Source: alanweinkrantz.typepad.com

As a messaging center, the AT&T HomeManager does well with traditional voice messages and falls way short
if you are trying to use it as an email device.

As you can see from the photo above, there are a variety of menu options that let you review missed calls, messages and more.

As for using the HomeManager as an eMail client- well, it’s just not very good.  The email loads slowly, and it’s hard to write even a simple message

Source: www.voip-news.com

How secure are the features on that VoIP system you are checking out? That’s an excellent question and one that begs answers. Having information like that can really be the difference between selecting the right VoIP system for your business and settling on the wrong web.

So, when I saw that ChannelWeb recently tested ShoreTel 8.0 on ShoreGear-90 and four IP-phones, I knew ya’ll needed to check it out too.

(Psst! A preview? ChannelWeb says good things about ShoreTel’s security features — particularly on the ease of engaging them.)

Source: www.voip-news.com

If you are a regular reader of this blog, you will know that it took next to no time for an intrepid blogger, Andy Abramson, to find a get-around to make VoIP calling from American Airline’s new in-flight Wi-Fi service. For a service that claims to have prevented that, it’s pretty sad. But Wired got me thinking: just because you can use VoIP, does it mean you should? Probably not.

So, while I think it’s great that these folks were able to find a vulnerability and I hope that the WI-Fi service provider investigates a way to block it, it doesn’t mean that people should actually VoIP while flying the friendly skies.

It’s one of the last places where we can go and sit down without hearing Mona behind you whine about her bad date last night . . .

Source: www.voip-news.com

Shh! Someone might be listening to this conversation . . . and it’s legal.

President Bush recently signed the FISA amendments into law. FISA, for the uncertain, stands for Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act. The law legalizes warrantless surveillance activities by the government.

Cause like we needed more of our rights trampled on.

Want to know more about what it means? Read about it on VoIP News.

Source: andyabramson.blogs.com

Vonage has a problem and its getting worse. Long ridiculed for poor customer service and lousy quality now they’ve chosen to take the non-comment approach when they get asked about that by a writer from the New York Times of all places.

Last I recall Vonage was based in the metro New York City area….If you can’t be friendly with the customers or the backyard media that says a lot to me these days.

Source: andyabramson.blogs.com

I’m awaiting my flight back to San Diego at Nashville Airport, a Boingo powered airport.

My logon using either my Asus eee PC 900 or the Mac Book Air was flawless and fast. I was able to use all my apps without any issues, including IMAP, something the hotel wireless at the Cool Springs Marriott seemed to not permit last night.

Oh, and my speeds? 3 Megs in each direction, and while not the blazing speeds I’m now seeing in San Diego, more than enough for fast file transfers, downloads and email.

As far as I’m concerned, being here in Music City has me singing the praises of the Airport Authority and Boingo, for making this so easy and doing it right. Unfortunately, as Dameon experienced, your milage may vary.

Source: andyabramson.blogs.com

Former Skype Developer Program Director Paul Amery is questioning just how much value Skype really delivers to their partners?

Translation-Paul is basically saying don’t expect to make money from the Skype users. My guess he knows that no one really is yet if you read between the lines.

Source: andyabramson.blogs.com

We all remember the video of the Comcast repairman falling asleep on the job.

Now this report is emerging about how their repair folks didn’t come to fix a broken cable modem because when they called the person, no one answered the phone line, which of course is Voice over IP. Would it have hurt them to knock on the door?

This type of no think customer service dominates the service industry.

Here are two others where I have first hand experience:

1) American Express or your bank calls to question offshore charges from a foreign country. They ask that you call them back on their 800 number. Very few 1-800 numbers are reachable from outside the USA. Would it have hurt to provide a number from the country where the charges took place or a direct dial number?

2) UPS calls to tell you that you have a package being shipped that requires an adult signature. They don’t tell you the tracking number, the shipper or even mention your name. How do you even know the package is for you, or if you try to call them back, they ask for the tracking number. Would it hurt for them to give you the tracking number on the message?

3) You notify your bank or credit card company that you will be out of the country, but you didn’t notify every department inside the financial institution. You go online, pay some bills and they shut down all you account access because the IP addresses have changed daily that you’re online with, including some from a USA based VPN which made the connection more secure. Would it have hurt for the departments to share customer information?

Every instance above is true and I have experienced it first hand. With my bank, I have actually gone as far as ask for the "ultimate person in charge" who approved the process and procedure. Thankfully, once I explain things to them, usually days later, they seem to realize that they hadn’t considered a situation that way, but would fix things (and they have). In each case I have successfully secured a "good faith customer credit" for the cost of my phone calls to them to "fix" a problem that they created.

The key is to start from the opening discussion, the cost of this call is on your company and to constantly remind the service person that the time for their errors is going to cost them money, not simply a customer.

Source: snapvoip.blogspot.com

DENVER, Dec. 19, 2007 – Qwest Communications International Inc. (NYSE: Q) today announced it received an $8.3 million contract from Energy Enterprise Solutions (EES) to upgrade the voice network at the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE). EES is the principal Information Technology support services provider for DOE headquarters facilities in the Washington, D.C. metropolitan area.
The upgrade is for the department’s dual headquarters located in Washington, D.C. and Germantown, Md. Qwest will transition the federal agency’s existing voice switch to a Nortel Communications Server 2100, an IP-enabled communications server that is scalable from 5,000 to 200,000 ports. The switch upgrade allows DOE to maintain existing investments in Time Division Multiplex (TDM)-based voice services while transitioning to full Voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP) capabilities over a period that is suitable to its needs.

To support the switch upgrade, the contract also includes a Qwest QWave® network solution to be deployed between the two DOE headquarter locations. QWave is a fully managed, private, point-to-point service delivered over a state-of-the-art dense wave division multiplexing (DWDM) network at speeds up to 10 gigabits per second (Gbps). In addition, QWave provides DOE with redundancy to protect the network against unexpected failures.

“Network migrations can present numerous challenges in terms of risk, reliability, continuity of operations, and performance,” said Diana Gowen, senior vice president and general manager of Qwest Government Services. “Qwest has extensive experience in successfully upgrading both infrastructure and switches and has teamed with Nortel Government Solutions to enable the Department of Energy to meet its communication needs now and for years to come.”

In addition to DOE headquarters, Qwest has installed and provisioned voice network modernizations at the department’s major facilities in Oak Ridge, Tenn.; Los Alamos, N.M.; and Richland, Wash.