be surprised and no one should try to stop progress. Instead the publishers of today should wake up, smell the coffee and find creative ways to work with Apple, not fight the battle that they can't win.

Before I wrote about VOIP, Video, Collaboration and all things IP communications I used to write insatiably about wine, food and all things gastronomic. I was, am, and always will be a foodie and a wine lover. Once pal Doug Margerum of WineCask fame in Santa Barbara and now an amazing winemaker, labeled me “The Ultimate Wine Insider” as I had cracked the code and actually become true friends with many a winemaker, wine seller and wine buyer on a variety of fronts. Somewhere along the way I started to write a weekly wine column for a local newspaper and it, like Grand Central’s sale to Goggle, paid for two weddings where wine and love were at the central core.

But something happened on the way from the vineyard. Wine blogs, wine forums and wine video all took off and I was left holding the vine, as my passions, while still burning, and palate still tasting, got more into the social aspects of wine and food, and less about the writing. Well, those days are over. And, I’m back writing and musing over the other second passion in my life beyond being connected (my wife and our life together really is the first passion these days.)

You see, I have always written about wine. It could be what’s in my glass, what bottle I just discovered hiding in the cellar, which winemaker just scored big or where in the world you can have a great meal. But wine is more than just a glass or a bottle, for like IP communications, I’ve actually learned a lot about it. Last week at Vinisud my discussions in very bad French with newly found winemakers showed that my palate hadn’t gone the same way as my Del Mar Times wine column, nor had it made a left turn in Temecula, the so called wine region just north of San Diego County. No, my palate, and all that I could recall about regions, varietals and even who carries which wines as importers into the USA still was there. So, with this encyclopedic oeneological capability, I’ve started to resume my wine blogging, and so far without many a tasting note. Those will come, but for now, I’m using the blog as a way of easing back into what I know will become my “fun” blog. It’s called WineScene.com and yes, it’s open for business. Like VoIPWatch there’s no ads, no guest posts. Just me and my views on things, and the people I have gotten to know in the wine world. It will also be where you can learn about what’s next in wine, where to go, and what to buy. Oh, and yes, it will be the chronicle of all of the “Andy Wine Dinners” that others have seemed to really like, and I’ve enjoyed throwing that you may have heard about.

So if you like wine, food and have this desire to eat well and drink better, as some old friend named John McNulty in Philadelphia likes to say, then never drink poorly again. And, if you’re into VoIP, Video or any form of IP communications and find your way to San Diego sometime, don’t hesitate to offer to meet up. The cellar is full and I’m always ready to share some very tasty treats.

For a while I've been thinking about the whole femtocell issue. This week AT&T just announced more trials in more markets to give you more bars in even more places. The issue I keep wondering is how long the broadband providers will keep allowing AT&T to free ride over their pipe. That answer though may be more complex than we know, as AT&T provides super fat connectivity to many of the cable operators the same way that Level3 and Sprint do, so more than likely, in those agreements are clauses that address this type of thing.

What's ironic here is had the carriers deployed real Fixed Mobile Convergence inside their networks, then a WiFi router and a smartphone could have handled all this and likely for far less. But, after reading that a MicroCell covers 5,000 square feet, if the carriers strings together enough of these, they can add coverage where no cell phone has gone before. Net gain for them, and the customer pays for it. That means lower capex and opex for the big guys, higher monthly revenues and more money out of your pocket.

For years we have heard how "smartphones" are the hot area. Apple, Android, RIM, Microsoft, Nokia and others have all been pursuing the business market with the "smartphone" being the portable desktop computer. But as time has gone on we have seen more and more adoption, acceptance and use of "social" applications like Facebook, Twitter, FourSqure on the desktop and mobile phone. As the mobile device becomes the dominant way people are connecting and staying connected with their friends and families. This means we need to have a defined "SocialPhone" category going forward.

The RuderFinn Mobile Intent Index reveals to me that the handset manufacturers are missing the mark by not having a social phone in their product mix as the segmentation details of intenders reveals as much interest in Social Phone type usage as their is for Business applciations. Except one company. INQ Mobile. Their new Chat 3G phone is precisely aimed at the SocialPhone market. Why? Well more and more I find that I'm living inside Facebook, that I'm twittering more about what I'm doing and of course communicating on Skype. When I'm in the UK, this is an ideal upgrade for my SkypePhone2 (also made by INQ) so after seeing the Chat 3G hands on last week in Barcelona, it was obvious to me that finally there's a company, perhaps the only company, that "gets" it when it comes to the largest swath of intenders using mobile phones. Bravo. Well done.

As a matter of fact, while Nokia has made some strides software wise, not one of their devices are called social phones, nor has anyone really defined the standard of the category for it, (though one could argue that INQ with the term SOCIAL MOBILE as part of their web site are starting too.) The smart phone category is already well defined, and for the most part, but without segment definition clearly being articulated the "social phones" companies like INQ, ANDROID and Nokia are are going to get their new social focused devices unfairly lumped into that "older" market segment. And we all know that no kid want's to be using a phone that's designed for dad or grand-pop.

When you drill down and look at the "socialize" data you can see that the intent is there to use a mobile phone for a lot of actions that are already completed on a laptop or desktop, as well as a mobile phone. That means as we all go more mobile, there is a greater need for more "social" phones that do those things better and more easily. This can be everything from application specific definable softkeys, a more robust interface, faster and more powerful processors that do more within and on the device as well as the Mobile Cloud structure being put in place. This means what RIM does for business, and what Apple is doing with MobileMe leads to the conclusion that some company will have do the same thing for social.

Sierra Wireless' lead in the 4G space won't be for long if San Diego based Novatel has anything to say about it. Word is leaking out that they have a 4G MiFi in the works.

The idea of a true 4G pocketspot is salacious, as my experience with the Cradlepoint in Las Vegas varied by location. As more towers get added in the Clearwire markets, the throughputs and quality of connections will only improve. Being able to share a connection adds further opportunity for better mobile connectivity in a fixed position. And, unlike 3G devices, from what I have experienced, Mobile WiMax doesn't suffer from the same "Totem Pole" effect as 3G over GSM does.

While it's unclear how soon more of California will see Clearwire, the future seems bright for them. This also means that for Novatel and others in the Pocketspot market, that things will be getting clearer too.

Given voice is still just a passing thought for most people using Clearwire (aka Clear) for data growth of 87,000 subs is not to shabby.

