What do you think of FCC's National Broadband Plan?

Sending my thanks to TMCnet for interviewing me on FCC's new broadband plan at http://www.tmcnet.com/channels/did-ddi/articles/78779-didxchange-broadband-plan-packs-potential-communications-market.htm.

How would you answer the same questions?

TMCnet Editor Stefania Viscusi: “What do you think of the FCC’s national broadband plan?”

Suzanne Bowen: Remember, I'm an ex-English teacher turned small business owner, so I have a different view than most who might have spent their whole career in telecommunications, engineering, and/or business in general.

Isn't this a 376 page preliminary report, like a first draft of a framework, so what we read today will change tomorrow? And what's wrong with that as long as progress is made? For the people, you and me and them. I see a potential for new kinds of jobs to replace the old and obsolete, more opportunities for more education for those who need it, and even better ... more collaborative education, improved public safety networks, narrowed gap between the 'haves' and the 'have nots,' and because of this, the empowerment of entrepreneurs with the tools needed to start businesses that put the unemployed back to work.

TMCnet Editor Stefania Viscusi: “How do you expect this plan to affect your markets?”

Suzanne Bowen: Our market is in every corner of Earth, wherever any one has a softswitch and an empowering and practical entrepreneurial idea for business. The plan would be a step in the right direction for that type of individual or organization who wants to leverage direct inward dialing and call forward management with other services and products. In turn, it pushes the future-thinking (previously traditional) telecoms who are major suppliers of DID on DIDX, to expand their Internet and wireless services, products and devices and to change the paradigm of expected main streams of revenue.

TMCnet Editor Stefania Viscusi:: “Any other thoughts on what this new plan means for the future of communications””

Suzanne Bowen: It's a bit lofty and dreamy for me to say, but here we go: Innovation might get new opportunities to come out of hiding in the minds of the most unobvious locations and types of people.



... browse some of our team's other blogs at http://blogs.didx.net and http://blog.tmcnet.com/monetizing-ip-communications/. Find out how to get your telephone company to offer phone numbers from around the world. You're welcome to comment, contribute, and collaborate any time.

It's True, Wholesale Singapore DID, $1 Per Month

Now, that is a great deal. We met an excellent source of Singapore DID at CommunicAsia last week in Singapore.

$1 per month per number on the first 500 DID numbers. Only 10 DID purchase per DIDX account of this special deal. We want to be fair. They will sell fast, so take advantage now. Not a member of DIDX? Must be wholesale, have a softswitch and complete the DIDX interop. Sign up now.

If you are in Singapore, you can call us on +65-3108-0300 and meet up our Director of Business Development Mr. Rehan Allahwala there.

We wish you a happy successful 2009!

... browse some of our team's other blogs at http://blogs.didx.net and http://blog.tmcnet.com/monetizing-ip-communications/. You're welcome to comment, contribute, and collaborate any time.

Two Female Entrepreneurs on Direct Inward Dialing

Maria Gomez is the Customer Relations Manager and Co-Founder of GGGG Corporation. Suzanne Bowen, that's me, is the Vice President and Co-Founder of Super Technologies, Inc. in 1999 who offer the DIDXchange, the wholesale direct inward dialing marketplace. We discuss in English and Spanish what is so great about direct inward dialing, selling and buying DID on DIDX, and in particular the power of having a local presence in Colombia via a phone number.

Visit http://www.didx.net/podcast/?p=episode&name=2009-06-12_mariag_columbiadidx.mp3 at our DIDX podcast and listen.

Maria, from one end of Florida to the other... see you soon.

(I apologize to Maria and all readers for misspelling "Colombia." "Colombia" is correct. "Columbia" is wrong.)
... browse some of our team's other blogs at http://blogs.didx.net and http://blog.tmcnet.com/monetizing-ip-communications/. You're welcome to comment, contribute, and collaborate any time.

