VoIP strives to co-exist with alarm systems

Joan Engebretson (3.5.07)

Leading alarm installing companies - ADT and Brinks Security Systems - have started making arrangements with VoIP providers to solve incompatibility issues.

Current alarm systems do not work with VoIP services, forcing customers to choose one or the other. This is more evidence that companies and legislation are working to meet the demand for diverse broadband services.

About 25 million alarm systems have been installed nationwide, according to Gordon Hope, general manager of Alarmnet, a unit of security manufacturer Honeywell. Comcast, which uses VoIP for the Digital Voice service that the company offers over its cable network infrastructure, estimates that 25% of Digital Voice customers have alarm systems. Potential incompatibilities between VoIP and alarm systems are fourfold.

Issues that need addressing are: the results of a power outage, home wiring often needs updating, customer service conflicts, and network stability.

To date, ADT’s and Brinks’s acceptance of VoIP seems to be the exception, rather than the rule within the alarm industry. The NBFAA it still seeking a legislative solution, and John Chwat, NBFAA director of government relations, expects to get several provisions written into any telecom bill proposed this year. Some of these provisions—including a requirement that VoIP providers contact customers’ alarm companies if VOIP is installed--simply codify what many providers already are already doing. But another requirement—to provide 24-hour battery backup—could add substantially to the cost of VoIP service. Today, even VoIP providers that offer battery backup typically only provide it for a few hours.

FCC Clarifies VoIP-PSTN Interconnection Rules

Tom Tovar (3.7.07)
http://www.convergedigest.com/Bandwidth/newnetworksarticle.asp?ID=20786

The FCC has passed a petition that will allow CLECs to connect with ILECs.

Opens up choice and potential for broadband voice communications.

FCC granted a petition from Time Warner petition that clarifies rules of how voice traffic can be exchanged between broadband providers and the PSTN. By granting the petition, the FCC affirmed that competitive local exchange carriers (CLECs) are entitled to interconnect with incumbent local exchange carriers (ILECs) pursuant to section 251 of the Telecommunications Act for the purpose of exchanging traffic on behalf of VoIP-based service providers.

FCC Chairman Kevin Martin stated: "Our decision will enhance consumers' choice for phone service by making clear that cable and other VoIP providers must be able to use local phone numbers and be allowed to put calls through to other phone networks."

Other noteworthy aspects of the ruling:

• It doesn't apply directly to VoIP providers, therefore not giving them their own interconnection rights, but CLECs can provide them wholesale interconnection.
  

• CLECs must provide number portability to VoIP providers.
  

For further reading:
http://www.telecomlawblog.com/fcc-daily-fcc-order-clarifies-interconnection-rights-of-
carriers-serving-voip-providers.html

Don’t Don't Apply 1968 Telecom Rule to Wireless, Says AT&T

Drew Clark (2.26.07)
http://www.drewclark.com/2007/02/dont-go-back-to-1968-telecom-rules-says.shtml

AT&T and Verizon talk about national broadband and wireless regulation while speaking at the Technology Policy Summit.

This is the beginning of a potential push toward national broadband, which if instituted would force changes in legislation, and shift the focus of municipal wireless projects.

AT&T’s Senior Vice President Jim Ciconni has acknowledged a need for national broadband. “We don’t have a national broadband policy, we have never had a broadband policy, and, given the importance of competitiveness, we should have one,” said Ciconni.

However, Tom Tauke, Verizon Communications Executive Vice President countered by saying “a national broadband policy would do more harm than good." But he encouraged government-private sector collaboration to obtain more data about broadband deployment.

Tauke referred positively to KetuckyConnect, an effort to compile statistics about regional broadband deployment. The government could provide subsidies and loans for deploying broadband in rural areas that enjoy a lesser degree of broadband deployment, he said.

They also discussed wireless regulation, with Ciconni claiming that things have changed since the carterphone, saying “there are a plethora of carriers and a wide variety of devices that are available” on wireless networks, thus any rule that hearkens back to 1968 will be rejected.