The recap from Fierce is worth a read as it sheds light on where things are headed.

Lee Dryburgh is putting together another bang up eComm conference under the banner this April, and my agency, Comunicano, and I are proud to be able to support it as an official sponsor.

The big news is how Lee has also been able to assemble a conference on the subject of Augmented Reality at the same time.

Cellcom has been asked to stop blocking VoIP in Israel by the Ministry of Communications.

Hat tip to Moshe Maeir of FlatPlanet Phone Company.

PC World has the results of their annual 3G survey and the outcome is very predictable. You can see for yourself in the story penned by Mark Sullivan.

I'll admit first hand I'm a very happy customer of Verizon Wireless when it comes to their 3G wireless broadband offerings when I'm out and about in San Diego County and just about anywhere in the USA. I can't say the same for Sprint where I find their speeds inconsistent, coverage patchy and most of all, their uploads horrendous. My testing with T-Mobile has been good, but not great, as their footprint isn't fully built out. When I'm in one of their coverage areas the service is very reliable, but given I'm just north of where they have true 3G service, and new towers in San Diego don't exactly go up overnight, they're forced to play catch up. As for AT&T, they may have more coverage in more places, but the service so far has never been one I can rely on for consistency, so while I've seen some amazing speeds on my unlocked HSDPA MiFi, the totem pole effect that impacts GSM when one is in a high traffic/dense user area means I won't see the kind of service I get in Europe with the same device.

All this leads up to why we need more WiFi. Speeds and consistency.

Back in the day when Starbucks cared about the WiFi experience and T-Mobile was the supplier, speeds and throughput rocked. It didn't matter if you were one of the only users sipping and surfing, or if you were in a jam packed coffee house. The experience was pure Nirvana in most locations. Other places with solid deployments, (i.e using real T1s vs DSL) were a pleasure, and now with even faster speeds available as a result of the cable industry's investment into DOCSIS 3.0 public WiFi (not Municipal WiFi) can be found in more places and with better speeds as long as the installation is done properly.

When one looks at the top speeds from the four major carriers, one quickly realizes that they are half of what a T1 and WiFi delivers. Costs are higher per month too for Mobile Broadband, but you do get it where there's no WiFi or broadband around, so of course you need to pay a premium for that. That said, it's now becoming clearer that the Mobile Operators are realizing that Mobile Broadband offload to WiFi is their salvation which makes one wonder why T-Mobile dropped out of the WiFi game over a year ago, just when it was about to be needed.

In my view what Cablevision is doing with WiFi in the metro New York area is the model of what cable companies should be doing. It's a vision a few of us had in an abortive start up called Leaps n Bounds in the early part of 2002 when we realized the best partners for WiFi were the cable folks. Unfortunately, back then, cable companies focused on consumers, and getting their customer service proposition down right. It's now, almost ten years later that they have a business proposition and own their own broadband offerings vs. the @HOME model that existed back then.

One group missing from the mobile broadband test CLEAR and their partner Sprint when it came to mobile WiMAX. Clearly (pun intended) the study would have shown how much different the speeds are, but also how limited in coverage the 4G service offers. I expect that to totally change between 2010 and 2011 when CLEAR will role out in more places across the USA and begin to likely introduce more and more 4G handsets than are currently available based on what we learned at Mobile World Congress last week as SideCut Reports points out.

All this means that the 3G networks today have their place, but faster and more reliable technologies are already here today. It's just a matter of time before the public really catches on.

It seems that MagicJack can't win for losing. After a glowing review last week by Walt Mossberg in the Wall Street Journal, Mike Masnick over at TechDirt brings to life the small matter of the BoingBoing law suite (something we likely all forgot about) and has brought it back to light.

The New York Times today digs into the high stakes world of chips, and I'm not talking Las Vegas when it comes to SmartPhones.

San Diego's Qualcomm has been at the front of this line for years, and their tie up with Motorola, INQ and others shows that. Now Intel and Nokia are playing the same kind of game, starting with MeeGo. For anyone who thinks that's their only dance together, I'd bet some chips at the Vegas sports book that you'll see more from the two...as a matte of fact, a Nokia/Intel merger would be very disruptive to the entire mobile and technology world. In Intel you get vision and development. With Nokia comes design and distribution. Together then can sort out marketing, product management and more as both have the structures in place for that, and both have strengths and weaknesses that compliment each other.

While some may call that a gamble, what isn't in the world where Google and Microsoft can both enter any market, and where Apple already has shown many sectors how to do it right.

Om is speculating and talking to his sources about just what aspect of the recently announced Skype & Verizon Wireless tie up is "exclusive."

My take is that it's the special software that Skype built for Verizon that mimic what we've seen in the UK with 3. I don't believe for a second that Skype's 3G client for the iPhone or the GSM versions for the Android will be "exclusive" at all.

What does this mean? No Skype for Sprint anytime soon...

Don't ever try to hide reality from those that know...and Todd Carothers knows. He spent time working with the folks at Openwave, then did some time with former client BridgePort Networks (since acquired by client CounterPath) and he's fired off two very targeted posts aimed at the carriers and their network folks providing them options to Skype.

In an interview with Investor Business Daily about the Skype/Verizon partnership I suggested to reporter Brian Deagon that this was the first step at carriers working with IP communications service providers to deliver a better product over 3G and beyond. This means that there are really four players in the game who can do that, and what's common between all of them is one key point. Carrier cooperative vs. carrier hostile. Skype has learned to be "carrier cooperative" in mobile. The others are client Truphone and GoogleVoice (via the Android phone). Each has a business model that keeps minutes and a share of the revenue from calls with the carriers. Then there is CounterPath whose FMC technology keeps the carriers in control.

These wars are just gearing up, much the same way that we had alternative long distance battles back in the 80s. What has changed is it's now Alternative International Long Distance. The AILD market is the battle ground for the carriers and for the AILDs.

You may also want to check out John Furrier's POV over at Silicon Angle.

Give Peter Sisson credit for being first, and for TechCrunch breaking the story. Now Line2 offers 3G calling and receiving, with a second number on the iPhone.

Reminds me of what Jeff Black and the crew at TalkPlus tried to do.

Not a week goes by when we don't hear of yet another company entering into the aggregation of information space. This week we see Jabbin release their 3.0 Beta.

