http://telecommonthly.com The Latest News in the Telecom Industry Tue, 18 Nov 2008 17:23:06 +0000 http://backend.userland.com/rss092 en If you've been to a telecom industry trade show or read a business magazine lately, you've no doubt encountered the latest over-used buzzword: "Unified Communications," or often just "UC" for short. But what is it?  While there is no standard definition of UC, it really isn't much of a new ... http://telecommonthly.com/2008/11/the-buzz-on-unified-communications-uc/ As a telecom guy, I'm fascinated by the phenomenal growth of online video services like YouTube, iTunes, and Hulu.  Multiple services have grabbed the attention of the consumer, media, and advertisers alike with the potential of video entertainment on demand.  Watch exactly what you want, when you want, on your ... http://telecommonthly.com/2008/11/hulu-for-your-bandwidth/ Restless iPhone users have been waiting impatiently for a number of much needed improvements and features.  Chief among these are the ability to cut and paste and to tether an iPhone to a laptop.  AT&T Mobility CEO Ralph De La Vega has confirmed in recent interviews that a tethering option ... http://telecommonthly.com/2008/11/iphone-roundup/ We declared October the "Spooky Season" not just because of the obvious tie-in with Halloween but also due to the economic meltdown.  Since then, the markets have made a minor recovery, but the roller coaster stock market, accelerating layoffs and lowered profit projections all indicate that November could be a ... http://telecommonthly.com/2008/11/telecom-monthly-turkey-time/ "White Space" is the new cause for musicians to worry about. The unused bands of wireless spectrum between the assigned sections is known as White Space.  The biggest chunk of this space is the spectrum currently used by analog television and which will soon be vacated when the US switches to ... http://telecommonthly.com/2008/10/white-space-worries/ The telecommunications industry has long been considered recession proof. After all, everyone needs to communicate, right? But lately many companies have become debt heavy due to extensive network build outs for enormously burgeoning bandwidth demands, hardware and technology costs involved in transitioning service to VoIP and lost revenue due to ... http://telecommonthly.com/2008/10/telecoms-feeling-credit-heat/ Small telecom companies are pushing ahead, while larger ones are having a tougher time finding traction. That’s what it seems like this week, as most telecom stocks rose on Wednesday in the face of an expected interest-rate reduction by the central bank but the best motion has been from the ... http://telecommonthly.com/2008/10/telecom-economic-fiber/ AT&T has just notified all iPhone users via SMS that they will now receive free Wi-Fi at thousands of AT&T hotspots nationwide. This includes most corporate owned Starbucks coffee shops.  For more information, iPhone users can visit www.att.com/attwifi. This has been an on again off again story for quite some time.  ... http://telecommonthly.com/2008/10/iphones-get-free-att-wifi/ We are in the middle of a major change in the way wireless carriers and others handle their Early Termination Fees (ETFs).  Until recently, if you ended a Wireless or Internet contract early, you'd be charged an average fee of $200 (or more) to cancel your account.  An inability to get out of contract ... http://telecommonthly.com/2008/10/early-termination-fees/ As VoIP/SIP Trunking ties the telecommunications industry closer to the IT field, is the fate of the tech industry in the current economic climate a bellwether for the telecom industry? Hard to say for sure. The tech industry  is certainly taking some hits from the economic perfect storm that continues ... http://telecommonthly.com/2008/10/telecom-tech-layoffs/