Apple Rumours
I've been thinking about what Apple might be up to next. This is, of course, a time honoured tradition. Here are my predictions:
- iTunes for Windows will ship at the same time as international user support
- iChat AV will be turned into a soft client for VoIP; .Mac will add mac-to-phone gateways and voicemail
Don't agree? Have some other ideas? Tell me what you think...
iTunes for Win plus international support
Doing it all in one go will ensure a massive launch. My question is whether Apple's servers are going to be able to hold out on "opening day". Akamai already does a bunch of caching for them...do they help out with music streaming as well?
iChat AV does VoIP
This one might be a little farther out, but it just kind of makes sense to me. Also, this is definitely something that I would pay for a .Mac account for. Any decent geek can get webmail and online storage space going, but a VoIP gateway is orders of magnitude trickier -- and therefore worthwhile. If the service is built well, and people really like it, it can be a massive lock-in. It will ensure that people don't move off the Mac platform, and new converts are likelier to stick around.
Of course, they won't have Canadian area codes available until 2010...
By the way, check Mac OS Rumors for your freshest Apple/Mac related rumours. They seem to think that iChat will at the least go multi-platform (MSN, Yahoo, etc.), and that apparently some ICQ accounts may already be accessible. I tried to add my ICQ account (20554868), but it didn't show up.
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Giving up 911
I get service from Bell Canada. I looked at the numbers. I think it get ripped off. I am willing to go for a VoIP provider even if it means giving up 911.
Consider the feature set price comparision between Vonage and Bell Canada for basic service, features and 500 minutes LD. (All figures Canadian after approximate conversions)
Bell Canada
Basic Service: 20$
Network Access for Long Distance Network: 5$
Voice Mail: 7$
Caller Name and Number ID: 8$
Call Waiting: 3$
Conferencing: 3$
500 LD minutes @ 5 cents per minute: 25$
Total: 71$
Vonage:
Basic Residential with all of the features above free & 500 Minutes LD: 36$ CDN. See: www.vonage.com
So the number is approximately 45% less then the ILEC.
Also, I suspect a large number of phones (upto 50%?) cordless. This means that those phones do not provide 911 service. (During the recent blackout, I visited 11 people in my building and all had cordless phones.)
just a point...
There is a difference between 911 service and lifeline service. Lifeline service indicates that the phone is powered by the line, 911 indicates that 911 will be able to locate the originating location of the call.
Nice!
Thanks for this, Gaurav. I just noticed that they "waived" long distance rates for Canada! That's fantastic...
Mmm....just tried to go through their sign-up process. They're not offering it to Canadians at all (you can't select "Canada" as country for your shipping address).
OK, I just did some searching. Through VoIPProvidersList I found Galaxy Telecom in Vancouver. They have a VoIP product they call i-box which they only distribute through partners.
Trying to find a partner, the only one was one based in the Caribbean?!
I found some other links that made no sense to me, like Prime Price in Toronto (a search at the VoIP providers looks at the US & Canada -- the Canadian ones look like wholesalers...).
OnlineTel looks interesting, but it looks like a business service (since it is a 4- or 8-line gateway).
iConnecthere and Cisco ATA's
Boris, I bought a Cisco ATA 186 from eBay for 175$ US, and a calling card from iConnecthere. Configuration can be a little cumbersome sometimes, but afterthat it works really well. I have read that a Cico ATA from Vonage is pre-configured and takes just minutes to set up.
The call quality, especially for NA and overseas calls is great.
I read that Telus is moving all traffic to VoIP (I imagine in the network core) -- here's a nice article.
So I imagine they would want to bypass the local loop at some point.
[Ed. Turned the long url into a link]
Yes, in the core...
Telus will realize the savings (and early troubles) of moving to VoIP in the core, but will continue to charge the same amount they did for good old circuit telephony. It's a big move though, so for a while they deserve the profits that hopefully they'll reap. They sure aren't going to change the local loop portion though. That'd be just crazy. They might change the DMS that terminates it to a softswitch, but they won't change the linecard your phone terminates on.
The only time they'll bypass the local loop will be if they go out of territory... and should they, they'll reap the pain inflicted on them by Bell, and that pain will likely be great.
Not sure...
that residential VoIP has really been okayed by the CRTC in Canada yet... so what you'll find is business providers today... that's it. By the way, onlinetel is the one providing Labatt Blueline which I use to call Toronto all the time now... for free! :)
Not OK?!
What does this mean, not OK?! I mean, if I find someone to buy a service from (like Gaurav), and the service itself is legal...how can it not be OK?
What does that mean?
If I find someone to buy heroin from is that okay? Or say DirectTV satellite services (even if I'm willing to pay)?