This is a space filled with competition from the likes of VoxOx, Meebo, Truphone, Gizmo (when it's back out) that do various pieces of the IM and VoIP. Adding in Social Messaging means convergence but the key here is they claim the app is both mobile and desktop/laptop which means your friends go with you.

Walt Mossberg of the Wall Street Journal has come out with a glowing review of MagicJack in the Journal this week. In the story Walt reveals that MJ's parent is coming out with a Skype like service as well.

The Skype press conference with Verizon wasn't more than an hour over when Brian Deagon of Investors Business Daily rang up to ask my take on the move by Verizon to work with Skype. Brian is one of my favorite IBD reporters because he asks the kind of questions that get to the heart of the story first. He doesn't wade in to the story where the facts can get in the way of it. No, no. Brian is a reporter who does his homework and then writes it. Just like he did yesterday.

My opening response was "Verizon Wireless has become the dumb pipe of wireless" taking a page from David Isenberg's famous "The Rise of the Dumb Pipe" that he wrote back in 1997 when he was with AT&T Labs. Truer words have never been written. I then went on to explain that this was a "if you can't beat 'em, join 'em" effort by Verizon Wireless to become revenue recovery specialists. That means they already know that the international long distance market has moved to Skype. Heck, all you have to do is read the Telegeography reports that shows that Skype has 12 percent of the market now for international Long Distance. I then explained that getting a slice of the Long Distance pie that Skype has is better than losing it all together, which is exactly what has happened. Skype, like Google Voice and Truphone are the alternative long distance carriers now for the International market, and each has in their own way, very distinctive and very different value propositions for Mobile Operators.

Beyond losing the battle for LD, Verizon Wireless is also very much suffering from iPhobia--the condition caused by the runaway success of the iPhone by Apple. Pal Om Malik, who was cut off in his line of questioning at the press conference yesterday by Verizon's designated hitter, Jeff Nelson, echoes and amplifies that in his post last night entitling the post "Skype & Verizon’s Fear of the iPhone."

Om ponders if the deal with Verizon Wireless is exclusive. My sources tell me it's not, but what is the exclusive piece of the deal is the customized Skype handset software and integration with Verizon Wireless' network. I'm also hearing that WiFi, which is not yet available, and file transfer are likely going to make it into the next version. The other element that is missing is roaming.

In the Investor Business Daily story Brian Deagon quoted me as saying "Skype is the winner..." and they are. By taking a deal on likely Verizon's terms, Skype gained unfettered access to the top smartphone manufacturers and deep working relationships, especially with RIM, HTC and Motorola. Just like the have with Nokia.

Oh, speaking of Nokia, Skype last week quietly updated their Symbian client to a full blown P2P client architecture. This tells me that the iPhone 3G version is likely next to come, as the Android and RIM clients work has to be finished for a while otherwise Verizon would have to open up their EV-DO network. And, they don't want to do that just yet, as their fear of Skype swarming over EvDo would put them in the same league as AT&T, the brand they are trying to distance themselves from when it comes to their network.

Update: Sentiment on this announcement by both GigaOm and IBD were pro-Skype, as is Techcrunch with their coverage as well.

The Skype deal with Verizon Wireless proves the old adage of "what's old is new again."

Fearing that throngs of Skype users would do to their EVDO network what the iPhone has done to AT+T, Verizon went with a circuit switched solution that is similar to what Three in the UK has had since 2008 if memory serves.

The non 3G issue revolves around capacity issues that even Skype's super compression technology couldn't overcome. What's intersting though is the new Skype Nokia client for the N and E series devices as well as the tightly woven experience on the Nokia N900 shows those of us that Skype calls over 3G on GSM can work, does work and will work.

This for Skype is a huge win as it shows that one of the most conservative carriers in the world has broken ranks, but for Verizon Wireless it shows how much clout the voice folks still have vs. data guys.

The lack of WiFi support supports this thesis.

The service launches in March and will be on nine Smartphones. The app will run in the background and make it possible for Skype users to be called for free.

Details are here: http://www.verizonwireless.com/skypemobile

What I like is as an unlimited Verizon user with a Droid is that I am far more reachable and not tethered to a PC in the USA any more than I am in London.

I'll go deeper into why this is a win for Skype in a follow up post.

I like home grown companies, and this company, TelCentris is really that. Started by one of my neighbors and his sons, the company, which markets under the VoXOx name is releasing what they are describing as a universal translator tied to instant and social messaging that is built into the VoxOx client according to XConomy.

I agree with XConomy's Bruce Bigelow. Neither Google Voice nor Skype will be far behind. The only question is which one shoots first.

One of the great things about being in Barcelona are the things you pick up. Here's some more details on the upcoming Skype and Verizon Wireless announcement that's due to come out tomorrow.

Contrary to what everyone is thinking Verizon is using circuit switched voice not 3G, ala what Three in the UK does. So the calls are really PSTN. Skype works with Level3 in the USA so that's how the calls will get handled, hitting the Level3 NOC somewhere like Atlanta or Denver, and then going over IP to the Skype user on the other end. The question is whether this is a home-grown Skype solution or another deployment solution from iSkoot which is used by THREE in the UK. There's also no SMS to or from the Skype client which some people use from their laptop or desktop client, but of course it has the usual IM functionality over 3G data for presence. That's how it will works from the contact list with the presence refreshing automatically. That piece will help Verizon Wireless sell more 3G data plans and more higher priced smartphones, getting the user base to migrate up from feature phones.

The devices that will be announced are the RIM Storm, Storm 2, Curve, Curve2, Tour and Tour2 and the 8830 World Edition Blackberry, plus all the Androids from Motorola and HTC sold via Verizon Wireless.

But here's the big downer.... WI-FI is reportedly NOT supported with the current release but will/may be supported in future releases. Based on what I've been able to stitch together here in Barcelona all is very similar to the Skype client software that was updated back in the fall and is being used on the INQ SkypePhone and SkypePhone2 Having used both of those phone for a while now, I have a leg up on most and knew which questions to ask sources at the show.

This means that the 3G client that Skype is reportedly working on for the iPhone will be the first, native 3G app out the door. Right now, Skype will work if you Jailbreak your iPhone and spoof the app to think that 3G is Wi-Fi...(now you wouldn't do that would you...)

Let's face it, Apple changed the game with the App Store and the iPhone. Nokia followed with Ovi (which is improving), RIM with their version and of course Market for Android.

