On several flights recently taken, I have noted that Wi-Fi is available. On one flight in particular I was quite please to see it as I desperately needed to complete a proposal and send it within the next hour or so. Before boarding, I had explained that it would be after I landed. Imagine their surprise to receive it while I was still in flight.

I liked my in flight Wi-Fi experience and will probably use the service again. However, I do not like the price or the pricing methodology. My first experiences complimentary on two different carriers. Therefore, to date, I have not paid for the service. On one carrier, the access was for the segment only. On the other, it was for the day. With prices ranging from $10 to $13 for a single flight, it is not a good value when compared to either free Wi-Fi in bargain hotels or $10 per day in full service hotels. It is a convenience that I’ll use in a pinch, but not on a regular basis.

 In reviewing the packages offered by GOGO, one of the Wi-Fi providers for several airplanes, I did note that $40 buys a 30-day or monthly pass. When my primary job included traveling three out of four weeks (with international destinations as well), that would have seemed like a bargain. Perhaps, the pricing suggested by Southwest airlines will prevail. There service is provided by Row 44 and ranges from $2 - $12 per segment. Obviously, I am backing the $2 price.

As for VoIP while in flight, I am opposed. You may recall that while in New Orleans in the buffet line at the Court of Two Sisters, a woman was trying to fill her plate and talk on the phone. I say trying because she merely slowed everyone down and looked like a train wreck about to happen. I really do not want to be seated next to anyone that can engage in a conversation with someone a thousand miles away for several hours speaking with their “cell phone” voice. If a VoIP in flight service is established, the airlines need to install “phone booths” for the comfort of their passengers.

It is clear in flight Wi-Fi has arrived and will be rolled out over the next few years. It is unclear as to final pricing and availability.

Have great weekend! New recipe on Monday!

Sellng SIP Trunking to SMBs and Enterprises involves three basic value propositions:

·         Transitioning to SIP will save you a lot of money. How much varies but for most businesses regardless of size, the savings will range from 30-70%.

·         The new IP PBXs offer improved features, reduced operational costs, greater security and broader array of OEM choices

·         With an IP PBX and SIP Trunking, your business can take advantage of Unified Communications and the sophisticated converged services.

Selling against SIP still seems to focus on voice quality and availability. However, there is one bit of FUD (fear, uncertainty and doubt) thrown around that I want to take off the table forever, power outages. The idea that a business should avoid VoIP/SIP Trunking because of power outages is ridiculous. Perhaps, if the business is in Bangladesh or Iraq, power outages might be a concern. However, in the US, avoiding the savings associated with IP communications for that reason makes no sense.

First, most office phones today will not work when the power is off anyway. Most businesses have purchased feature-rich phones with LCD or other types of displays that require them to have AC power. In some cases, there may be battery backup available to cover a few minutes of outage. The usual backup for a power outage, as it relates to phones, is the cell phone to maintain communications.

Second, let’s say I am the usual SMB out there making a living selling product directly to consumers. When the power is loss, my back end systems shut down. I lose my Internet access, POS devices, touch screen payment systems, PCs, monitors and servers that support either my sales or operations activity. The reason why I lose all of this is that it is not cost effective for me to invest in full battery backup for my entire operation. Figures from the Electric Power Research Institute (EPRI) show that within the U.S., the average power company customer loses power for only 214 minutes every year or just less than four hours per year. The average length of downtime for a given customer is 106 minutes. Therefore, a business can expect two significant power outages per year totaling less than four hours.

Unless the business makes the investment to provide an alternative power source to maintain operations during a power outage, the type of phone system TDM or IP makes no difference. Using power outages as reason to avoid SIP Trunking or the benefits offered by ITSPs such as Broadvox makes no sense.

Stop listening to this FUD.

Have a great weekend and look for a new recipe on Monday.