Faster WiMax on the Way

Dan Jones (2.14.07)
http://www.unstrung.com/document.asp?doc_id=117363


Wireless at 1-Gbit/s fixed and 100-Mbit/s data transfer rates is on the way dubbed 802.16m


The Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers Inc. (IEEE) has started working on a new version of the 802.16 standard -- the technology that WiMax is based on -- that could push data transfer speeds up to 1 Gbit/s while maintaining backwards compatibility with existing WiMax radios.

The muscle behind 802.16m will be multiple-input/multiple-output (MIMO) antenna technology on top of an OFDM-based radio system just like the upcoming "Wave 2" mobile WiMax products being plotted by several silicon vendors. The Wave 2 profile, which is being championed by Sprint Nextel Corp. is expected to achieve mobile speeds of around 5 Mbit/s by using a two-by-two antenna array. 802.16m could up those speeds, in part, by using larger antenna arrays.

The move to develop a faster spec comes even before products based on the current mobile WiMax specification are generally available. This once again indicates the way certain parts of the industry are trying to aggressively push WiMax forward as the only the possible choice for future 4G networks.

House Dems Eye Telecom Review

David Hatch (2.27.07)
http://www.njtelecomupdate.com/lenya/telco/live/tb-MJSN1172609975538.html

House Democrats are planning a thorough re-examination of telecommunications and media policies that will feature multiple oversight hearings and fresh legislation.

These re-evaluations could change current broadband regulations for local franchising,

Fostering high-speed Internet deployment, ensuring an open and accessible Internet, and overhauling the federal universal service program that subsidizes telecom connections in rural and impoverished areas are among the key issues to be addressed. The competitiveness of the video, telephone and radio marketplaces also will be explored, along with protecting the privacy of phone records and promoting efficient use of spectrum.

A Feb. 15 FCC oversight hearing before the House telecom subcommittee was postponed. It has not yet been rescheduled. House Democrats plan to scrutinize several FCC policies, include the agency's review of media-ownership limits and its authority to investigate allegations that the National Security Agency conducted surveillance of phone records without warrants.

Also to be examined is a recent FCC decision relaxing local video-franchising guidelines. State regulators have complained that the new rules usurp their authority. Replacing local franchises with less cumbersome national agreements was the centerpiece of Republican deregulatory legislation last year, but it stalled after its Senate counterpart became mired in controversy.

Verizon expands 50-Meg footprint

Brain Santo (2.27.07)
http://www.cedmagazine.com/article/CA6419926.html

Verizon expands 50 Mbps in 6 of its 16 state FiOS coverage.

The six states where Verizon's 50 Mbps tier is now available are Connecticut, Florida, Massachusetts, New Jersey, New York, and Rhode Island. Other FiOS markets will get the tier this year.

The mid-tier maximum connection rates in those six markets was increased from 15 Mbps downstream and 2 Mbps upstream to 20 Mbps down and 5 Mbps up, while the top-tier service was increased from maximums of 30 Mbps down and 5 Mbps up to 50 Mbps down and 5 Mbps up.

Verizon said that more than 6 million homes and businesses in parts of 16 states are now passed by its fiber network, but it declined to say how many of those could subscribe to the 50 Mbps tier. The TV franchise agreements Verizon has struck in the Tampa area cover only a few thousand households.

Report: VOIM Sounds Better Than PSTN

Mark Sullivan (2.23.07)
http://www.lightreading.com/document.asp?doc_id=118017


A recent study has found that voice over IM services such as Skype, Yahoo, and Google provide higher quality more realistic quality sound than TDM-based phone services.

More support for IP telephony, and that traditional phone carriers will have to start making adjustments as interest grows in what VOIM can offer.

The codecs used in TDM-based voice systems cover an 8kHz band directly in the middle of the voice frequency range, explains Global IP Sound AB CEO Gary Hermansen.