You didn't think that the GSMA and their members and some of their members, both carriers and handset manufacturers would stand around idly, while the upstarts made money and they didn't. No no. So the GSMA have developed a Wholesale Apps Market with the handset folks who are lagging in the apps world, but have massive production capabilities and massive sales.. Great idea, but many years too late. Everyone will be compared to Apple once again as they were the innovators who made apps work after so many before them failed.

Note who's not in the press announcement: Apple, Google, RIM and Nokia. Sometime's it's not what you say in those that matters. It's what's left out.

Sagem-Orga, one of the three or four companies that makes the SIM cards that are placed inside the mobile phone just likely sent shockwaves through companies like San Diego's Novatel Wireless, Cradlepoint, Option and Sierra Wireless all of whom make 3G dongles and some of whom are creating what I like to call the category of PocketSpots or as Novatel Wireless has dubbed them, Mi-Fi's.

Basically, Sagem has taken the SIM card and turned it into a Wi-Fi hotspot. This basically means that every mobile phone can become a pocketspot ala what Joiku has done with their JoikuSpot technology but added it to every SIM with their newSIMFI technology which uses the new generation USIM card. According to the announcement the “SIMFi” can be inserted in any type of classic handset to act as a universal and interoperable HSPA/Wi-Fi router for any device."

The stakes for PocketSpots just got higher, and for the makers of MiFi's a lot more clouded.

I would not be surprised if Apple has this in the wings for the iPad so the 3G connection of it can be shared or tethered.

Fuze Mobility cites a Bloomberg / Business Week article about the next move by Skype with Verizon Wireless in the USA.

What I find funny is that Hutchison Whampoa may be a Hong Kong company, but the success of the Skypephone,that already has the Skype service running on it, has been in London using iSkoot’s technology initially. Based on some recent experiences in London I think Skype is beginning to roll in their own technology in the UK as some of the original functionality seems to have been dropped, possibly unintentionally.

For USA users on Verizon, likely with Droids, Blackberries and a few other devices, Skype over 3G will be the first real Skype mobile play beyond Jailbroken iPhones and Wi-Fi enabled iPod touch devices of significance. In the past Verizon and Sprint phones running the Windows Mobile OS have had some Skype but never with a fully integrated network play. That means Skype has some technology within the carrier vs. simply running over the carriers dumb pipe.

For Skype users, the experience of connectivity takes on a whole new meaning, and I fully expect this to drive sales of data plans for Verizon. I would not be surprised to see some Canadian carrier also coming on board in the near future, as this is just the start of a Skype over 3G initiative, including the iPhone and likely the iPad over the next year to 18 months.

Good news for travelers heading to Barcelona for the 2010 Mobile World Congress put on by the GSMA.

As part of rolling out Skype Access on Windows the Skype folks are offering free access on Boingo in Barcelona.

Once you get to Barcelona look for SIMs at Phone house locations for your unlocked phones.

If you are away from your loved ones today then take advantage of Truphone's Valentines Day promotion.

Oh and Boingo and Truphone will be a great combination for those with WiFi smartphones like the iPhone, Android and Nokia E or N series phones.

Disclaimer:Boingo and Truphone are clients,

Rumor has it Cable TV MSO VoIP provider Singlepipe is in play. Reports are they have interest from at least one competitor, Momentum Telecom.

A second rumor has it that Skype and Verizon Wireless have gotten chummy of late, and an announcement at next week's Mobile World Congress is being planned. If you look at history, Skype and Verizon Wireless have history. Skype already ran on a Samsung Windows Mobile smartphone some years back that was sold by Verizon. I recall calling Alec Saunders from Munich on that and also on a Sprint supplied HTC Windows Mobile device from that ran Skype too. While some may expect to hear that Skype is saying, "AT&T get lost," I don't think so. My intel tells me that Skype is working hard on a 3G optimized iPhone app but the to be announced play with Verizon is a way to show how 3G voice can work right sooner. My sources also tell me the play with Verizon was one that couldn't pass up as well. Candidly I wouldn't be surprised if this app runs on a BlackBerry, Android or maybe even the INQ phone that has been shopped around to mobile operators in the USA the last few months.

Other rumors has one of the leading consumer desktop video companies launching a mobile video client and more...

Time will tell.

It seems that DataJack has lost their ability to link to the T-Mobile coverage map. That implies that T-MO has had a word with them about using their network, or I should say, likely NOT using their network. By clicking through to the DataJack coverage map one finds that they don't have one.

Coverage information is currently unavailable. Check back for updates soon.

There was at one time a legacy agreement in place between TMO and a company that was rolled up into or acquired by DataJack, but more than likely that was an EDGE/GPRS agreement for some other form of data service. Normally in these cases what is called a "cease and desist" letter is sent and that should be enough to cause what occurred. One can only hope that the acquiring company's executive did their homework before the buy, and didn't get stung when the TMO lawyers came to them.

This brings total skepticism on my part about the validity of the offer. While the pricing model is great, one would doubt that AT&T will sell them wholesale access at a time when their network is already massively overloaded due to iPhone users, and with anticipation of more users via the Kindle or the upcoming iPad.

My guess is some ingenious VoIP type will figure out how to mashup making telephone calls using the new form of virtual currency called Kwedit.

The story today in the New York Times about the new way to pay could be a key to many a carrier's future user base.

Ever since the iPad announcement we have seen one company after another make noise that their application is now able to make calls over 3G. First was iCall. Then along came Fring and today we have 8 x 8 making their's.

What I have yet to see though are any real time reviews that this is working perfectly in a mobile environment. My attempts with 3G VoIP are mixed. If I'm standing still and have really good connectivity the calls work, but when driving, the experience has been less than optimal. Of course this will improve, but I doubt the experience over 3G will come close to my solid experiences in Las Vegas over Clearwire using Truphone and Skype in a series of trials with nothing more than an iPod touch and the native versions of the companies applications and a Cradlepoint travel router with the Clearwire 4G USBdongle. Those experiences, when in motion, were as good as my laptop using Skype and the same 4G dongle.

Me Too, Me Also....sorry Cisco, you're not me different.

Cisco should just buy Skype or Truphone and stop being so far behind the curve. This iPhone app will be big and Cisco will be a major force to be reckoned with as usual.

So, where does this leave Avaya?

