Woosh & Telecom - together at last
By Steve Biddle, in
General, posted: 15-May-2006 08:55
I guess the inevitable has happened & Woosh have realised they are a lame duck who will be out of business by Xmas unless they can roll out a network that can actually work. There have been many people out there (like myself) who have always said that Woosh was a lot closer to Telecom than they made out. Telecom believed Woosh being successful would prove there was no case for ULL in NZ, things just haven't quite worked out that way and now Woosh have accumulated losses of $120 million and investors who have no hope of ever getting a return but have no choice put to pump more money into a lame duck or close it down. This announcement could be rather interesting and makes you wonder if Telecom simply did a deal to stop somebody else (Slingshot anybody?) getting access to Woosh's existing cellsites to add WiMax gear too
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/category/story.cfm?c_id=93&objectid=10381809
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/category/story.cfm?c_id=93&objectid=10381809
No it's not the drug dog - it's the DVD dog
By Steve Biddle, in
General, posted: 12-May-2006 19:33
Apparently it's not the 1st April today so this must be true.
http://www.vnunet.com/vnunet/news/2155845/stansted-gets-dvd-sniffing-dogs
All this from the same airport that has the usual Green & Red channels for customs and in the 10 or so times I've flown though this airport in recent years there has never been any sign on a customs person in the red channel. In September last year when I flew through there twice they even had a big sign by the red channel exit advising you to pick up the courtesy phone if you had anything to declare. They have obviously heard of a famous saying from the Tui billboards in the UK as well! :-)
http://www.vnunet.com/vnunet/news/2155845/stansted-gets-dvd-sniffing-dogs
All this from the same airport that has the usual Green & Red channels for customs and in the 10 or so times I've flown though this airport in recent years there has never been any sign on a customs person in the red channel. In September last year when I flew through there twice they even had a big sign by the red channel exit advising you to pick up the courtesy phone if you had anything to declare. They have obviously heard of a famous saying from the Tui billboards in the UK as well! :-)
VoIP over mobiles
By Steve Biddle, in
General, posted: 12-May-2006 09:22
I had a play with MINO yesterday.
www.mino.com
This software installs on your phone and gives you cheap calling from your cellphone and is really an extension of the international callback services that were popular a few years ago. Run the java app, enter the number to call on your phone and you get an incoming call on your phone. Answer that and your call is then connected to the other party. I only had 2 min trial and the product isn't really suitable for the NZ market due to the high termination costs (since you are baing charged for the call to your mobile and then the destination).
It's hard to really see a market for products like this anywhere but the USA where you're not paying big $$ for mobile termination. I've got a similair setup at home right now running through my Asterisk PBX where I can send an SMS to my SMS gateway at home or access a similair page via WAP which will either ring me back on my mobile (or any other number I select) using italk VoIP and then connect me to a destination number in NZ. This means I can make a call from my mobile to another landline in NZ for 35c per minute. It also allowed me to make cheap calls when I was in Europe last year - I could send a TXT through with a landline number and get a phone call and have direct access to a dialtone to dial out.
www.mino.com
This software installs on your phone and gives you cheap calling from your cellphone and is really an extension of the international callback services that were popular a few years ago. Run the java app, enter the number to call on your phone and you get an incoming call on your phone. Answer that and your call is then connected to the other party. I only had 2 min trial and the product isn't really suitable for the NZ market due to the high termination costs (since you are baing charged for the call to your mobile and then the destination).
It's hard to really see a market for products like this anywhere but the USA where you're not paying big $$ for mobile termination. I've got a similair setup at home right now running through my Asterisk PBX where I can send an SMS to my SMS gateway at home or access a similair page via WAP which will either ring me back on my mobile (or any other number I select) using italk VoIP and then connect me to a destination number in NZ. This means I can make a call from my mobile to another landline in NZ for 35c per minute. It also allowed me to make cheap calls when I was in Europe last year - I could send a TXT through with a landline number and get a phone call and have direct access to a dialtone to dial out.
T-Mobile bans VoIP on data plans.
By Steve Biddle, in
General, posted: 10-May-2006 19:18
I guess it had to happen.
T-Mobile UK have announced that VoIP is a big no no on it's new 3G data plans. They've gone as far as threatening to terminate your account and disconnect your SIM card if VoIP usage is detected!
http://www.reghardware.co.uk/2006/05/09/t-mobile_bans_voip/
T-Mobile UK have announced that VoIP is a big no no on it's new 3G data plans. They've gone as far as threatening to terminate your account and disconnect your SIM card if VoIP usage is detected!
http://www.reghardware.co.uk/2006/05/09/t-mobile_bans_voip/
Telecom & Telstra at it again
By Steve Biddle, in
General, posted: 18-Apr-2006 16:35
I found this story a funny read this afternoon - Telstra appear to have paid for the term AAPT in Google Adwords and a google search for prepay mobile phones.
http://www.smh.com.au/news/technology/telstra-trademark-war-erupts/2006/04/17/1145126035123.html
Isn't it ironic then who owns the domain bigpond.co.nz despite Telstra owning the TM for Bigpond in NZ?
http://www.smh.com.au/news/technology/telstra-trademark-war-erupts/2006/04/17/1145126035123.html
Isn't it ironic then who owns the domain bigpond.co.nz despite Telstra owning the TM for Bigpond in NZ?
Telecom & the TSO
By Steve Biddle, in
General, posted: 3-Apr-2006 20:01
After several years of not quite getting around to it I've finally started my blog.
This article from the Domimion Post today was rather interesting.
http://www.flickr.com/photo_zoom.gne?id=122465247&size=l
It was written by the father of one of my mates which is partially why it caught my attention but it does also raise the issue of whether the TSO in place in New Zealand is actually helping the country progress or actually causing us to move backwards.
Do people in New Zealand really want to pay over $40 for a line rental just to get "free" calls? With the launch of Telecom's Next Generation Network within the next year your phone line will essentially be a broadband internet connection with a VoIP phone. Phone companies and ISP's are going to be one and the same. The current Telecom TSO will not cover the NGN, what changes are made to this agreement before the launch of the NGN are going to be very interesting.
This article from the Domimion Post today was rather interesting.
http://www.flickr.com/photo_zoom.gne?id=122465247&size=l
It was written by the father of one of my mates which is partially why it caught my attention but it does also raise the issue of whether the TSO in place in New Zealand is actually helping the country progress or actually causing us to move backwards.
Do people in New Zealand really want to pay over $40 for a line rental just to get "free" calls? With the launch of Telecom's Next Generation Network within the next year your phone line will essentially be a broadband internet connection with a VoIP phone. Phone companies and ISP's are going to be one and the same. The current Telecom TSO will not cover the NGN, what changes are made to this agreement before the launch of the NGN are going to be very interesting.
