Topic: Voice over Broadband

VoIP provider, Vyke, has announced that it has teamed up with Wi-Fi operator The Cloud to provide more access to it's customers.

The deal will allow them to connect to any on The Cloud's 9,500+ UK and European hotspots and metropolitan area networks, and the Wi-Fi providers users can also connect to Vyke's VoIP service.
Customers won't have to sign up to any additional accounts, but just connect with their mobile phone as normal.

VoIP is on the increase with nearly to ten per cent of UK homes now using the system doubling since the same time last year, but that causes a few problems.

One is that in an emergency dialling 999 may get you connected to the emergency services, or it may not as nearly 40 per cent of VoIP providers won't connect you as there is no legal requirement to do so. Customers may find this out the hard way as many are unaware of the problem.
But from next September Ofcom have said that this will have to be the case, dialling 999 (or 112) on a VoIP phone will act in the same way and a normal line-line phone.

Another problem is what happens when a VoIP line goes belly-up?

Epitiro have introduced Vocalite, which is a diagnostic platform which helps users determine a specific fault, and the information can even be automatically passed to their provider to help resolve the problem.
The system gives an extensive list of test results including Call Setup time, Dial Tone Delay and importantly Voice Quality with Visual pass and fail indicators, and is initiated via a web browser.

It seems that VoIP isn't really making inroads into the public sector, despite the cost advantages it can bring.

According to a survey of 400 IT managers by Quocirca 42 percent said they don't expect to complete migration from legacy phone switch systems for the next three to five years.

When asked about the method of migration, only five percent of respondents said they would employ a "rip and replace" method to replace equipment, with none in educational organisations saying they would do this. Instead 40 percent said that they would prefer an incremental approach.

The survey queried managers from a range of bodies including NHS health trusts, higher education institutes, police forces and local government organisations.

It launched with a whimper (can you remember it?) now Freetalk, the VoIP service from Dixons, is shutting up shop just less than a year later.

Next month all Fretalk customers will be moved across to Vonage, after the rival service snapped up the customer base. It all sounds so different when the service was launched in September when we were told that it was "the most significant development in the telephone market since the launch of the mobile phone" and would  "transform the way we use phones", quite.....

It seems jumping on the VoIP bandwagon isn't as easy as new players are finding it harder to compete with existing providers.

Vonage said Freetalk customers will be able to keep keeping their existing telephone numbers and contract price, with the transition finished by 12 September.

Tesco who offer both broadband and telephone deals, have now launched a PAYG VoIP service to being the two together, teaming  up with Australian firm Freshtel.

For £19.97 users will get a starter pack, including a handset which plugs into a computer, this will allow free VoIP calls to other VoIP phones. The pack also includes a £5 airtime voucher which can be used to make calls to fixed line phones, calls to UK landline cost 2p a minute and mobiles 10p, with international calls starting at 2p a minute.

But paying 2p a minute to a UK line when it's cheaper using a BT fixed line it will be a long time before it becomes "a service rather than a gizmo".

The UK is lagging behind Europe on the take-up of VoIP, according to a report published by EIAA Mediascope Europe Study, and it blames the UK's failure to adopt broadband as early as other countries as the reason.

According to it's figures on average 10 percent of Europeans had made telephone calls over the internet using VoIP, but only 5 percent of us Brits had done the same. Alison Fennah, executive director of the EIAA said that this was due to the UK having a late start in broadband adoption, it was only in the autumn of 2004 that the UK finally caught up with France in broadband availability, and at one point the UK having four times less connections than Germany.

Another less than amazing fact is that we use the internet more than a year ago, the study, which quizzed 7,000 users across Europe, showed that the average European now spends 17 percent longer on the Internet than it did a year ago. The average surfing time has grown from  8hrs 45mins a week online in 2004 to 10 hours 15 minutes today.

In what seems like Eons ago when God was a boy, rumour took to the 'net that Google were looking at putting stepping into VoIP territory. Fast forward 7 months to today to discover that Google have made good on that rumour, launching Google Talk.

Far from a dedicated VoIP service, Google Talk is a instant messaging chat client similar to MSN Messenger or Yahoo's, with the not so amazing ability to make calls to other Google Talk users.

Currently in Beta, those interested in trying out the software can do so here.

Instead of the usual usual pay-as-you-go, or monthly charges for VoIP services which are available at the moment, a new service launched by UK VoIP provider ipClouds, offers 'unlimited' overseas calls.

The new package which was launched on June 1st differs in that users pay a fixed yearly price, at the present only a package to the UK/USA and also Asia, for £99 for a year. Although packages can be tailored to suit individual users requirements.
Although this wouldn't suit most VoIP users, those who make regular overseas calls could find it appealing.

www.ipclouds.co.uk for the details.

US VoIP provider Vonage has launched in the UK, with full approval from Ofcom, to offer stiff competition to BT in the fixed line phone market.

The service requires a broadband Internet connection and a hardware adapter which can be purchased directly from Vonage's Web site or following a deal, with office supplier Staples, in their stores from June. Prices are expected to be around the £25 mark for the adapter manufactured by Linksys.

Ofcom had welcomed its arrival in the UK, and had gone to some lengths to allow it to make its service competitive. For instance, customers will be allowed to keep their Vonage number when they move house. If a customer gets a "London" number, they call and receive calls on that London number, whether their router is connected in London or not.

Plans are also in the pipeline for a Wi-Fi handset due to launch in the US this summer with it arriving to the UK in the Autumn.

Newcomer to the Voice over Internet Protocol(VoIP) market, Vonage is expanding services to 100 cities in the UK, including Leeds, Milton Keynes, Oxford, Preston and Salisbury.

Vonage's user base totals 650,000 customers in America and Canada, and hope to gain a similar number in the UK after it's launch in January. It has already attracted three times as many customers as it expected.
Residential customers pay a fixed £9.99 a month for unlimited calls to UK land lines, with lot of normally chargeable features thrown in for free.

The problem for most VoIP operators is that customers need a BT phone line to connect to broadband, reducing the appeal of VoIP calls except for punters who make overseas calls.