Sometimes it isn't what you say or how you say it, but what you don't say that speaks volumes. Now this may not ring true, but on the surface it does seem to insiders to be either clear as a bell or simply a matter of not reaching out and touching the right people.

In black and white, plus blue and orange, AT&T issued a call for Applications in an event called Open Call. Funny thing though. One big platform in the mobile device eco-system that makes up AT&T that's missing is Apple's iPhone platform. Another is Symbian from Nokia. Now the latter I can understand as Nokia's Series 60 Smartphones never really have caught on within AT&T other than some neutered E61 turned E62s and the E71x that is not Mobile VoIP enabled out of the box. So much for OPEN Calling.

Anyway, the lack Apple, which has the most advanced app store and app developer market in this promotional mailing is a sign. That sign is that AT&T has likely come to the conclusion that Apple customers are really Apple's at the end of the day are not friends any more. By consciously excluding the most active and forward thinking developer community speaks volumes and says "we don't want them" vs. "we need them."

The exclusion of Symbian developers, perhaps the largest in the world, is a slap in the face at Nokia. But that's nothing new for them when it comes to AT&T. For years AT&T has carried only a few of the best designed, most ergonomic and perhaps most powerful GSM products around. While other leading carriers have embraced the N and E series, AT&T has basically said, "we'll take this or that." The lack of Symbian inclusion here only furthers that position.

So much for the world of Open.

In what looks to be a breaking of the ranks at Google, a job posting hints that the Silicon Valley ad serving giant turned hardware manufacturer, will be adding sorely needed phone support.

While they're at it, the Android and Nexus one teams need to get their acts in sync too. And as a consumer electronics manufacturer now, albeit with the help to date of only HTC, they have a lot to learn about production. First off it seems that some of the Nexus One devices are not all created equally. Mine for example has a different circuitry according to some developers who have apps running on devices shipped to the east coast, meaning some apps work, and others require modifications.

Secondly the back of the phone which snaps in place doesn't have the fit and finish of similarly priced smartphones from Apple, RIM or Nokia. This "cheap" finish work takes away from the elegance in both design and function.

Designing hardware is not much different from designing a web page, so in Google's case, they need to take what they learned crafting their home page and apply it to the Nexus One. Simple. Clean. Elegant. Functional, and the same for everyone.

Back in 1974 I learned what a fax machine was. I used both a Xerox and Graphic Sciences fax machines to send press releases to the sports desks in Philadelphia. In 1976 I bought my first one from Xerox and quickly learned that the paper was the expensive part of the equation. Well a lot has changed since then, including how little some of us rely on faxes at all. Many of us inside the VoIP world have likely heard about the SIP based T.38 standard, but few understand it. Others may, like me, use scanners and emails, so while faxing may be going away for some of us, there remains a booming business around it, especially when hard copy is still required for documentation, usually when a signature or confirmation of a transaction is involved.

At IT Expo I caught up with FaxBack, a company that has taken on an interesting spin and made an old technology new again.

FaxBack’s new HTTPS Fax Platform enables fax machines and fax servers (from all vendors) to stream fax data over the Internet, with TDM level reliability, even on low quality networks. Their four components attack both the problems found with T.38 as well as brings greater use of faxing back to businesses everywhere:

The HTTPS-Enabled Fax ATA: to connect fax machines to VoIP providers over the Internet, adding features like fax image archiving and email notifications.

A (FREE) Microsoft Exchange 2010 UM Fax Connector: enabling enterprises and SMBs to connect fax to Exchange, to deliver faxes to a person’s inbox.

FaxBack’s Fax Cloud Solution: for carriers and enterprises – providing integration into virtualization environments, and client connections (fax-to-email, fax machine and Microsoft Fax) or premise-based fax server connections, over the cloud.

The “VoIP Fax Server”: Provides enterprises and SMBs with cost savings and UC integration, through a full featured and tightly integrated fax solution (HTTPS, T.30, T.38, SIP Stack, and fax server).

After talking with the founders during IT EXPO I learned that HTTPS Fax has four key differentiators over SIP T.38 which is likely why more than 40 carriers and enterprise customers are evaluating FaxBack’s HTTPS Fax Platform. It all makes sense.

Reliability: SIP T.38 is susceptible to burst packet loss. The HTTPS Fax Platform has a 30 second buffer, so a recipient could lose their Internet connect for 29 seconds, without losing the fax connection.

Security: SIP T.38 has no security provisioning when transmitted over the open internet. HTTPS [via SSL] is encrypted from point to point [crucial for healthcare (HIPAA/SOX), financial and legal institutions].

Bandwidth Reduction: HTTPS delivers 5-1 bandwidth reduction over SIP T.38. T.38 is triple redundant, sending packets multiple times.

Simple Provisioning: Using HTTP(S) ports, no additional firewall provisioning is typically needed

So while faxing may be thought of as a thing of the past by some, FaxBack may have hit on the solution that is very true to their name that really does bring Faxing back.

Hat tip to Phil Wolff about Skype suffering yet another outage on Sunday. This is clearly a growing pains issue. When I see over 21 million users on everyday there's growth happening, and that's a good thing.

A few weeks back it was an outage tied to the App store where a tick box wasn't checked. That got fixed fast. Then about a week or so ago there was a login issue. Now today we have a services issue.

So far I have not felt the impact, as I've been able to receive calls via Skype In, dial +99 numbers for HiDef Conferencing, etc.

What's in a name? Well to some who heard the name for Apple's new tablet/slate/pad lots of emotional hemorrhaging it seems.

Sure many of us more evolved men know that some women call their feminine napkins aka tampons or "pads." There also called rags, plugs and more. But in every case, it's slang for what was commercially known as Kotex or Tampon, both brand names. Well before those came along there have note pads, drawing pads and writing pads, and we don't hear the artists, doodlers and writers screaming for blood.

Besides, Apple does have a very senior, extremely polished and experienced woman at the helm of their Corporate Communications efforts in Katie Cotton, and nothing that impacts the Apple brand ever gets by Katie.

So here's why I think iPad is a good name.

1. It's iPod with an A (I do like the letter A)

2. Us older folks grew up using pad and pencil or pen

3. Tablet was already used by Tablet PC

4. Slate was a computer brand in the past, and Slate also is linked to some Tablet PC formats

5. It's another four letter word

Yesterday i participated in a full on demo of VisiMeet, from Chicago based IOCOM, a company I met last week at IT Expo in Miami Beach. In a lot of ways what I saw reminded me of SightSpeed, a company my agency and I helped grow in stature and size (over 6x from when we first started with them) and saw them through their exit to Logitech in 2008.