A recent cover story by CRN interviewed small IT related businesses regarding President Obama’s 2009/2010 legislative activity/wins and the impact on their business. While I am sure the story was not attempting to accurately poll IT related SMBs, it was clear that most of those interviewed were not optimistic about the newly passed laws. The most discussed law was the Healthcare bill. Most of the SMBs see additional cost, potential taxes and very little improvement in the health insurance plans they provide for their employees. Moreover, there is the concern that too much effort went into the healthcare battle and not enough attention was paid to assisting the nation’s small entrepreneurs in recovering from lost revenues due to the recession. Prior to the recession there were over 250,000 IT related small businesses. Today, that number hovers around 200,000, a tremendous loss in talent and jobs for the technology industry.

I debated having this as the subject of the blog until I read this morning the FCC has been advised by so-called experts that SMBs need more competitive pricing for broadband access and services to meet the demands of a changing sales environment. Most of the anecdotal stories given during a hearing chaired by Senator Mary Landrieu revolved around the difficulties faced by businesses in rural areas. However, as you now know from last week’s blogs, most of the broadband issues that need to be addressed are outside of rural areas. In fact, I appreciated the beginning of a statement given by Jonathan Adelstein, administrator of the Agriculture Department’s Rural Utilities Service, noting, “approximately 181 applications requesting $2.9 billion from Agriculture’s Broadband Initiatives Program came from small businesses…” That was the economically important element of his statement. The rest was more political involving minority owned firms, Indian tribes and native Alaskan and native Hawaiian entities.

Additionally, I was not surprised to learn businesses with 25 or fewer employees pay two times more per employee for broadband than those with more than 25 employees. Most of the price differential is based upon the way broadband is sold, the bigger the pipe, the lower the cost per megabit. It may not be fair, but it is reality.

My key concern about the CRN article and the FCC discussion about broadband pricing is how does the Obama administration or FCC plan to address the concerns of SMBs? We do not need additional government meddling with regard to pricing and competition, and Broadvox and other ITSPs are leery of any more changes to regulating VoIP/SIP Trunking providers. At some point, continued changes will cause an inverse reaction by service providers in the marketplace. Even now, there is some marketplace overhang in place as we wait for the FCC to determine if VoIP should be subject to similar rules accorded TDM.

So, has the Obama Administration been good for SMBs? No, but we do have two plus years to go.

See you on Friday…

I have been writing this blog for over a year and have always found something interesting to share with you. Today does not seem to be one of those days. There is general news to be sure. Genband's acquisition of Nortel's VoIP business is of interest. Sonus, having a better than expected quarter, is also newsworthy. Moreover, both of the companies are suppliers to Broadvox. However, the subjects do not seem engaging.

I also considered doing a review of Channel Partners in Las Vegas. After all, the event was well attended, had a very good showing of exhibitors and there were some interesting new products and announcements. The growing number of companies offering hosted solutions intrigued me.  I, also, found the new Panasonic KX-TGP550 SIP IP Wireless DECT Phones interesting enough to request a pair for our test labs. They may prove to be a very good fit for small businesses and remote offices.

Perhaps the most expected news of the day was AT&T interest in discontinuing the delivery of white pages to residences. Given the use of the internet for access to numbers and automatic storage of numbers with mobile technology, the White pages are going the way of the pay phone and dodo bird. AT&T stopped delivering the book unless asked to do so and less than 1% of effected readers called for a free copy.

I thought I had a note worthy subject when I read an article that stated SIP Trunking was an enterprise play. I could only wonder how the writer arrived at that conclusion. Small businesses are buying Sip Trunks at a very rapid rate. Most of the SIP Trunking sales made everyday are to a small business. Open source platforms and all-in-one products that support VoIP and SIP have made the transition to IP communication s for SMBs simple and very rewarding.

Finally, I have learned that if I don't get this written before 10:00 in the morning the number of interruptions grows exponentially. I will conclude by welcoming SoftSyl and Interact Incorporated to our continually growing list of OEM Partners. Welcome and Good Selling!

See you on Monday...