Archive for January, 2004

Voice-over-IP, a technology that lets phones act like PCs and vice versa, is about to take off
By DUFF MCDONALD

When a customer walks into any of the 150 branches of Sports Soccer, a retailer of sports clothing and merchandise in Britain and Belgium, he might as well be walking into all of them. If a certain product — say, a soccer jersey — is unavailable in the store he’s in, the clerk can check the inventory of all nearby branches through a brief phone query. The clerk doesn’t actually talk to anyone, but with a few keystrokes she uses the phone to check a database and locate the nearest store with the shirt.

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A new survey from Parks Associates, out this week, shows that US internet households have a firm grasp of Voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP), and they want it now. The survey conducted for Residential Voice-over-IP: Analysis & Forecasts sampled 3,300 US households on VoIP services.

Half of all those households that already have access to the internet, whether it is over an existing broadband line or over a dial-up connection, say they are interested in VoIP telephone services.

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BIRMINGHAM, U.K. — Fujitsu Telecommunications Europe Ltd, the leading supplier of high performance telecommunications solutions, announces the supply of an Integrated Voice over IP Platform for the BT Broadband Voice Service, which was launched to the public on 9th December 2003.

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Declared dead just a few years ago, voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP)–or the ability to make phone calls over the Internet–is back, bearing all the markings of a Next Big Thing.

Just a few weeks into 2004, signs of VoIP’s quickening pulse are everywhere. Phone carriers are practically tripping over each other to announce aggressive VoIP strategies aimed at both consumers and businesses. Not to be outdone, Time Warner Cable, Cox Communications and Comcast have trumpeted their own forays into the VoIP market.

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I whipped up a little tool to allow users to call any 1-800 numbers from this web page: myphonebooth.com.

You can also call any Free World Dialup, SIPphone, Iptel, or Iaxtel number as well. All for free.

Have fun!