Visimeet had a lot of what I call "me too." They offer pristine video conferencing. So does SightSpeed. VisiMeet offers multiparty video. So does SightSpeed. VisiMeet offers a browser based viewing capability. So does SightSpeed. VisiMeet is built for business. So is SightSpeed. They also do a lot of similar things on the server side to insure a fully synchronized calling experience. So does SightSpeed. VisiMeet has a simplistic chat facility. So does SightSpeed. The service works on Macs and Windows based PCs. So does SightSpeed. But that's where the comparison's end.

One of the features I liked was the "rejoin last meeting." Another was the ability to resize each individual's window frame. I had four VisiMeet team members up on my 24" monitor and my image was on the laptop. Then I moved people around. A third really cool feature was the ability to use multiple cameras on each participants end, and to view them at the same time. Now that's "me different."

The comparison and difference to SightSpeed prompted me to then check up on the musings of SightSpeed's former CEO Peter Csathy who is now the guiding force behind Sorenson Media. Peter took up blogging during his time at SightSpeed (with some gentle coaxing at times from me) and has used both his lawyers instincts and business acumen to leverage the finer points of social media effectively, without compromising his integrity or his company.

That was when I caught his post about copycat web sites, by Sorenson's competition. BrightCove. The more I looked at the two companies home pages the more I saw that Peter was, as usual, right. Given that Sorenson's web site was one of the first things tackled by their VP Marketing and Strategy, and my sometimes wine pal Erik Quanstrom, I started thinking back to a lot of conversations I've had with both of them and the more I looked and thought the more I realized not only was Peter correct, it seems that the giant, Brightcove, was clearly trying to "me too" the lesser known, but longer established Sorenson Media, much in the same way that ooVoo and now VisiMeet were "me also-ing" SightSpeed.

Why do I say this:

1) Layout

2) Colors, tones and effects

3) Use of similar terms, placements

4) Duplication of graphical elements (i.e. the iPhone)

5) Special Offer for Free Trial

Don't get me wrong, Brightcove is a very good platform, but its a platform that came about as a result of a changed vision, and not the original one. I remember Csathy's discussion with me just after he started with Sorenson, where he shared the Sorenson business model and longstanding company vision. It was their original one and has been the same for now some 15 years. He told me then it was a successful model.

Now let's take Brightcove, which started off in 2005 as a YouTube-type consumer-focused video content site. YouTube won that battle as Brightcove and others all have learned the hard way. Then Google bought them and no other company has really a close second since. So when that other "me too" direction failed Brightcove “evolved” by changing their business model into something completely different. Call it Brightcove 2.0. But by looking at their new website, one can only think they're being another "me too," this time though it's not "You Tube" it's Sorenson Media they're copying.

Perceptually, the market looks at Brightcove as the Goliath in the sector while Sorenson is clearly the "David." But in looking at the new Brightcove web site, it sure seems like the giant is copying the more entrenched, far deeper inside the technology veterans, who until Csathy arrived, never were bold about what they did. They just did it. That tells me that Sorenson is pushing on the gas pedal (which is always Csathy's style) on Brightcove and Brightcove is responding, feeling the heat.

So how does this come about? Well back in the day when I was working at a large ad agency and a new piece of business would come in, we would immediately ask "what were the competition doing with media? What was their creative like? What was there slogan? What was their tag line?" and many other questions. I would scour the research files, torment the research team into finding reports, news accounts, copies of ads, commercials or radio spots. I'd spend hours pouring over the most tiny detail because we didn't want our clients to be like the other guys, we wanted our clients to stand out from the crowd. You see, it was very easy for the client to say "we want to look like xxxxxxx" but it was our job to say "you want to be better than xxxxx" and get them there.

Copycat marketing doesn't make you better. Copycat marketing doesn't make you stand out. All copycat marketing does is get you blog posts like this. And to me, you don't have to be a marketing genius to do copycat marketing on the web. All you need is some basic design skills, some basic coding tools and a lack of imagination. But if a web site is the face of what the company is, and it's a copy of some competitors, then one has to wonder what else they're doing is nothing but a copy too. And in my book, that's not too BRIGHT.

It remains hilarious how Apple and Google are playing with one another over the GoogleVoice application. Rather than simply agree on how to make it work, the two are having a superpowers (I want to say super poser) standoff.

So today, Google updates their web browser based version to offer a smoother and more elegant performing functionality, according to a Reuters report.

As someone who was involved in the launch and success of GoogleVoice, from the GrandCentral era, I'm happy to see that no path of being blocked is stopping the team there from making sure their users can still use the service. But at the same time, there needs to be detente and that won't be coming any time soon. The launch of the Nexus One, more than even backing the Android play is the root of this. Having now had my Nexus One for a few weeks I can safely say, its no iPhone, nor is it even as robust as the Motorola Droid. On my Droid I love having the benefit of GoogleVoice, and there's no comparison to coverage and signal strength vs. the iPhone on AT&T. Hands down, the best experience I have is with the Droid.

But Google going into the handset business is at the root of the battle, with GoogleVoice nothing more than a pawn in the game of chess that the two powerhouses are playing.

What's amazing to me though is how Apple hasn't worked with the mobile operators to develop their own iVoice platform. I mean, not much inside GoogleVoice hasn't been done before. Go back in time to Webley, now called CommuniKate which for all intents and purposes, other than the hidden callback aspect of GoogleVoice does almost all that GV does, minus the transcription.

So here's the play for Apple-

1. Buy Webley/CommuniKate whose already proven voice XML/IVR is world class and patented

2. Integrate PhoneTag

3. Offer it to the carriers as a value added service

This Rethink Wireless piece supports the Apple buying technology theory.

Game over.

Last week one of the highlights at IT Expo was Startup Camp, organized by pal Larry Lisser (previously a client at Mobivox) who organized a conference within a conference. Sponsorship came via Twilio and PhoneTag but the real stars were the four new companies, including Fonolo (a client of mine and a company I hold a stake in.)

Read Fonolo's Shai Berger's account of the event.