Ummm... not here.
Very valid concerns
Dave's points about E911, Lawful intercept and others are valid, so I think residential users will and perhaps should continue to use copper-loop services, but for SOHO and small business users, this VoIP application is particularly compelling.
I used to spend many over a 100 dollars on LD every month. Now, I am spending 30% of that. I dropped out of Bell's long distance plan and no longer pay network access charges.
The Problems with 911?
Why is implementing 911 a problem with VoIP services?
If 911 is available from cellular, why can it not be made available from VoIP solutions?
Cellular is different
Cellular uses either methods of triangulization using cell antennae and power of the connection to each tower, or gps location from gps receivers in the handset. So, it is easier (but by no means foolproof) to do this in cellular. Next, handsets are powered by battery and hence don't depend on the electrical grid. In the case of VoIP, terminals today do not have GPS receivers and take power from the electrical grid (or PoE which is rare and likely not backup powered today). So the too big concerns with 911 and lifeline service aren't addressed in the VoIP network yet today... that's all... they aren't insurmountable, but they might not be cost-effective compared to continuing with traditional POTS service.
Is it a requirement?
Dave, I'm not clear on the regulations. Does this mean I'm not allowed to NOT have a land line?
That is, say I get high-speed access over cable. As my phone, I decide to get a VoIP service (I may or may not also have a cellphone). Is it allowable for me, as an individual, to do this? To not have an analog land line?
no landline required
Sure, lots of people don't have landlines.
My question is
Where does the regulation come in? If, as a VoIP provider, you bill yourself as a "second line" service, does this mean you duck the requirement for providing 911 service?
My thoughts would be that the provider could take this as their position, and that people that use it, as part of their agreement, must sign/acknowledge that no 911 is required.
Sure, bill yourself as a second line service...
but then the company might be restricted to selling only to people with landlines or cellphones...
The regulations come from (in NA) the FCC (and PUCs) and CRTC. They are the ones who decide what a telephone service is, and what an information service is. And the point is that they don't want some un-knowledgable person to end up getting a VoIP service and then have someone die when someone tries to use 911. That's all, whether or not it's realistic or not is another question.
So sure, offer it as second-line, but you might be forced to bundle with another voice method then.
So sure, offer it as secon
I'm looking for legal loopholes, where the onus is not on the company, but on the person getting the service. The "un-knowledgeable" would in essence self-select themselves out of the process.
So this is the problem...
... gov'ts don't like that. Hence they regulate things, and this could very well be what will happen with VoIP until they can (and in time they will) solve the E911 and lifeline services (not to mention CALEA - Lawful intercept) problems.
So, just like you can't buy a car that doesn't have seatbelts... you won't be able to buy a residential IP phone that doesn't support 911 once the gov't gets around to finalizing its regulations.
Legal loopholes can be big problems... unless you don't mind the fact that terrorists could plug in their VoIP phones anywhere without the cops being able to trace them... (oh... unless you can figure out some way to filter out some ethernet MAC address in the middle of the web... ;))
Canadian VoIP area codes in 2010
Boris, can you say a bit more about this? Where did you get this info? Thanks.
Sorry -- sarcasm
Actually, it's just my bitterness that there is no mass-market VoIP service in Canada yet. You can sign up for one of the services in the US, but you end up with an area code for San Francisco or Seattle or some such.
I haven't seen any particular desire by any of the telcos in Canada to offer a service anytime soon.
Telus probably has the most advanced network now, and perhaps their fight with Bell might actually spur one or the other to start offering it.
Woo, Apple.
Predicting what Apple will do next is like Roulette.
I am willing to bet a bit of cash that Apple will develop an integrated digital camera into the iPod. What is true for MP3 devices is true for digital cameras - flash memory is a limiting storage medium, and hard drives are a superior alternative but for the fact that they have moving parts.
I'd also bet that Apple will use an IBM Microdrive to make an ultra-small iPod about the size of a present-day cell phone. Steve Jobs loves small size and will go to any length to get it. The biggest microdrive can only hold 4 GB, but that is plenty for an MP3 and AAC device. And if we're lucky enough, Apple will build it so the drive can be removed and replaced with larger versions to come.
Those are the only aparent things. Though if I saw a CD deck from a major car audio company co-branded with Apple and incorporating an MP3/AAC player and FireWire port, I wouldn't be surprised.
VoIP Providers Face Hurdles
Like this one dealt to Vonage by the PUC of Minnesota.
911 and lifeline services will be the largest problems for VoIP providers.
It'll do fine as a strict long distance/second line service, but there are many hurdles to overcome before it is accepted as primary line.