Participate in the VoIP Users Conference Skype to ZipDX

Just in on email from VoIP Users Conference ...
Hi all,

In about 4 hours from this writing, the G.722 conference bridge will be brought up, the Talkshoe G.711 also, so you can call in via SIP, PSTN or Skype (experimental)

http://vuc.me for all the gritty details

IRC #voip-users-conference anytime today

We'll also be talking about hosted PBX systems and what they might need to bring telephone into not the 20th, but the 21st century.

It seems like only yesterday, but it was 130 years ago in 1879, that the Bell company acquired Edison's patents for the carbon microphone from Western Union. This made the telephone practical for long distances and it was no longer necessary to shout to be heard at the receiving telephone. Funny, but on most cell phones it is again
necessary to shout to be heard;

See you in a few at sip:7463#22622#1@proxy.ideasip.com or sip:200901@login.zipdx.com or skype:pfh-zdx?call&topic=200901

/r

--~--~---------~--~----~------------~-------~--~----~
VUC is Fridays at 12 Noon Eastern, 9AM Pacific, 11AM Central

http://sessions.voipusersconference.org

Calling: Please join www.Talkshoe.com and get a username and PIN.

PSTN: (724) 444-7444 22622# PIN#
SIP URI: 7463#22622#PIN@proxy.ideasip.com
Wideband in g722: 200901@login.zipdx.com

IRC freenode.net #voip-users-conference or use the web: http://tr.im/vucirc

Twitter: follow 'voipusers' and 'vucmailinglist' for the RSS feed of this list

Thanks to:
Digium OnSIP.com e4strategies.com IdeaSIP.com ZipDX.com and to all the participants

... browse some of our team's other blogs at http://blogs.didx.net and http://blog.tmcnet.com/monetizing-ip-communications/. You're welcome to comment, contribute, and collaborate any time.

Weekend of Tie Dye, Running and Skype Experimentation

So, it's the weekend, and a few friends, Lisa Johnson and Robert Thompson, Beverly and Steve Fair, Dee Meyers and her husband, Michael and I plan to try some tie dye after we spend first, a few hours get rid of house clutter at our yard sale. We'll probably cook some Hawaiian food together from a great cookbook Dee brought over.

We did a one hour run this morning starting from Running Wild on Scenic Highway in Pensacola. I'm still trying to "come back" from a year of shoulder dislocating travel, 60 hour work weeks, and a car wreck and so I'm slow, slow running. I was lucky enough to have someone to run with me the first few miles, and we talked about tie dye, the beautiful weather, men and what they usually talk about, the book Being Digital, over a decade old now, and how to use Skype.

I am not embarrassed to say I use Skype just as I am not embarrassed to say I use Gizmo Project, Truphone, Nimbuzz, TringMe, Jaxtr, Super-Phone, Virtualphoneline, BlinkMind's video phone service, SpeechPhone, and more for my telecommunication needs. Each come in handy for different reasons at different times. VoIP snobbery can be pretty claustrophobic.

I'm tired of rules.

It was my pleasure to explain to my fellow runner how to use Skype, what it will do for her and all the neat "plug-ins" you can use with it like PrettyMay. Next time, we'll talk about Gizmo Project. Pensacola in June 2009 on the weekend... it's a lovely time with friends and family. Can't wait for tomorrow with our group yard sale, tie dye trials, and Hawaiian cooking. Maybe a little downloading SIP agent to applicable cell phones?

... browse some of our team's other blogs at http://blogs.didx.net and http://blog.tmcnet.com/monetizing-ip-communications/. You're welcome to comment, contribute, and collaborate any time.

CLEC or CFMS? A Place for Both

We get this request several dozen times per day on DIDX email inquiries: How do I start a CLEC?

A few places to start researching:

http://blog.tmcnet.com/on-rads-radar/2009/03/clec-therapy-iii.html... I've met and worked with Peter R. at conferences several times. He's professional, honest, and smart.

http://www.fcc.gov/wcb/ppd/ComplianceManualCLEC.doc

http://www.robotics.net/papers/clechowto.html

https://clec.att.com/clec/shell.cfm?section=2163

http://www.voip-info.org/wiki/view/How+to+start+a+Clec

It's quite a complicated process, and if are more of an entrepreneur than one to do things the way everyone does, try http://www.supertec.com/cfms. Call forward management will enable you to empower your clients to have local phone numbers in any of 54 countries. You can allow them to ring their DIDs (local phone numbers) to instant messengers, SIP, IAX2, PSTN and more. (CFMS does not come with its own SIP registration server, but it does come with API connection to DIDX, Carrierx (only for Super Technologies' wholesale hosted and rebranded business clients,) Paypal, Moneybookers, Google Checkout, Linkpoint Central... and tools to block for fraud, add how to videos, integrate to Facebook, and much more.

