Source: alanweinkrantz.typepad.com

Source:  from CNET / NYTimes has a very good story with a business angle on why this matters.

Download the new iTunes version here.

Source: alanweinkrantz.typepad.com

Here is my demo of the deployment of AT&T WiFi at the first Starbucks in the U.S. with the service.

Source: alanweinkrantz.typepad.com

2nd US Starbucks store with AT&T WiFi /Apple iTunes combo now live.

More later tonight….

Source: alanweinkrantz.typepad.com

I got home last night and was going through my iTunes library only to discover that when I opened iTunes, it went back to the original menu Now Playing menu at Starbucks.

Notice how you can still get previews of the music that was playing in the store, and even buy them-  after you have left the store.

Source: alanweinkrantz.typepad.com

Now you can buy music on your PC (or iPhone) from iTunes at the first Starbucks in the U.S. at 5321 Broadway in San Antonio with AT&T WiFi. Yup, it works.
 

Source: alanweinkrantz.typepad.com

The first Starbucks in the US at 5321 Broadway in San Antonio with AT&T WiFi now has the iTunes store working.

Video to follow shortly.

Source: alanweinkrantz.typepad.com

Source: alanweinkrantz.typepad.com

Update 12:55

Starbucks/Apple iTunes/AT&T WiFi almost works…..the only thing that is missing right now is the  feature where it will recognize the music playing in the store so you can buy it if you like what you hear. 

This is a work in progress…..so stay tuned.

Source: alanweinkrantz.typepad.com

Update at 9:45 AM

The Apple iTunes / Starbucks via AT&T WiFi service is supposed to go live today at the store in San Antonio.

Will confirm later this afternoon.

Source: alanweinkrantz.typepad.com

Update:  8:30 AM CST…

While I am pleased to have broken the story on the first Starbucks in the US with AT&T WiFi, I need to be clear that this deployment has not official been announced by AT&T or Starbucks. 

With that being said, they are still getting the store up and going and so for me to speculate on things would be irresponsible. 

As of yesterday and today, the WiFi worked just fine.

As of 8:00 AM CST this morning, I tried to log on to the Apple iTunes store from my iPhone and it did not work.  It’s not a reflection of the service in any way.  It’s just where the service is as of now.

Keep checking back and I will keep checking the store with real time updates.

Reporters can call me at 210-410-3075 for tight deadlines.
If you are not on deadline, please call the office at 210-820-3075
email is:  alan at weinkrantz dot com

Thanks!

Source: snapvoip.blogspot.com

PORTLAND, Ore.–(BUSINESS WIRE)–The WiMAX Forum is pleased to recognize the decision of the Radiocommunication Sector of the International Telecommunication Union (ITU-R) to include WiMAX technology in the IMT-2000 set of standards. This decision is of global importance to operators who look to ITU to endorse technologies before they invest in new infrastructure. The decision to approve the WiMAX Forum’s version of IEEE Standard 802.16 as an IMT-2000 technology significantly escalates opportunities for global deployment, especially within the 2.5-2.69 GHz band, to deliver Mobile Internet to satisfy both rural and urban market demand.

“This is a very special and unique milestone for WiMAX technology,” said Ron Resnick, president of the WiMAX Forum. “This is the first time that a new air interface has been added to the IMT-2000 set of standards since the original technologies were selected nearly a decade ago. WiMAX technology currently has the potential to reach 2.7 billion people. And today’s announcement expands the reach to a significantly larger global population.”

From the initial application made at the ITU-R WP8F meeting in January of this year to this week’s meeting of the Radiocommunications Assembly in Geneva, Administrations, industry and ITU have worked together to achieve this groundbreaking decision.

“It gives me great satisfaction to observe that the ITU Radiocommunication Sector continues to be responsive to the most pressing needs of the wireless industry,” said Valery Timofeev, Director of the ITU Radio communication Bureau.

With WiMAX technology approved as a new IMT-2000 specification, the WIMAX ecosystem will benefit from greater economies of scale, thus reducing the already low cost to deliver broadband wireless services to include VOIP as well as the multiple services expected from wireless broadband Internet access.

Originally created to harmonize 3G mobile systems and to increase opportunities for worldwide interoperability, the IMT-2000 family of standards will now support four different access technologies, including OFDMA (includes WiMAX), FDMA, TDMA and CDMA.

“3G solutions based upon technologies such as W-CDMA, CDMA-2000, and TD-SCDMA technologies were already included in the IMT-2000 set of standards,” said Resnick. “With WiMAX technology now included, it places us on equal footing with the legacy-based technologies ITU-R already endorses." The bottom line is that operators across the globe now have the freedom to select the right technology to best meet their business and regional needs.”

