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November NewsWeekly >>

AskCALEA NewsWeekly November 14, 2008

• Report: Comcast Digital Voice Ahead of Other VoIP Providers in Audio Quality
  Keynote Systems released the results of its latest VoIP Service Provider Study, which evaluates how end users experience the reliability and audio clarity of leading voice service providers.
• Nortel Blurs the Boundaries Between TV and Interactive Applications at TelcoTV 08
  Nortel's video solutions make it possible for service providers to blend the applications and communications capabilities of computers and mobile devices with TV programming to enhance the entertainment experience.
• Wi-Fi, WiMAX or LTE: Which to choose?
  I recently chatted online with representatives of the Wi-Fi Alliance, the WiMAX Forum and the GSM Association in an effort to understand how enterprises will apply emerging mobile broadband services going forward. With a quarter-million Wi-Fi hot spots worldwide.
• AT&T To Buy Centennial For $944 Million
  In a move that expands its wireless footprint and adds subscribers, AT&T on Monday said it will purchase Centennial Communications Corp. for $944 million.
• Wireless trade group drops challenge to FCC open access rule
  Wireless carriers, as a group, tend not to like "open access" mandates from regulators. That's why, when the FCC proposed adding a set of Google-backed open access rules to a chunk of its 700MHz spectrum auction, Verizon promptly sued. After failing to get an expedited hearing in the case, Verizon dropped the matter - but wireless industry trade group CTIA promptly picked it up again.
• Pingo Adds PC SoftPhone Calling Feature
  International calling is getting much cheaper thanks to Pingo, the prepaid VoIP calling service from iBasis, an international long-distance carrier. The company recently added SoftPhone, which allows customers to make low-cost international calls using personal computers (PCs) via the Internet.

AskCALEA NewsWeekly November 7, 2008

• FCC Votes: Sprint-Clearwire, Alltel-Verizon and white spaces rules pass
  The FCC late this afternoon approved both the Verizon Wireless acquisition of Alltel and Sprint and Clearwire’s merger of WiMAX assets—two deals that could substantially recreate the wireless landscape in the US. It also adopted rules for governing the use of the “white spaces” between existing broadcast television spectrum for use in offering wireless data services.
• Two FCC decisions could have major impact on WiMAX
  Two decisions from the FCC have given WiMAX life in the U.S. and may pave the way for quite a substantial WiMAX footprint across the US.
• MetroPCS expands in Michigan, looks to future rollouts
  MetroPCS Communications Inc. posted its full, third-quarter earnings report, along with news that it is now up and running in new Michigan markets. The carrier, which previously announced that it added 249,000 customers during the third quarter, launched service in Flint, Lansing, Saginaw and Bay City, Mich., today.
• T-Mobile Beefs Up LTE Plans
  T-Mobile International AG is the latest major mobile operator to step up the pressure on equipment vendors to speed development of the so-called 4G technology, Long-Term Evolution. Chief technology officer Joachim Horn says that T-Mobile will not deploy high-speed packet access (HSPA) evolution (HSPA+) to get more out of its 3G mobile broadband network and will instead move straight on to LTE.
• Verizon, AT&T further plans for femtocell services
  AT&T and Verizon were last week reported to be moving further with their femtocell plans. According to Fiercewireless, Verizon is waiting for FCC approval for its femtocell base station and the company may launch its service in 2009.
• VoxOx Enters Consumer Market as Universal Communicator Service
  TelCentris has launched the public beta of its free consumer service, VoxOx unifies key communication channels - voice, video, IM, text, social media, e-mail, fax and more - into a single, intuitive user interface.
• 11 Great Tools for Making VoIP Calls on the iPhone
  No one likes using up their cell phone minutes, and that is where VoIP services come in handy. VoIP offers up an inexpensive alternative to traditional phone calls, making VoIP for the iPhone a great deal.
• Raketu 3.0 Includes a New Interface with Free Videocalling
  Raketu released its upgraded download client, Version 3.0. The new version has an updated interface to allow users to more easily navigate and use Raketu’s services, while improving the overall look and feel.
• Botnets: How to get rooted in one easy lesson
  In discussions about botnets, how and why a computer becomes part of a botnet are two questions that get asked quite often. Like most things in life, the answers aren’t simple; still, I’d like to give it a try. I noticed a trend in the comment section of my article “Botnets: Bigger Isn’t Always Better.” People wanted to know how a computer becomes a bot and why it’s so hard to detect when it happens.