Source: alanweinkrantz.typepad.com
EngadgetHD reports on initial launch of TotalHome DVR
This takes AT&T one step up the food chain in true home networking.
Source: alanweinkrantz.typepad.com
This makes sense and it’s a good way to bring AT&T in your home more and more and more and more.
What they are basically doing with the launch of AT&T ConnecTech — is to provide a full suite of in-home services for virtually all technical support needs. With more families having ever-growing complex networks and home-based businesses, this seems like a natural extension of their business.
You don’t have to be a residential service customer of AT&T to buy ConnecTech. They’re offering television and home theater installation and personal computer and home network setup, plus an extensive list of repair services.
Customers can initiate the ordering process for AT&T ConnecTech services by visiting www.att.com/connectech.
At announcement time, they are offering everything from home theater planning and consultations to new hardware installation and notebook repair. Specifically, AT&T ConnecTech provides in-home and over-the-phone support services — including next-day service installation, seven days a week — for a broad range of TV and PC needs, including:
In principle, I like the idea, but if I were to buy a big screen TV at a place like BestBuy, I would personally rather have BestBuy do the service through their GeekSquad group so that in the event something goes wrong, then you have one place to get to get your problem resolved.
On the other hand, if you have an existing TV that you want re-purpose into a home theater, it might be a good idea to give AT&T a shot at doing this.
If you are using AT&T for ConnecTech, your comments and feedback would be great!
email me - alan at weinkrantz dot com
Source: www.voip-news.com
Digium has announced the keynote speakers for AstriCon ‘08. Brian Aker from Sun Microsystems/MySQL and Stefan Öberg from Skype will keynote the conference for expert developers and Asterisk telephony platform users.
Aker is an open source hacker who is the Director of Architecture for My SQL AB. He will give a speech called The Parallel Evolution of MySQL; One Foot in the Commercial World and the other in the Open Source Community.
Öberg is the Vice President and General Manager for Skype Telecom and Skype for Business. He will speak about VoIP for businesses.
“Digium is dedicated to making AstriCon into the largest, most exciting Asterisk community event,” said Mark Spencer, creator of Asterisk and Digium’s chief technology officer. “Every year we look forward to offering both experts and those new to Asterisk insight to the new frontiers of our application by providing expert speakers and a variety of informative tracks. Plus, I’m always looking forward to late nights at the Code Zone portion of the conference where we get some really great ideas, innovation and code from our developers and users.”
According to Digium:
AstriCon will be held from September 23-25 at the Renaissance Glendale Hotel & Spa in Glendale, Ariz. FierceVoIP and TMCnet will serve as media sponsors and Polycom and Sangoma will be the platinum sponsors for the event. There is a pre-conference tutorial day on September 23rd with various introductory as well as developer tracks. Registration is open at www.astricon.net.
Source: alanweinkrantz.typepad.com
Even though, AT&T Inc. has announced the availability of AT&T U-verse Voice in other markets, today is when the phone company as we no longer know it, is launching U-verse Voice in San Antonio, where I live and blog away.
The idea of U-verse Voice is simple: it brings together your AT&T home phone, wireless, broadband and TV services — all on one bill — with unique features that provide a new level of integration, convenience and control.
AT&T U-verse Voice Raises the Bar With New Features such as:
· Combined AT&T U-verse Voice and AT&T wireless voice mail with U-verse Messaging, which provides a single voice mailbox that can be accessed from any phone line or PC.
· U-verse Central, an online management portal that gives you the option to easily and conveniently manage your call preferences, voice mail, contacts, call history and more from any PC, in addition to the ability to control call preferences from your home phone.
· An online voice mailbox to check, manage and forward voice mail from the online portal, much like an e-mail inbox.
· Call History, which enables you to view your most recent incoming and outgoing calls online or to view your most recent incoming calls on your AT&T U-verse TV screen.
· Click to Call, which will initiate a call from your home phone to any number in your Call History with one click of a mouse or the U-verse TV remote control.
· An online Address Book that is accessible from any PC and allows you to Click to Call from your home phone, to create and share contact groups with other U-verse Voice customers or to set up distribution lists for voice messages.
· Locate Me, a feature that provides simultaneous ringing on up to four wireless or landline numbers so that you never miss an important incoming call.