Email sales@supertec.com, attention: Paul Deane and Suzanne Bowen with your name, phone number and instant messenger IDs, for more information.

... browse some of our team's other blogs at http://blogs.didx.net and http://blog.tmcnet.com/monetizing-ip-communications/. You're welcome to comment, contribute, and collaborate any time.

Snom at VoiceCon 2009 in Orlando

We met SNOM in person the first time at GITEX in Dubai 2009. What a treat! I hope that many of you will meet them and do business with the bright, friendly SNOM team at VoiceCon coming up.

Snom would like to invite you to their booth# 1041 and evaluate their first SIP based Meeting Point conference phone. Like their snom 3xx and 8xx series VoIP phones, it is interoperable with all the major SIP based ‘IP PBXs’, and Microsoft OCS 2007 R2.

The VoiceCon Exhibition runs March 30 - April 1 at the Gaylord Palms in Orlando, Fl. and the hours are:

+ Monday March 30: 3:00pm - 7:00pm
+ Tuesday March 31: 11:30am - 6:00pm
+ Wednesday April 1: 11:30am - 5:00pm

They look forward to seeing you at VoiceCon Orlando 2009.

(Corrections made per comment, much appreciated by dclark3230... Don of the snom team.)

... browse some of our team's other blogs at http://blogs.didx.net and http://blog.tmcnet.com/monetizing-ip-communications/. You're welcome to comment, contribute, and collaborate any time.

Need to be Local at GSMA World Mobile Congress?

GSMA World Mobile Congress in Barcelona, Spain... Feb 16-19, 2009 is looking really good for business development in telephony related areas. We (I Suzanne Bowen) would like to meet you, so call me during the event at my local Barcelona DID phone number +34931845154 or add me on Twitter as suzannebowen and let me know there you'll be at GMSA.

Anyone can be local during GSMA with a Barcelona phone number.
http://www.blogger.com/img/blank.gif
Example:
You can use Fring, Nimbuzz, Truphone, Rebtel* or many others as your SIP agent. If the SIP agent you download does not offer Barcelona DIDs, you may be able to get one from www.virtualphoneline.com (retail, smb, consumer) or www.didx.net (wholesale where there is a minimum of 50 DID to avoid a monthly $50 fee). There are also several 100 more companies out there that offer local international phone numbers!

* I was just talking with Fredrik of Rebtel and have more news for you: "they have local numbers in Barcelona. Sign up and add a secondary phone number to your account. You can register up to 5 numbers to call FROM."

... browse some of our team's other blogs at http://blogs.didx.net and http://blog.tmcnet.com/monetizing-ip-communications/. You're welcome to comment, contribute, and collaborate any time.

Car Wrecks, Qik, And SIP in Pensacola, Florida

Time 5:50 PM, Tuesday, Jan 27, 2009. I'm reading Facebook statuses of hundreds of friends, laughing, being educated, and/or feeling empathetic. Michael's driving us to run the Emerald Coast Racing Team workout.

Boom! Airbag, smack! My progressive eyeglasses crushed... Michael's saying he's okay. I can't see to get to Qik to stream this shenanigan.




We open the doors of our Chevy Tracker (which doesn't look totalled but later we find out it is). We huddle in the ditch. I take pictures of anything I can and change my Facebook status to "Michael and i just got into abig car accident. A guy coming out of a bar hit us. We.re both bleeding but able to stand outside the car. i.m shaking."

I forget about Qik. We didn't catch on video a very peculiar situation that I will not discuss online. Hindsight. Michael's mid section is pretty banged up. My head, oh my big head.