By contrast, Hermansen says, new IP codecs cover a 16kHz swath of the frequency range, which better conveys the highs, lows and texture of a caller's voice. Hermansen says VOIM codecs can also compensate for packet loss, and cancel out echo and background noise.

The end result is that VOIM makes the human voice sound more, well, human than traditional telephony ever did.

"Carriers will ultimately need to reconcile traditional telephony with VOIM as they face increasing pressure from their customers to receive the same types of flexible services" that VOIM enables, report writer John Longo writes.

FCC Opens Program-Access Rulemaking

Ted Hearn (2.21.07)

1992 Law, Extended in 2002, Set to Expire Oct. 5

Key features of federal program-access rules are scheduled to expire Oct. 5 unless extended by the FCC. The rules were extended for five years in 2002 in a ruling narrowly supported by FCC chairman Kevin Martin, who was a regular FCC member at the time. In recent weeks, Martin has indicated his support for a second extension.

Under a 1992 law, the FCC has required cable companies to sell satellite-delivered programming in which they have an ownership interest to competing multichannel-video-programming distributors. Thus, Time Warner has been forced to sell CNN and HBO to such competitors as DirecTV, EchoStar Communications’ Dish Network and Verizon Communications’ FiOS TV service.

Future of Net phone firm Vonage hangs in balance

Leslie Cauley (2.20.07)
http://www.usatoday.com/printedition/money/20070220/vonage.art.htm

Verizon is taking Vonage to court for patent infringement on 48 counts.

This could stifle growing VoIP companies and have an impact on service and innovation in the future.

Vonage claims Verizon's patents are too broad for any company to work around and still remain in business. Brooke Schulz, a Vonage spokeswoman, said Monday that Verizon's claims are baseless. "This is about Verizon trying to stifle competition," she said. "We have not infringed on their patents, period."

By the end of 2006, there were 8.6 million VoIP users in the USA, estimates JupiterResearch. By 2010, the number is expected to reach 22.5 million. Many of those customers are coming from traditional local phone providers such as Verizon and AT&T.

William Bosch, a Vonage lawyer offered a prediction: "We think there is an extremely good likelihood this jury is going to find that (the Verizon patents) are invalid, that they never should have been granted in the first place."

Jeffrey Citron, Vonage's chairman and chief strategist, has been subpoenaed to appear as a witness — for Verizon. That has put him, potentially, in the awkward position of testifying against his own company. Vonage is fighting the subpoena, Schulz said.

Don’t Panic. Yet.

Broadcasters, Cable Operators Think They Can Prevent 'Tsunami of Public Outrage’ If Millions of Televisions Don’t Work Two Years From Now

By Ted Hern (2.19.07)
http://www.multichannel.com/article/CA6417227.html

On February 17, 2009, analog signals to TVs will be no more leaving many millions of TVs dark and millions more customers angry.

With this impending deadline, the way people receive TV might go through some radical overhauls depending on government subsidies, and innovations in IPTV, for example.

By forcing TV stations from their analog channels by a specific deadline, the DTV (digital TV) law cleared the way for the FCC to auction off what would become surplus analog spectrum for at least $10 billion, paid by companies, perhaps even cable companies, that want to grab the channels for wireless broadband services. The other channels are to go for free to fire, police and emergency organizations hungry for new frequencies.

One and a half billion dollars will be set aside to subsidize analogue to digital converters, but legislators and broadcasters believe this will not be enough, and many are speaking out against the hard deadline, saying it is too soon.

The other concern is making people aware of the switch date. On Jan. 31, the Association of Public Television stations released a survey showing that 61% of Americans polled “had no idea the transition was taking place.” The cost of this campaign to reach large channel stations to small local radio stations is estimated at 100 million dollars, and manufacturers have been ramping up production of converter-boxes to meet the deadline that is now just under 2 years away.