Wirelss Industry secrets revealed!

Hello my devoted Blog readers. I am in currently in the beautiful, precious Mount Tremblant In Quebec, Canada for a convention. Please visit the link, this place is incredible but it is no Whistler in BC, obviously a non-biased opinion :) and instead of golfing on one of the most difficult courses in Canada I find myself blogging.

One of the keynote speakers was Dean Prevhost - Chief Strategy Officer of Allstream (I think because he has held over 10 executive positions at Allstream). He was speaking about the non-competitive cellular industry in Canada and our technologies. As you all may or may not know, the 2 largest carriers are Bell and Telus with Rogers (and Fido) following. Bell and Telus run on older technology - CDMA, very stable and a clear connection but it has limitations in regards to an Open Source Application architecture found in the Rogers GSM network. It isn't really a question of the world phone anymore but more of what the consumer can do using GSM Technology. Features and applications such as Multimedia, true mobility without roaming, as it is in Canada right now, the Bell Tower I am connecting to does not make a difference, I will be getting charged for roaming and long distance. I am willing to take the long distance charges (reluctantly) but roaming?!!?! I am connected to the same provider! Getting back on track, Dual-mode phone utilizing VoIP via a WiFi connection and a GSM phone are already in Asia and Europe. What will Telus and Bell do then. I did hear that they are going to offer some models that are dual mode with GSM so that they can offer their customers this product but that means that they will have to go to the competition. You think Bell and Telus want that to happen?? yeah right, Telus will not even put in a SIP Backbone right now to offer Residential IP Services because they are making too much money off analog services.

The speaker from Allstream has stated that $14 billion dollars of wireless spectrum, just spectrum, not wireless services, towers all hardware but just spectrum is up for sale in 2008. Basically, a $14 billion ticket to play in this wireless "lottery" is up for grabs. If we are so far ahead, like people have been saying then why would all this spectrum be for sale? Something is happening, Telus and Bell better think of something quick! LOL

Canada was once only six months behind the US, we are now an estimated 2 and a half years behind the US and 6 YEARS behind Europe. These incumbents are slowing this whole country down.

Prediction: Once this spectrum is sold to the highest bidder - they are going to build a GSM network and blow CDMA technology right out of Canada.

VoIP in the US on the rise! Behind Europe, of course.

Recent research from TeleGeography indicates that while the VoIP market in the US is most definitely on quick rise, Europe is leaps and bounds ahead of us. The total number of US VoIP subscribers nearly doubled in the last year, going from 6.5 million in mid-2006 to a whopping 11.8 million by the second quarter of this year. TeleGeography is projecting that VoIP subscribers in the US will reach a staggering 23.3 million by the year 2011, mostly due to cable companies jumping on the IP telephony bandwagon.

While the US VoIP market is going along at warp speed, Europe’s growth is even sharper, largely due in part to their aggressive pricing and by “active participation of incumbent operators such as France Telecom, Deutsche Telekom and BT in the VoIP market. In Europe, incumbent service providers accounted for 26%of VoIP subscribers, while in the US, AT&T, Verizon and Qwest have remained largely on the sidelines. If these factors remain in place, TeleGeography projects that by 2011, VoIP penetration in Europe will be approximately twice as great as in the US.”

‘VoIP service in the US has emerged as a mainstream service that is causing traditional service providers some headaches,’ commented TeleGeography analyst Stephan Beckert. “However, in Europe, VoIP could fundamentally change the structure of the fixed-line market.”

Skype has Worms!

Skype's image has taken another serious blow. On September 10, the Internet telephony company alerted users that a worm is loose in its service. The worm attacks Windows computers through Skype IMs (instant messages), with the cooperation of "careless" users. Fortunately, anti-virus companies already have solutions, and Skype has its own fix for the do-it-yourself crowd.

The worm arrives via a cleverly worded chat message, supposedly from an IM buddy. The message includes a link to what is apparently a JPEG file. In one example described on the Web, the name and path make the file appear to be an erotic image. Clicking the link produces a pop-up window asking to run a screensaver (.scr) file. Clicking the OK button loads the worm onto the victim's computer, which then sends the same message to that user's buddies.

The Skype Blog, which describes the worm and calls it "w32/Ramex.A," says that three anti-virus vendors have developed cures. F-Secure, Kaspersky Lab and Symantec Corp. have already updated their products to catch it. The same blog offers a manual fix, which it emphasizes is for experts only. It involves deleting five .exe files, as well as deleting all entries in a hosts file. The latter is necessary in order to get anti-virus updates to resume.

Enterprises have long feared the damage Skype hacks could do. Skype's peer-to-peer technology is particularly adept at sneaking through firewalls unnoticed. Its encryption also makes detection of damaging code especially difficult. On the other hand, its use of closely guarded proprietary technology makes it harder to hack, since there's no publicly available code for attackers to examine for weaknesses.

The extent of the damage the worm has done to users' computers remains unknown. It has already damaged Skype's reputation plenty, though, since it's the company's second serious reliability problem in a few weeks. Late last month, the service suffered an outage that lasted more than a day. That high-profile incident prompted much speculation about whether or not IP Telephony was right for Small-Medium Business. First off, this speculation is ridiculous, considering Skype is not a BUSINESS PRODUCT! and users who think that it is, you are DEAD WRONG! Sorry I get a little excited when VoIP users put every product in the same category.

Anyways, they are saying that this latest incident will make it all the harder for Skype to argue that it is in fact a Business-oriented VoIP Manufacturer. That makes the worm a real pest, given how hard Skype is trying to transform itself into a business tool rather than just a cheap way to call friends and family around the world. For a company like Skype, it is hard enough already, almost impossible, with this happening it will be a mission that will never be completed.

"I Got Worms" -Jim Carrey