Steve Fair shows up after he sees my Facebook status. Then Steve Cayona shows up, same reason, with Michael's insurance papers. Bless you both. I sit on the ground and read my Facebook friends' words of encouragement on my wall while hugging Michael close and crying silently.

Next day, the neck, shoulders, head, and right eye are throbbing. Can't see to work on my computer. Progessive lenses shot.

Steve Cayona, my Super Technologies' colleague, calls and says, "Quit feeling sorry for yourself. You and I are going to the ITGulfcoast meeting. Why would you want to miss John R. Bartoszewicz, Managing Partner of Business Communications & Data (BCD), discuss Sessions Initiated Protocol (SIP) in little old Redneck Riviera Pensacola, Florida?"

Watch some on Qik starting with http://qik.com/video/934968 and 3 more videos* after. (It's a bit sloppy because I just can't see that well. I'm feeling very sloppy.) He mentions that Cox Communications will be providing SIP soon. (Cox and Super Technologies, Inc. are sponsors of ITGulfcoast.)

John also mentions the fact that his company will be using an IP PBX hosted by Commpartners (who btw, are the ones who manage http://www.voip-info.org. We spent some time with them at PTC in 2007. John explains SIP so well and so simply.

You make me proud of Northwest Florida, John.

I'm going to work now with my face as close to the Dell as possible. See you at the Super Bowl party on Sunday in Miami and most of all ITEXPO East / 4G Wireless Evolution / Digium | Asterisk World, all 12,000 or more of you. Get your passes here at www.itexpo.com now.

* I'll get the Qik videos titled, etc. soon.

Need 14 Laptops for One Week: Linking Arms' Telethon in Pensacola

See more details about the Linkingarms.org Telethon in Pensacola, FL at http://blogs.didx.net/2009/01/open-source-folks-help-linking-arms.html.

We'll be at Jan 28, 2009 ITGULFCOAST meeting to give more information and gather help. Meet with us there at 11:30 AM at the Pensacola Junior College Downtown Campus. Please register for this meeting if you plan to attend here --> http://www.itgulfcoast.org/Events/ITGULFCOAST-Jan--Meeting.aspx.

Anyone have experience with voip/gsm gateways?

Click to Linkedin to view this question and answer!

Anyone have experience with voip/gsm gateways? Tell them Suzanne sent you!

You might know that voip gsm gateways allow you to send sip traffic to any of the many sims aboard a gateway. It can thus least cost route the particular call to the best carrier and the best plan of that carrier for the call at that time. If you have any experience with this, please share the set up details, best gear, and if it actually works. Are there any data on how carriers treat such traffic. Can it work for SMS?

Question created by Phillip Mobin



... browse some of our team's other blogs at http://blogs.didx.net and http://blog.tmcnet.com/monetizing-ip-communications/. You're welcome to comment, contribute, and collaborate any time.

Choosing Between Appearance & Glamor vs Humor & Health

True, aesthetics is interesting, but in the end...

Appearance and glamor are empty. Humor and health will keep us going much longer in the best and worst of times. When we place too much emphasis on appearance and glamor, we will be disappointed.

This applies to:
people
office
home
family
products
equipment

I'd rather gaze in the endorphin-filled eyes of my old ugly (in appearance) friends, customers and colleagues (me ugly as I want right with them) as we laugh our way through troubleshooting configuration of every ATA on the planet...

than to deal with another ...

who won't stop giving advice on which makeup to buy, stating the fact that he or she can't work in this or that office because it's just not rich and fancy enough, getting their motivation from how expensive my or their clothes are, comparing how people look, buying stuff that looks good but doesn't cut the cake.

Haven't you ever bought a cell phone, laptop, car, electrostatic precipitator that looked good but just didn't perform to the standard you needed? Looking good doesn't mean much.

So which ATAs work with Asterisk best and which with SIP and which work great with both? I'm not asking how good they look, but just tell us the experience you've had with different ATAs from Snom, Grandstream, Motorola, Cisco, Innomedia and more. Configuration, ease of use, performance?

