Source: voip-tech.blogspot.com

The airline Virgin America has equipped its airplanes with WiFi Internet connection, Skype™ has been successfully used to make a live videocall with a famous american TV show.
The service offered by Virgin America is not for free and the fee is variable from about 6 dollars to about 13 dollars.
The videocalls by Skype™ are blocked by default to maintain a quiet and restful cabin environment, anyhow you can use the GoGo service to interface Skype and use just text messages.

Source: www.voip-news.com

Two underground coal mines in Kentucky will be upgrading to the new ActiveMine communication system, which links the underground workspace with the outside world via wireless Wi-Fi telephones and a special tracking system. Active Control Technology, the creator of ActiveMine, says that the first system will be installed in May, with a second system going in later this year. All together, there will be 53 ActiveMine nodes in the two underground areas.

The name of the coal mining company hasn’t been disclosed.

“We’re delighted that ActiveMine will become a key tool for our new customer in fulfilling its commitments to employee safety and business productivity,” said Steve Barrett, President and CEO, Active Control. “We look forward to helping customers to safeguard employees and get the most out of their mines.”

According to Active Control, the deployment of the systems is subject to MSHA approval for the wireless Wi-Fi phones, which is expected soon.

Source: www.voip-news.com

The first MSHA-approved ActiveMine network will be installed in a West Virginia underground coal mine next month. The 50-node network from Active Control Technology will be the largest MSHA-approved underground Wi-Fi network to date. Wi-Fi telephones are expected to be not too far behind.

“ActiveMine’s open standard frees mines from being locked into proprietary and antiquated wired networks,” said Steve Barrett, President and CEO, Active Control. “We have brought the Internet to mining and made it 100 percent wireless, making possible a world of new applications and devices for mines.”

According to Active Control:

The installation will mark the first time a coal mine has deployed a full Wi-Fi standards-based communications network. This means that with ActiveMine, the premier wireless voice communications and tracking system for mines, the mine can utilize any Internet Protocol-based application over its network.

…

The new system will replace a pre-MSHA approved ActiveMine system which has been in operation since May 2008 in a non-gassy area of the mine. ActiveMine’s Wi-Fi telephones are expected to receive MSHA approval soon.

Source: www.voip-news.com

Motorola has a new all-in-one access point that combines WiMAX, Wi-Fi and VoIP, along with an Ethernet port. THe Motorola wi4 WiMAX CPEi 775 is a WiMAX 802.16e modem with an integrated Wi-Fi 802.11 b/g router, VoIP ATA ports for voice calling, and an Ethernet port.

It’s the second generation for this router, which was introduced at the Consumer Electronics Show.

According to Motorola:

The second generation CPEi 775 follows the award winning CPEi 850, and once again raises the bar on performance for the rest of the industry. By incorporating adaptive switching techniques, the CPEi 775 does not need to be rotated for optimal signal strength, allowing easier installation. With some of the most advanced antenna designs available today, the CPEi 775 sets new standards for device transmit power and receive sensitivity — two factors that have a big impact on a network operator’s bottom line, and the number of cells required to provide coverage.

“As mobile WiMAX networks proliferate globally service providers are looking for ways to leverage the speed and performance of WiMAX for more advanced services,” said Charles Riggle, senior director of strategy and business development, WiMAX devices, Motorola Home & Networks Mobility. “It takes considerable know-how to put two different radio technologies together in a single package with internal antennas and not suffer from interference or degraded throughput. With the CPEi 775, we are able to provide high performance in a very attractive form factor.”

Source: voip-tech.blogspot.com

Skype™ release now its popular VoIP software also for a lot of cellphones like Nokia, Motorola, Sony Ericsson and Samsung, the complete list of compatible models is on the Skype™ website, in the download page.
The download happen simply inserting your cellphone number, then you will receive an SMS containing the download link for the application.
If your cellphone integrate a Wi-Fi connection, you can use Skype™ with every available Wi-Fi LAN.

Source: voip-tech.blogspot.com

ASUS presents the first videophone Skype™ certified, the videophone ASUS AiGuru SV1 Skype is equipped with a 7 inch color LCD monitor, a 640×480 pixels webcam, a microphone and a speaker, the connection to the internet it’s by Wi-Fi 802.11 b and g or by the classic cabled LAN 10/100 Mbit.
In summary it is a good product that doesn’t need a pc connection to work, in fact it’s enough to connect it to a wireless or cabled router, it offer all the benefits of Skype™ phone calls and free calls from and to Skype™ users; it will be commercialized starting from the next october.

