Comcast Goes Customer Hostile
August 29, 2008
Comcast is about to place an absolute cap on Internet traffic for its customers. Beginning October 1st, residential customers will be limited to 250 gigabytes, even on the unlimited internet plans. Users will be warned once, if they go over the limit, but will be blocked from the network for an entire year if it happens again.
Comcast Goes Customer Hostile
While they point out that 250 gigs is enough to download 62,500 songs or 125 standard-definition movies, it does not take into account that data needs are growing rapidly. With new high definition televisions and audio streaming to home stereos, an increasing number of users are set to begin downloading high-definition media. And as network speeds increase, higher bandwidth streaming of YouTube and internet radio stations will also increase network traffic.
Placing a 250 gig cap today might not seem like a big deal to many users. But customers could easily exceed that simply by installing an Apple TV and downloading high-definition movies, or by utilizing MobileMe or other web backup services to keep their data secure. Technology will quickly make Comcast’s attempt to kick high usage customers off their network look short sighted.
Aside from Comcast deciding how many movies you are allowed to watch on your television, they have also made it nearly impossible for their customers to know if or when they have hit the limit. Comcast offers no tools for a user to track their monthly bandwidth, making this a ridiculous and customer hostile policy.
Comcast was only just sanctioned by the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) for interfering with its customers’ Net traffic speeds by picking and choosing which traffic to let through and which to slow down.
If Comcast isn’t running for worst company of the year, we’ll be happy to nominate them.
Opportunity In A Troubled Economy
August 28, 2008
My clients seem worried these days. New revenue is hard to come by and lots of companies are rushing to cut staff and other costs to make up for unhappy balance sheets. While that may be a natural knee-jerk reaction, hold the temptation until you have explored the not so obvious new territories which might just save your company and the jobs of your employees.
A call center client contacted me last month regarding ways that he could cut his telecommunications and other costs as a result of lost business and lowered revenues. He was worried. Wondering if he’d be able to hold out until the economy turns around. I offered my usual advice about running network tests to determine if he was paying for too much bandwidth, make sure that he wasn’t overpaying on his phone bills, and offering advice on outsourcing of non-critical processes. All of which he appreciated and could save him a tidy bundle.
But then I hit him where it hurts. I advised him that cutting once may produce a temporary fix and keep his accountant from jumping off a cliff, but the loss of employees, bandwidth, and the associated knowledge and good will of his employees might leave him with the inability to generate new revenue and clients just when he needs them most. Read more
The SIP Revolution
August 28, 2008
Last month about this time we started a poll to determine the general tone of our readers knowledge of Voice Over IP and SIP Trunking and whether or not your companies are using it. While the number of votes was far too small to be considered statistical in any way (and we have a telecom savvy crowd around here), it was interesting none the less.
For the better part of the last few years, only large companies and call centers were utilizing VoIP in the corporate environment. But sales of traditional phone systems have stalled and most new phone systems being sold to companies today are VoIP/SIP enabled, making it much easier to make the change.
Even though they could take advantage of the lower rates, many companies still haven’t switched. But if prevailing opinion holds true, and our poll would indicate that at least you think so, that is all about to change.
It is easy enough for a company with IP enabled equipment to switch to SIP (often within hours of calling their carrier), but companies with traditional phone equipment have been left out in the cold unless they want to pop for a new phone system.
Newer offerings are making it possible for companies with old phone systems to connect via SIP and achieve the associated cost savings and flexibility. The carrier simply sends you a device which sits between your phone equipment and their IP network. While most carriers will charge you a monthly rental or add cost on top of what they would charge their IP only customers, it can still be a great savings.
A company which keeps popping up in SIP news is now offering two T1s worth of capacity (48 channels) over a single circuit (normally 24 channels). For many customers, this would nearly cut their telecom bill in half. While such huge savings aren’t yet the norm, it is becoming increasingly attractive to companies everywhere to at least explore the possibilities of Voice over IP regardless of the capabilities of their current equipment.
For the four of you who voted that you don’t know what the heck VoIP and SIP are, now is a very good time to start doing your research. The next 18 months should see a dramatic change in the way average businesses approach their voice and data needs.
Telecos And The Race For The White House
August 26, 2008
The future of Telecommunications hinges on the impending presidential election. The next four years will either promote a new age of Telecom competition and services via the Internet or possibly cement the current power players as the gatekeepers of a more closely controlled Internet and delay the conversion of services from the old copper phone lines to newer Internet offerings.