(Thank you, Robin Williams. As you say, some people are so beautiful but they have no expression.)

... browse some of our team's other blogs at http://blogs.didx.net and http://blog.tmcnet.com/monetizing-ip-communications/. You're welcome to comment, contribute, and collaborate any time.

What Cell Phone are You Using? 2

Following the DIDX Dinner and Desert Safari during Gitex 2008, Jenny Callicott of Celtrek and some guys from Snom discuss their cell phones and using or choosing to not use them while roaming in United Arab Emirates.



... browse some of our team's other blogs at http://blogs.didx.net and http://blog.tmcnet.com/monetizing-ip-communications/. You're welcome to comment, contribute, and collaborate any time.

Direct Inward Termination, Common Telephony Search Keyword

Just noticed that the key words phrase "Direct Inward Termination" is being used more and more in searches that land on my blogs, so I asked several to explain what it's all about. I'll add more answers as I get them in the coming year. This blog is meant to be INTERACTIVE and COLLABORATIVE. ;-)

John Cirner of TalkMotion: Suzanne, in the 15 or so years I worked in the PBX hardware industry we would associate "direct inward termination" as the programmed association of a DID number to a specific device. Applications such as DID to fax machine or DID to system port (or modems in the old days) for remote programming interface, would be common applications.

Delwar Hossain Khan, member of Freedom2Speak and Ecomm: "I have not dealt with telecom for years now but as far as I remember DID is an old telecom term, referring 2 a particular feature of PABX system, when caller seizes a trunk port, gets a 2nd dial tone and connects with the destination number(usually a Pabx extension port).

If we consider the international telecom network as one PABX system, this could be a simplified explanation.

Submitted by Michael Bowen, running coach for Emerald Coast Racing Team.
Glossary on Higher Ground, Inc. web site:

DID (DIRECT INWARD DIALING)
A combination of features between the central office of the telephone company and the PBX. It allows a party calling into a PBX to be directly connected to a station associated to the number dialed, without the assistance of the operator.

http://www.highergroundinc.com/site/us/... ... http://www.highergroundinc.com/site/us/support/glossary.php?cat=105&sub=5&supportid=4&alpha=D


... browse some of our team's other blogs at http://blogs.didx.net and http://blog.tmcnet.com/monetizing-ip-communications/. You're welcome to comment, contribute, and collaborate any time.

Response to My Request to Compare Mobile VoIP Apps

I received this comparison/contrast matrix in response to my request for users and providers' comparisons/contrasts of mobile VoIP applications. Happy to get more comments, facts and opinions.

It covers Ebuddy, EQO, Gizmo, Fring, Mig33, Nimbuzz, Skype, and Truphone.



... browse some of our team's other blogs at http://blogs.didx.net and http://blog.tmcnet.com/monetizing-ip-communications/. You're welcome to comment, contribute, and collaborate any time.

FIFTEEN Educational Tracks at ITEXPO West 2008

Want to see real accomplishments of your telecommunications goals whether you are a consumer, student, open source or IPTV enthusiast, smb, sme, carrier, itsp? The TMC team are real people who really talk to you about your needs and follow up with what you will see is the best Internet Protocol-related communications event for 2008.

This year's ITEXPO West 2008 features fifteen distinct educational tracks, including nine that offer a professional certification from TMC University upon completion: Microsoft OCS, trixbox training, SIP Trunking, Reseller Solutions, Voice Peering, FMC/Mobility, Open Source, IP Network Security, Unified Communications, SIP, Software as a Service, SIP in the Contact Center, and Next-Gen Call Center Management. Apply for a TMC University scholarship to take courses at ITEXPO West 2008.

See for yourself. I encourage you to download your personal copy of the
complete event brochure here:
http://images.tmcnet.com/expo/west-08/art/itw08-brochure.pdf

As a decision-maker in the communications space whether in your home, university, organization or business, there is no better investment in your company's infrastructure and your career than attending ITEXPO.

Sign up at http://www.itexpo.com and then add yourself to the Facebook pre-networking group at ITEXPO West 2008 on Facebook.