WiMAX Forum

Source: snapvoip.blogspot.com

Test Results from over 14,000 test calls placed by Minacom’s PowerProbe 6000
to Western European and North American destinations from July 2005 to July 2006

Montreal, Canada (Monday, August 28th, 2006) — VoIP phone service now sounds better and connects faster than the standard public-switched phone network (PSTN), according to data collected over the last 12 months by Minacom’s standards-based, single-ended service quality test system. Results show that VoIP service quality increased steadily over the last year, with an average Mean Opinion Score (MOS) of 4.2, compared to 3.9 for the PSTN - MOS is a scale commonly used to describe speech quality, ranging from 1 (worst) to 5 (best). Based on a MOS threshold of 3.6, only 1 out of 50 calls in North America were considered to be unacceptable - 1 in 10 worldwide - while greater than 85% of VoIP calls exceeded average PSTN quality over the same period. Detailed results show that VoIP service bettered PSTN quality worldwide, and improved in all regions over the course of the survey. In addition to superior sound quality, calls over VoIP connected quicker overall - 8.2 seconds on average, compared to 8.9 seconds for those placed over the PSTN. Regionally, the PSTN was faster to connect for calls placed to North America (4.3 seconds vs. 5.7 for VoIP), while international calls connected faster with VoIP (8.7 vs. 10.4 seconds for PSTN). Linear regression indicates that VoIP is closing the gap, connecting 2 seconds faster in July 2006 than a year earlier.

A recent Internet Phone quality study by Brix Networks indicated that 1 in 5 calls were classified as unacceptable, and that call quality was steadily declining. As this study may have created the impression that VoIP service is not capable of delivering PSTN-grade phone service, Minacom felt it should be clarified for both those in the VoIP industry, and individuals and enterprises considering VoIP service, that this report evaluated computer-to-computer (PC-PC) Internet phone service, similar to those offered by Skype™, Google™ Talk, MSN™ and Yahoo™ Messenger. The quality and service reliability of these applications does not compare to that of the VoIP phone services offered by telcos, cable operators, and broadband VoIP providers who carefully deploy, monitor and manage the quality of their services. PC-PC VoIP quality is subject to many diverse impairments, including firewall settings, computer performance, antivirus installations, high-compression codecs, and Internet bandwidth shared with gaming, file downloads, web surfing and email. By contrast, VoIP offered by service providers is switched using telecom grade equipment, uses lower-compression codecs, and is prioritized over regular Internet traffic using sophisticated, standards-based multimedia telephone adapters (MTAs), maintained and monitored by the operator.

Minacom’s tests were conducted over PSTN, managed broadband and cable VoIP lines, the same services offered to residential and enterprise customers by phone, cable and hosted VoIP providers. Each month, Minacom’s PowerProbe® 6000 service level test probe places hundreds of calls from Minacom’s QoS labs in Montreal, Canada, to public destinations worldwide over PSTN, broadband VoIP, cable VoIP, DSL, FTTP and wireless networks, publishing the results in the Minacom QoS Benchmark Reports, a free email newsletter now in its fourth year of circulation. The results shown in this current study are based on the data published in these reports over a one year period from July 2005 to July 2006. Minacom’s QoS Benchmark Reports are used by the ITU Quality of Service Development Group in studies summarizing global phone quality, published annually to carriers worldwide for the consistency and accuracy of the measurements reported. Minacom’s Public Termination Inventory (PTI) database, used by the DirectQuality® R7 web-based test-OSS to automate the calls, contains over 200,000 far-end public numbers in 230 countries and administrative regions worldwide.

The human ear is an analog device, and sound is an analog signal, so it is important to include analog signal analysis when evaluating speech quality. Minacom’s DirectQuality R7 test system uses an award-winning combination of ITU and industry standard algorithms to calculate listening quality MOS using both analog and IP measurements. MOS scores based only on IP packet statistics do not capture the effects of echo cancellers in network equipment and telephone adapters, noise introduced by copper wiring, or issues with call volume and delay. Minacom’s PowerProbe 6000 IVR Test Agent measures a wide range of analog and IP impairments, including noise, echo, delay, packet loss, call volume, jitter and loss, as well as a complete array of connectivity metrics including Post Dial Delay (PDD), Answer Seizure Ratio (ASR), and Dial-Tone Delay (DTD). Minacom’s single-ended testing technology is used by multi-billion minute/year carriers worldwide to perform automated least-cost routing, validate partner carriers, monitor VoIP service quality and assure IP Peering SLAs.

“Carriers are becoming increasingly educated about MOS scoring and want to know where MOS scores are coming from.” commented Frost and Sullivan Telecom Industry Manager & Analyst, Jessy Cavazos, adding, “There are numerous products in the market that only look at the packet metrics. Hence, many carriers are starting to see degradation they should not see, or not seeing degradation they should see. False service quality alarms result in unproductive troubleshooting efforts by service providers, whereas unidentified quality issues ultimately leads to dissatisfied customers. That is why Minacom uses three different technology sources for MOS scoring instead of only one, so as to capture all possible service issues with the highest degree of accuracy available."
Press release