While the former Bell Companies - like the mammoth AT&T - continue plugging along with their wireless offerings, they are not moving quickly toward the roll out of faster and cheaper broadband services throughout the United States. This has hampered efforts of would-be competitors to create new features, services, and affordable alternatives to AT&T, Sprint, Verizon via the Internet.
Vonnage, Skype, Jajah, Plumble, and others have sought to offer services which compete with the Baby Bells or even turn the business model on its head by offering cheap or free service. Read more
iPhone 3G - Which Do You Want First, The Good News Or Bad?
August 15, 2008
Let’s start with the good. The new iPhone 3G has been a smash success, selling to packed stores and long lines. On top of that, the iTunes App store has sold over $30 million worth of iPhone applications in the first 30 days of sales. To add to this frenzy, Best Buy stores will start selling iPhones beginning September 7th, just in time for the iPhone to be the hot must have item of the holiday season. 
If it looks like the iPhone is the goose which lays the golden eggs for Apple, others see it as just laying an egg - a rotten one at that. Reports of dropped calls, frozen phones, and slow data speeds are popping up everywhere. This reporter has watched as the iPhone 3G shows few if any bars of coverage when other AT&T phones in the same location have full coverage.
I took my iPhone into an Apple store last night to confirm that my phone was behaving as normal prior to writing this post. At the time, my phone was showing just one bar of coverage in the store. the iPhones of other shoppers in the same store ranged from full coverage to two bars. The tech who helped me suggested the following three things to help with the reception: Read more
Trouble In iDen
August 8, 2008
Could Sprint be looking to sell its Nextel assets?
In the world of telecom, it is all about subscribers - and how much revenue you can squeeze out of each of them. Investors want growth. But in the saturated mobile industry, carriers need to steal customers from their rivals to meet expectations. At the moment, it looks like Sprint’s troubled Nextel division is among the biggest losers in that battle.
Popular with construction and blue collar workers in the 90’s, Nextel made waves with its unique walkie-talkie like phones (Push to talk or “PTT” for short) based on Motorola’s iDen technology. However, since its take over by Sprint in 2005, Nextel has been in a slow death spiral, losing 2.7 million customers between the 1st and 2nd quarter of this year alone. That’s a big loss by any measure, and an astounding loss for a single quarter. Many in the industry look at Sprint’s $35 Billion dollar purchase of Nextel as a mistake which has blurred the focus and value of both companies.
What Is SIP Trunking And Why You Should Care
August 6, 2008
We’ve put off this discussion long enough – and perhaps so have you – “What is SIP Trunking and why you need it.” The big guys figured this out years ago and are already saving on their telecom costs. But with business costs rising for everything from fuel and goods to labor, finding something that can actually improve your business and save you money is worth a look. And it looks like it is finally becoming cheaper for small to mid sized companies to make the switch to the new age of telecom rather than staying put with their current systems.
LD SIP TRUNKING DIAGRAM (courtesy AireSpring)
What I’m about to explain may sound complicated at first, but it really doesn’t need to be confusing. Session Initiated Protocol (SIP for short) is just a type of Voice Over IP (VoIP) that many companies are using to lower their telecom costs.
For the last 100 years or so, we’ve been making calls on the Public Switched Telephone Network (PSTN). The carriers have worked out a complex method for charging and compensating each other that results in expensive calls to some areas and less expensive calls to other areas. The PSTN is an aging infrastructure made up largely of old copper wires and inefficient switching equipment (while more efficient than Mabel the chatty Bell Operator of yore - not as efficient and inexpensive as modern digital IP alternatives). That’s the long way of saying that SIP allows you to skip all or part of the PSTN and save on the cost of making and receiving a call. Read more
Wither Wires For WiMax
August 5, 2008
AT&T is a force of nature, with local phone service in 22 states and the largest cellular phone network in the country. But it is also a company saddled with old technology and infrastructure. AT&T’s legacy copper 
phone lines are old, fragile, and in constant need of repair. But with more people forgoing local phone service in favor of cellular phones, there are fewer users to share the maintenance costs of all those copper lines, making them incrementally less lucrative for AT&T.
So, what’s a corporate behemoth like AT&T to do? If new Chief of Technology, John Donovan, has his way, some of those wired lines may give way to WiMax. He is also looking at the use of Femtocells.
Of course, there is a lot that could come between Mr. Donovan and his wireless dreams - mainly capacity issue and RF interference. If WiMax can’t achieve a level of quality and reliability similar to wired services, then it doesn’t have much chance of gaining acceptance in corporate circles. Once those issues have been addressed, WiMax could be used to deliver high speed voice and data to residential and business users. Read more
Advertisement
If you're interested in advertising on Telecom Monthly and would like to learn more, contact us at ads@telecommonthly.com