Source: voip-tech.blogspot.com

Even the new born in Apple house, the well-known multimedia portable player iPod, available on the App Store and very similar to his brother iPhone, will have its VoIP functionality, thanks to the new earphones with microphone it will be possible to make VoIP calls by the TruPhone application and the integrated Wi-Fi LAN (802.11b/g), TruPhone is available for free on the App Store.

Source: voip-tech.blogspot.com

Good news for mobile VoIP, the IEEE announce the new 802.11r standard that allows the change of connection between Wi-Fi Access Points without loss of connections or delays in reconnections, just 50 milliseconds for the roaming between one access point and another one, positive situation for whom that use mobile VoIP, no more interrupted calls while you’re moving, no more lost words or sentences during a conversation.

Source: www.voip-news.com

Imagine if wireless devices could move seamlessly between Wi-Fi connection points without a hiccup? It might seem like a dream, but a new standard just developed and approved by IEEE could make it possible.

Oh, wouldn’t that be great?

The original standard was only intended to be used with a single access point. It’s about four years in the making and is expected to mostly be used in VoIP applications.

According to PC Pro:

Current Wi-Fi equipment can take several seconds to complete the handover from one access point to another, resulting in dropped phone calls.

The new standard will complete the process in just 50ms, by establishing a security and quality of service state with the new access point before handover.

Source: www.theregister.co.uk

The IEEE has formally approved 802.11r, the amendment to the Wi-Fi standard that allows devices to smoothly transition between Wi-Fi hotspots without breaking the flow of conversation.

802.11r allows a mobile device to move smoothly between hotspots, with connections never suspending for more than 50 milliseconds. Inaudible to the human ear which is presumed to be making use of such connectivity, the standard was published last month, but manufacturers are only now starting to show an interest.

It’s strange to think that Wi-Fi was once considered a serious threat to mobile telephony, but there was a time when city-spanning Wi-Fi networks promised to carry phone calls for free, if only there was a decent hand-off between cells. 802.11f provides a fast enough hand-off for data services, but that can take a second or two if cryptography is being used, so 802.11r was kicked off in 2004 to provide consistent connections.

These days no one seriously expects Wi-Fi to challenge the network operators, indeed the reverse is more likely to be true, but enterprises might be convinced to deploy VoIP solutions based on Wi-Fi thanks to the new standard.

Earlier this year the Wi-Fi Alliance tried to create interest in using VoIP over Wi-Fi with their "Voice-Personal" certification, which has been largely ignored by VoIP users and manufacturers alike. Now that 802.11r has been completed, the Alliance will likely create some sort of enterprise-level certification that will mandate 802.11r conformance.

As femtocells start to provide the same functionality with less complexity, and cellular networks ramp up speeds to match the real-world performance of Wi-Fi, it’s probably time for Wi-Fi to concentrate on the data services it delivers so well and leave voice traffic to the professionals. ®

Source: www.voip-news.com

Now you can surf the web while flying the friendly skies. American Airlines has rolled out Wi-Fi on flights longer than three hours. Fifteen of the company’s airplanes are outfitted with the capability.

The cost to passengers: $12.95 … that’s more expensive than Wi-Fi at Starbucks or AOL dial-up 10 years ago … I think.

But sorry folks, you won’t be able to tap into VoIP while in the air. American Airlines isn’t allowing it.

Anyway, according to the Chicago Tribune:

The Wi-Fi service is called Gogo and is provided by Aircell, an Itasca-based company that is also outfitting Delta Air Lines aircraft with Internet access. Earlier in August, Delta said it would launch Wi-Fi on some airplanes by fall and expand the service to its entire domestic fleet by next summer.

The Gogo service costs $9.95 for flights of three hours or less, though all of American Airlines initial flights with Wi-Fi are coast-to-coast ones. The first planes to get Wi-Fi are the 767-200 aircraft, which fly nonstop between New York and San Francisco, New York and Los Angeles and New York and Miami.

Source: www.voip-news.com

This is pretty interesting. A UK publication is reporting that more Wi-Fi hotspots are allowing users to make VoIP calls.

According to Telappliant:

The report, by ABI Research, found that the Wi-Fi market is expected to grow by 40 per cent compared with 2007 and its business model has been changing rapidly.

It found that companies such as Starbucks have been altering how they look at the technology, for instance offering a virtually free service, meaning customers can take full advantage of the low cost of VoIP phone calls.