· Traditional calling features, such as Call Screening, Call Blocking, Do Not Disturb and privacy settings.
All U-verse Voice customers will have 911 service. Where available via the local 911 network, U-verse Voice customers will have Enhanced 911 (E911) service.
Pricing is….sort of ok, but fairly high….
U-verse TV customers can choose from two flexible U-verse Voice calling plans:
· U-verse Voice Unlimited, which includes unlimited local and nationwide minutes to any location in the U.S., Canada or U.S. territories for $40 a month.
· U-verse Voice 1000, which includes 1,000 Call Anywhere minutes to any location in the U.S. or U.S. territories for $30 a month.
Video to follow tomorrow….
Later today, I have a video interview with an AT&T Exec to talk about U-verse Voice. Look for a posting on this tomorrow.
Source: www.voip-news.com
The winners of the 2008 PilotHouse Awards from Nemertes Research have been announced. The awards are based on the ratings of IT executives.
“This research is a must-have for companies evaluating a new VOIP strategy, or reassessing an existing one because it relies on real experiences from real customers,” says Robin Gareiss, executive vice president and senior founding partner, Nemertes Research.
Without further ado . . .
Nemertes Research 2008 PilotHouse Awards: VOIP Providers Best Overall VOIP Providers (all rollout sizes combined) -- ShoreTel, Inc. - Winner -- Siemens Enterprise Communications - Finalist -- 3Com Corporation - Finalist Top-Tier VOIP Providers - Small Rollouts (<500 Endpoints) -- ShoreTel, Inc. -- Siemens Enterprise Communications -- Cisco Systems, Inc. Top-Tier VOIP Providers - Midsize Rollouts (500-2,000 Endpoints) -- Cisco Systems, Inc -- Avaya Inc. -- Nortel Top-Tier VOIP Providers - Large Rollouts (>2,000 Endpoints) -- Nortel -- Alcatel-Lucent -- Cisco Systems, Inc. Best Overall: VOIP Vertical Solutions -- Avaya Inc. Best VOIP: Industry-Specific -- Education - Avaya Inc. -- Financial Services - Cisco Systems, Inc. -- Healthcare - Cisco Systems, Inc. -- Manufacturing - Avaya Inc. -- Professional Services - Avaya Inc. -- Retail - Cisco Systems, Inc. -- State/Local Government - Nortel -- Transportation - Siemens Enterprise Communications
Source: www.voip-news.com
Junction Network is offering a free SIP trial to Response Point users. The trial, which is geared toward SMB owners, will give users a chance to experience the service before committing to it.
According to VoIP News:
To introduce its service, Junction Networks is offering a free 30-day promotion to Response Point customers: two phone numbers — including a toll-free inbound number — and $7 in credits for calling in either direction. The company is also permanently waiving the $9.95 per month that it usually charges its SIP-trunking customers for basic PSTN connectivity.
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: www.voip-news.com
Jajah Direct, a PC-free VoIP call service, has launched in Europe in Czech Republic, Hungary, Poland and Slovakia. The launch means ultra-low-cost international calls for users in those countries.
According to VoIP Monitor:
Making low cost international calls has never been so cheap or simple. Unlike many VoIP solutions, JAJAH Direct is computer-free and can work on any landline and mobile phone. No more long distance dialling, no need to sit in front of your computer, no calling cards that run out in the middle of a conversation. Simply call a local number and speak to anyone, anywhere in the world.
JAJAH Direct calls can be made at anytime to any one of 122 countries worldwide, including USA, Canada, United Kingdom, Australia and Germany… even Antarctica.
Source: alanweinkrantz.typepad.com
AT&T and Citi recently announced the launch of the AT&T Universal Business Rewards Card, which the companies are claiming to be an innovative credit card designed to meet the specialized needs of small business customers.
With all the points, bonuses, and free-bees,I still say that the American Express Gold or Platinum card is far better, offers more rewards, and has superior customer service.
Comments? Experience with American Express or Citi? alan at weinkrantz dot com….
Source: www.voip-news.com
Baidu.com is going to use a Global IP Solutions application to launch real-time video chat on its instant messaging application. Baidu is a Chinese language search engine.