The reason I liked Startup Camp Telephony was the rawness of the ideas. Often times I see companies at DEMO or UnderTheRadar where companies that are already polished up and ready for the stage get up and talk. Berger who has a few years of presentations now under his belt, but the other three had raw passion around the idea and it showed. One clearly had stage fright. The other had technical glitches, while the third had a great idea whose store was not unfolded until the very end of their presentation.

But it was the ideas that mattered. Those ideas showed me there's still a lot happening in voice.

While the attention to Linux isn't one of my areas of focus, I do appreciate the fact that Skype does. Just this past week they released a new Linux version. JK On The Run has the details.

There have been apps on FaceBook for a while that let you do all kind of VoIP tricks, but most of them have been basic "call me" apps. Om Malik reported that 8x8 has launched one too, but took them to task for their impersonal understanding of social media writing:

"I hate the random photo (see graphic) that’s now being displayed on my page, especially when it could easily customize it by picking one of my Facebook profile photos instead. Another bonus would be if one could place the Call Me button on fanpages as well."

While FaceBook is becoming more and more a staple in many people's online diets, given how 8x8 is focusing on the business market it likely would have made more sense to figure out how to build this kind of functionality into LinkedIn. Now that would have made them, very "me different."

The acquisition of Gizmo by GoogleVoice is starting to pay dividends.

A report from TechCrunch's fearless leader, Michael Arrington, has the GoogleVoice guys adding Click to Call to the newly minted Chrome Browser (at least on the official Windows version) and a report that GoogleVoice will have a softphone.

I'm already using Google Voice with my Gizmo softclient and inside CounterPath's XLite, Eyebeam and Bria for Mac (beta) but browser based softphones are improving so expect the new Flash or Java based one from GV to be an upgrade to the one that Gizmo also offered for a while.

An analyst report says AT&T needs to spend five billion dollars MORE to improve their wireless network to support all the data usage that they are starting to see. And people wonder why I'm, as well as Om, are saying Voice over 3G doesn't really work?

Almost two years a go, a retired former AT&T Network executive called what AT&T needed to fix the network a "seven billion dollar coat of paint" to fix things so its not like they woke up last year and realized that they had both an issue with under capacity and a backhaul problem on their hands. It was known and known very well. But like so many companies from our past, where profits over performance ruled the day, the company has forsaken the customers and reduced capital expenditures in favor of better stock performance.

Telegeography is an analyst firm that great at one thing and one thing only. The numbers. While many firms try to be all things to all companies, I don't know a firm that can be as consistent or as concise with their factual reporting. So when today's news about the decline in International calling hit their site, I knew there was more to the story.

Turns out there is.

Skype minutes are UP. Way up. And the way they are looking, it looks like 2009 had a sizable rise and from what I hear, 2010 will be even bigger.

Now here's the big caveat. As more people connect to Skype the Skype In and Out minutes will flatten but Skype overall minutes will rise.

Oh, and if you ever wondered what the Skype folks think of me, I received this video from some friends in their London office...needless to say, I'm smiling! (Warning it takes a while to load)

Longtime UK ex-pat journalist Jeremy Wagstaff, who for years was the Wall Street Journal's man in Jakarta and all points SE Asia has a very interesting take on Skype and how it will be transforming.

I see Skype in 2010 being the following:

1) The 10,000 pound gorilla in video communications

2) Dramatically expanding their place in day to day business

3) Making huge forays into Enterprise communications - possibly doing their what Microsoft has never been able to achieve

Lastly, I see more and more Skype in the daily lives of people, with one exception. Mobile. I remain unconvinced that Skype even needs a mobile play. What they need is simply connectivity to the mobile network, and not have to keep the fight going. As mobile becomes more and more IP centric, the mobile path for Skype will become much easier.

News from Broadsoft last week makes me think that the folks there have got their heads in the cloud.

Well at least that's my takeaway after reading their press release as it appears to me that all of the new Broadsoft service enhancements can reside in the cloud, not only at the switch which actually creates a cloud of sorts. I share that view because as broadband becomes more widespread there is less need for servers on location and far greater efficiencies avchieved from the ASP/Time Sharing model that the cloud really is.

Just look at Voxeo. The HD Voice Support follows Orange's announcement and the move that long ago is available from Junction Networks's OnSip between users endpoints that are capable of supporting the better sounding solution.

The QoE offering is another service I foresee others emulating and likely expanding upon, but Broadsoft gets first mover advantage here. Much like FlatPlanet and their announcement about dynamic Caller ID announced last week, many of these services are really best put in the cloud, not on premise, but few if any seem to offer any unduplicated features.

Next week at IT Expo in Miami Beach (where Broadsoft will have some folks talking but on different panels) I'll explore what it really means to be "in the clouds" with the likes of Thomas Howe, Irv Shapiro, Alec Saunders and others. Those are the folks who not only talk the talk, but are walking the walk everyday.

Have you seen the great assembly of insight and expertise from M-Trends in the report called Mobile Trends 2020? Granted I was asked to contribute my view (see page 25) but the rest of the group has some rather keen insight too.

Forget the so called "experts" on panels at CTIA and Mobile World Congress who are all representing "paid" points of view. I'd love to see the group that Rudy De Waele assembled for this report and have them at one event speaking, moderating and presenting. It is clearly one of the most well informed, insightful groups that are living the technology revolution, not simply being arm-chair quarterbacks, sitting on the sidelines pontificating about what they just "think."

I for one look forward to catching up with some of these folks in Barcelona with Rudy during Mobile World Congress.

9 to 5 Mac asks why is Apple blocking VoIP on the iPhone.

The question is asked, because it's a proven fact that on jailbroken iPhones all the apps that can't talk over 3G can talk if you use the right apps that fool the phone and the apps into thinking 3G is WiFi. When you do that, Skype, Fring, SipPhone (or whatever they call it now), Truphone and others all "work." By "work" I am saying you can place and receive calls. But having tried those calls on the iPhone (yes I have jailbroken my iPhone 3GS that I paid full price for and now have a virginal 3GS) the overall experience is not that great. Maybe if I'm standing still the calls sound good, and yes, even some when I'm in motion, but in an era of unlimited calling plans and dial around services like GoogleVoice, Truphone and even the Skype app on Nokia phones, connecting to others over the Net isn't impossible with the right gateways in place.

That said, I fully expect Skype, whose codecs and algorithms enable better quality calling than most to be throwing resources against having a 3G or 4G application out this year once Apple feels the experience is in keeping with what Apple is all about.