Answer this IAX2 and/or SIP and DID survey on Facebook

1. Sept. 23 - 25, 2008 Astricon Conference
Sign up at http://www.didx.net/astricon2008/.
DIDXchange is sponsoring the Code Zone Reception on Tues PM Sept 23 and also giving a lightning talk with some of you on DIDX and IAX2.

Whether you are using IAX2 or SIP or both, please reply to this survey asap. Just copy the Qs and paste them to me on email or on Facebook message with your name, company, if you have a DIDX account ... include that number, cell phone and email for contacting. Each person who uses IAX2, SIP, or a combination AND also DIDX who answers this survey fully with complete contact information to me on Facebook or my regular email will be entered in a drawing for $100 gas card or a $100 American Airlines voucher.

- do you use IAX2, SIP, a combination, or other? please describe.
- what is the efficiency gain or loss from using IAX2 if you use it?
- how do your IAX2 vs. SIP customers differ in QoS, call setup time, complaints, etc.
- what roadblocks has IAX2 helped you overcome?
- what roadblocks has IAX2 introduced?
- other issues relevant to you and your customer/vendor's use of Asterisk and IAX2

2. Sept 16-18, 2008, Internet Telephony West 2008, Los Angeles, CA
Sign up at http://www.tmcnet.com/voip/conference for free expo plus passes and discounts on conference passes. See past videos and pictures of past ITWest conferences at http://didx.net/itexpowest08/!

DIDX is a media sponsor of ITWest 2008 and an exhibitor at booth 153. Please respond with your name, email address, cell phone and DIDX account number if you'd like to meet up for a business development meeting, just for you. Watch for another email about the DIDXchange party during ITWest 2008!

Steve Cayona Tackles IPSEC Tunnels and Brain Tumor

Thank you, Steve, from all of us. We'll see you every day until you get to your home and working with us. Meanwhile, we'll bring some voip puzzles to the rehab center for you to solve when you feel like it. How's the naked mole rat from the Washington DC zoo doing? Taking good care of it?

More videos of Steve working with us at conferences, etc...

Witches Brew Service using DIDX Services

Steve wins a Nokia N95 at the LiveContacts Blogger Breakfast.

Users Can Review Groovytel.com on Google Enterprise Solution Gallery

Groovytel.com gives a free Toledo, Ohio, USA phone number to every Groovytel.com member (member sounds better than user). Each member controls the settings of whether to make their phone number ring to MSN instant messenger, Gizmo Project, Yahoo Instant Messenger, GoogleTalk, FreeWorldDialup, and other instant messengers and sip addresses free.

The member is sitting on the monorail with his laptop online, at the office, at home, at the airport... anywhere in the world. The people who are important to him who he has given his USA phone number to can call it from a cell phone or landline phone or IP phone, and when they do... it rings on his instant messenger or SIP address of choice. How groovy is that?

Many of the Groovytel.com members use GoogleTalk. In fact, my Dad is trying it out, and he's 70 years old, totally loving it. You can review your experience with Groovytel.com by clicking the Google Enterprise Soluton Gallery button at the bottom of the Groovytel.com webpage now.

I'd love to know your experience and to know about your getting calls from those who are important to you, no matter where you are in the world on your instant messenger or SIP agent on your laptop or cell phone.

(Groovytel also won a position on the VONMAG Innovator Award shortlist for 2008. See pages 40-41.)

Shamefully Commercial Groovytel.com Blog Post

You know you're groovy. We know you're groovy. Kelly shares with you in Chinese how to Try a free Number on www.groovytel.com! Groovytel lets you get local phone numbers from USA and set them to ring to many different instant messenger programs.



See how to get in the psychodelic groove and buy the local phone numbers from the cities where your friends, business partners, and family are. Forward them to your instant messenger ID's. Get the calls on your computer or even cell phone via the Groovytel service on your favorite IM program.



More news TBA, dude! (Groovytel.com is one of the 6500 powerhouse Internet Protocol-based communications companies using DIDXchange for DID direct inward dialing phone numbers from up to 55 nations.)