“GIPS developed its reputation in voice, and we’ve been successfully solving real-time video complexities for the last three years,” said Emerick Woods, Global IP Solutions CEO. “Video conference/chat users are increasingly demanding better network speeds, quality, reliability and consistency, and developers are challenged with adding more features. While most video chats suffer from freezing, bad lip synchronization and postage stamp video images, Baidu now offers one great application which delivers GIPS quality serving the single largest market in the world.”
GIPS VideoEngine is designed for real-time video communications over IP networks. Unlike other technologies, it addresses the small images that can flicker and have poor lip sync with poor voice quality.
Source: alanweinkrantz.typepad.com
AT&T has announced that qualifying LaptopConnect customers can now access more than 17,000 Wi-Fi hot spots free of charge. Users can access Wi-Fi at nearly 7,000 participating Starbucks locations plus thousands more AT&T Wi-FiSM locations, including restaurants, airports, hotels and other convenient locations across the United States.
AT&T LaptopConnect uses AT&T’s wireless network to keep customers connected to e-mail, the Internet and business applications almost anywhere they can make a phone call. Qualifying LaptopConnect customers will now automatically receive a pop-up message alerting them to Wi-Fi availability when in range of an AT&T hot spot. At that point, customers who have downloaded the latest AT&T Communication Manager software to their laptop PC just need to click Connect to access the Wi-Fi connectivity. The offer is available to customers who subscribe to a DataConnect plan of $59.99 or more.¹ AT&T Communication Manager comes with new LaptopConnect cards and is available for free at www.att.com/laptopconnect.
How It Works….
AT&T also offers free Wi-Fi access to qualifying broadband subscribers. The company plans to expand free Wi-Fi access to additional wireless customers in the future.
When not in a hot spot, AT&T LaptopConnect cards operate on AT&T’s wireless network, which provides DSL-like speeds on the company’s 3G network in more than 275 markets in the U.S., reaching nearly 350 markets by year end. AT&T’s wireless network also offers data connectivity across AT&T’s EDGE network which covers more than 13,000 cities and towns and some 40,000 miles of major highways. Internationally, AT&T can offer customers data access in more than 145 countries and 3G roaming in 60 countries.
Source: alanweinkrantz.typepad.com
AT&T has announced the launch of the BlackBerry® Pearl™ 8110 smartphone, which includes built-in global positioning system (GPS) support for location-based applications and services. Combined with navigation and mapping applications such as AT&T Navigator, the handset provides turn-by-turn voice and on-screen directions with colorful 3-D moving maps that can be used in vehicles or while walking. AT&T Navigator also alerts users through voice and on-screen prompts to traffic slowdowns and incidents along their programmed travel route, and it provides customers with the option to choose an alternative route.
3Screens News Summary:
Pricing and Availability
The new BlackBerry Pearl 8110 smartphone from AT&T is available now at AT&T retail stores nationwide, via and through AT&T’s business-to-business sales teams for as low as $149.99, with a two-year contract, unlimited data plan and $39.99 voice plan. Customers who want personal e-mail access and Web browsing with BlackBerry® Internet Service can choose the BlackBerry Personal Unlimited data plan for as low as $30 a month with a qualified voice contract. Unlimited corporate e-mail and data access via BlackBerry® Enterprise Server or BlackBerry® Professional Software are available for as low as $45 a month when a qualified voice plan is also chosen. Customers who travel overseas can select the BlackBerry International Unlimited data plan for as low as $65 a month with a qualified voice plan. AT&T Navigator requires a separate subscription of $9.99 a month.
The BlackBerry Pearl 8110 also supports AT&T Mobile Music subscription services and AT&T unlimited Push To Talk for walkie-talkie-like communications; both services are an additional $9.99 a month with a qualifying voice plan. Small business customers also can couple their BlackBerry data plans with AT&T’s new BusinessTalk voice plans, which start at $60 a month for five users and 700 Anytime Minutes and can be expanded for $9.99 a line to accommodate up to 40 users and 20,000 Anytime Minutes. When combined with BlackBerry Professional Software, BusinessTalk provides small businesses with a complete voice and data solution. Companies may also choose BusinessTalk with either unlimited Mobile to Mobile or Push To Talk features.