In my personal view Apple, like Skype and Truphone are concerned about the quality of the experience. What's good enough for geeks and early adopters is not good enough for them and while the apps, like Truphone on Nokia N and E series phones can make and place calls over 3G, as someone who has used that in various countries, over various operators 3G networks, 3G VoIP is not something I could consistently endorse as it's not really ready for prime time. Back in the day of amateur radio, many a "HAM" operator had all kinds of experimental technology available to them. Some of it eventually got commercialized. Others never made it out of their lab. I see 3G VoIP the same way. Sure there will be something there that works, but with LTE looming and Mobile WiMax growing, calling is going to be IP based, so why worry about something that is only about cheap calling, when you can focus on the future of voice.

Pal Moshe Maeir sent a few bloggers a note about his post that revealed a new offer of Dynamic Caller ID.

Om has some comments.

I spoke with Moshe about it, and right now the service is tied to his company selling SIP termination, but in my view the real value is as a cloud based telephony service where any SIP based user can make use of the service, as it would reside in the signaling path, while not touching the media (voice traffic) at all.

My call to Moshe, got him thinking.

Engadget reports that McDonalds has fired up their free WiFi network, dropping the $2.95 charge. So, along with Starbucks, where you can buy a Starbucks Gift card for $5.00, register it and never use it, so you can get free access as speeds that are glacier like over AT&T's anemic DSL network, you can now sit and work in a dining establishment where kids run around like banshees and their parents don't mind them.

Not for me. While I'm fine with the loud lounge music at Starbucks and the sultry sounds of a coffee grinder, I'll pass on the aromatic scent of vegetable oil being heated to a crisp and opt for my WiFi elsewhere.

As I wrote yesterday, the outage at 8x8 wasn't likely their fault so i was quite pleased when their PR person, Joan Citelli, sent me this note today:

Andy –

I wanted to provide you with an update/explanation of what caused 8x8’s service outage this past Tuesday.

In order to provide services to our customers from our three, redundant data centers, 8x8 utilizes several, non-contiguous Internet Protocol (IP) address blocks that are provided to us by Tier-1 Internet Service Providers (ISPs). Our service outage on January 12, 2010 was caused when an unaffiliated Tier-1 ISP interfered with the proper routing of all of these address blocks. While we were able to immediately restore service for some customers by broadcasting correct routing information via our backup data providers, the interference from the unaffiliated ISP continued for approximately four hours.

All 8x8 core software and networks continued to operate normally during the outage, but some customers were unable to reach our services. We are in the process of planning and implementing additional mechanisms to protect our customers from any similar routing interference in the future. We are also creating alternative information and communication mechanisms to more quickly communicate outage status and estimated time of repair information to our customers via our website, call centers and other communication channels should a similar issue affect our customers in the future.

Feel free to update your blog with this information.

Best wishes-

Joan

I received an email late yesterday afternoon from a reader about 8 x 8 suffering an outage. Unlike Tom Keating, who posted, I didn't post, and was relieved that their PR folks had been quickly in touch with their customers over night, explaining the situation.

In an era where no company (other than maybe the Bell Operating Companies) have everything in one NOC that does everything, this kind of stuff happens. It just seems to happen that 8 x 8 gets put under the microscope even more than Vonage whenever an outage occurs. Maybe, it's because they were one of the first into VoIP, or maybe it's because, like Vonage, they're a public company.

My instincts tell me there's more to this story than we know from their very clear notification, sent to customers:

Dear 8x8 Customer,

Today we experienced a disruption in our services that impacted your voice service. The outage appears to have been caused by a data failure with one of our underlying carriers, and we are working on identifying the root cause and why our backup services did not failover as they are designed to do.

Service has since been restored to most of our customers, and we are in the process of fully restoring service to all customers. If you are currently without service, please unplug the power connection to your 8x8 equipment, wait a few seconds, and then reconnect the power connection.

We understand the importance of providing reliable phone service to you and deeply regret the interruption this issue has caused. Delivering on and exceeding the service level goals we set for ourselves is our top priority.

We value your business and thank you for your patience.

Dan Weirich

President, 8x8, Inc. (Nasdaq: EGHT)

A not so wild report has WalMart hosting towers for Sprint/Clearwire's rollout of WiMax.

I don't think the report is that far fetched. Having experimented with Mobile WiMax last week in Las Vegas I have to say the experience on the ground and when driving around was one that I'd like to repeat.

Skype has made a strategic hire to head the unit called Skype for Business. What makes the hire strategic is the person's background with Reuters, Microsoft and VocalTec.

Given the experience David Gurle has, and the moves Skype is making, I would say that SIP, video and the business markets are their core objectives for the next two years.

You also have to expect that Screensharing and Screencasting, will increase in importance in the business market for them. I say that because, as a reader recently pointed out, Skype was just awarded a patent in that sector. Many may have missed it, as it lists eBay as the assignee, but my source tells me it belongs to Skype. It was also reported here.

Joe Sharkey has an update on the state of in flight WiFi in today's New York Times.

As a road warrior I choose my flights and hotels based on the broadband options available. Over the past month my trips to Northern California were 90 percent on Virgin America and only ten percent on Southwest. As an A Lister on Southwest the switch to Virgin for flights to SFO vs. using SWA was simply based on the Aircell GoGo service being available. It didn't matter that the service was free, as I've paid for it before, and would again. The difference is simple. I can get off the plane and have a clean inbox, have read current news, blog posts and tweets, and most of all, relaxed.

Getting off the plane without WiFi during the work week, especially in the month leading up to CES means the volume of email traffic, documents to write, send or review increases. This doesn't change much the first three months of the year when you have on average one trade event a month, a series of meetings, new business pitches and the usual correspondence to sort through. The hour or so in each direction to the Bay Area with WiFi connectivity is a total catch up time. That means when I get to where I'm going, I know most of what needed to be addressed has been. The difference is that instead of factoring in an extra hour or so of working before meetings.

The other factor that has to be realized by airlines without WiFi is that I now reserve those flights for weekends or lower priced later hours. The value add of WiFi for the business traveler equates directly to their bottom line. At the end of the day, I choose my hotels based on broadband, and now, when I can, I choose my flights the same way.

A very interesting web based for telephony followers called Spokn has launched out of India, that looks like a combination of GoogleVoice, Truphone and a SIP trunking provider.