The FTC has named winners of the Robocall Challenge.

News story excerpt:

["The solutions that our winners came up with have the potential to turn the tide on illegal robocalls," Charles Harwood, acting director of the FTC's Bureau of Consumer Protection, said in a statement. "We're hoping these winning proposals find their way to the marketplace soon, and will provide relief to millions of American consumers harassed by these calls."]

Full story in the NY Times:
»www.nytimes.com/2013/04/03/techn···ml?_r=0

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Official FTC site with submissions and winners:
»robocall.challenge.gov/submissions

I heard a blurb on CNBC about voip/212 area code and found this article titled "Area code 212 soon may spread beyond Manhattan":

»newyork.newsday.com/business/tec···56?qr=1

"...One of Manhattan's status symbols, a telephone number starting with 212, would lose some of its exclusivity under a U.S. move to sever the link between geography and area codes.

News story excerpt:

....French regulator ARCEP is investigating whether Skype is a telecoms operator, which would mean that Skype will have to provide minimum service levels such as the ability to dial emergency services.

According to ARCEP, a company that is acting as a telecoms operator would not only have to provide access to emergency services but also allow law enforcement authorities to wiretap lines after obtaining the appropriate legal authority. The regulator said Skype had on several occasions "declare[d] itself an electronic communications operator," but not acted as one....
Full Story:
»www.theinquirer.net/inquirer/new···perator

Comment:
As more and more customers use providers like Skype for complete 2-way service, it becomes harder for the company to plausibly demand exemption from emergency calling rules. Also, now that they are owned by Microsoft they can hardly plead excessive burden.

Got an email shortly ago:

Dear valued clients,

We are writing you to inform you that we have decided to shut Link2VoIP down due to ballooning costs, the rapid increase of competitive services, and the current political climate surrounding the Internet.

We will begin a 90-day soft shutdown starting on March 1st 2012 that should be complete by the end of May 2012.

Extends capabilities of IP PBX to business’s cell phones; IP PBX-cellular integration enables mobile workforce to utilize smartphone as mirror desktop extension; boosting productivity and reducing telecom costs.

»www.snomchannel.com/voip-blog/sn···oth-512/

The Bangladeshi government has formed a new committee to investigate illegal voice-over-internet protocol (VoIP) call termination, which it suspects is behind a ‘huge’ drop in international incoming call revenues of state-run Bangladesh Telecommunications Company Ltd (BTCL)....


»www.telegeography.com/products/c···al-voip/

Excerpt:



Full story:
»ip-telephony.tmcnet.com/topics/i···blem.htm

Excerpt:

Dutch mobile network providers were dealt a major blow Wednesday as the Dutch lower house approved a law banning them from charging customers extra for using Skype or other web-based Internet messaging services, a move that could have wider implications for net neutrality legislation across Europe.

MORE:

»online.wsj.com/article/BT-CO-201···246.html

News excerpts:

After years of modest activity, online phone calling has taken off as a quarter of American adult internet users (24%) have placed phone calls online. That amounts to 19% of all American adults.

News story excerpts:

The hosted VoIP market is quickly becoming a dog-eat-dog world, in some cases literally, as larger VoIP service providers continue to swallow up smaller providers, mainly through acquisitions. It's an environment that has companies scrambling to stay competitive as new technologies roll off the line.

So it's interesting to note that Infonetics Research, in its latest ranking of top VoIP providers, established one of its most important criteria as how well the more than 100 companies currently providing VoIP services in North America can stay on their feet in the shifting sands of the business VoIP market--a market that reached $49.8 billion in 2010 and saw revenues jump 143 percent for SIP trunking alone last year.

FULL STORY:
»www.fiercevoip.com/special-repor···oviders

News story excerpts:

Using shell companies, Tonangi and co-conspirators purchased VOIP services from the providers on credit and would quickly resell the services to legitimate VOIP wholesalers at a higher volume than authorized, court paper say. The co-conspirators did this on weekends and holidays so the original providers would not notice, court papers say.

When invoices for the services came due, the co-conspirators sent fake wire transfer confirmations via e-mail or made small payments to keep the providers from cutting them off, court papers say.

FULL STORY:
»www.nj.com/news/jjournal/guttenb···l&coll=3

Two related stories:

Telstra today said it did not believe Voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP) telephony could deliver sufficient reliability and quality to enable the telco to launch a VoIP service to consumers, despite revealing plans to launch a VoIP service to small businesses, including those with staff working from home.
»delimiter.com.au/2011/05/02/cons···elstra/

National broadband provider iiNet has responded to comments by Telstra that consumer-grade Voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP) telephony isn’t yet reliable enough for use by pointing out that it has 170,000 customers using the technology – and they’re very happy, thank you very much.
»delimiter.com.au/2011/05/05/we%E···elstra/

Skype is entertaining buyout offers from both Google and Facebook, according to a Reuters report:
»www.reuters.com/article/2011/05/···0110504

Mark Zuckerberg and other Facebook execs have been considering an outright buyout or a joint venture. The deal would make sense -- it would give Facebook an immediate way to add voice and video conferencing to the pretty lame Messages feature it introduced last year, and would prevent third parties like T-Mobile and Vivox from filling this niche. (Facebook reportedly asked T-Mobile and Vivox to suspend the Bobsled voice app a day after it launched.)

The fit for Google isn't as clear -- Google already has a voice and video chat service called Google Chat. But it might be willing to pay up just to keep Skype out of its top rival's hands.

Read more: »www.businessinsider.com/skype-ma···LR1Gc0OC

Many people have been asking for something like this for many years that is free and open source that can be customized easily.

After many years I decided to make this source code open source which had been closed source since 2007.

More here: »forum.skype.com/index.php?showtopic=807811

This example has many optional settings and requires no changes to work instantly.

I will be releasing a pre-compiled version of this in GUI form for those who have no wish to deal with programming, but wanted to start with this first.

Enjoy TheUberOverlord AKA ZOverLord here.

Excerpts:

KPN....is the continuation of the publicly owned landline operator, which was privatised back in the '80s. Currently, they still handle the bulk of landline connections for historical reasons, while also being the largest mobile carrier in the country.

Excerpt:

24 April 2011

DUBAI - Good news for corporate and individual telecom customers. The long wait for the Voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP) service in the UAE would come to an end when Emirates Integrated Telecommunications Company, popularly known as du, is expected to launch the service in the second half of this year, top officials said.

Du, which ended etisalat’s telecom monopoly in 2007, could become the first telecom operator in the country to launch the much-awaited service before the year ends.

MORE:
»www.khaleejtimes.com/DisplayArti···=theuae

Snipped from the overall article:

Perhaps an even bigger concern is that long-distance access charges were set at certain rates based on existing traffic volumes with the goal of helping telcos in high-cost areas cover their network costs. Until the Universal Service and inter-carrier compensation systems are reformed, the only solution that achieves that goal is one that would require VoIP providers to pay long-distance access charges at the same rate as other carriers.

Click the link to read the full article:
»connectedplanetonline.com/indepe···te-0421/

April 5, 2011

THE RUSSIAN mafia is alleged to be ripping off millions of dollars from Victorian businesses and threatening to kill duped investors if they complain to the police.

It is believed several Victorian telecom companies have been conned out of more than $5 million.

WA Police chase $70k VoIP fraud spree
By Darren Pauli, ZDNet.com.au on April 12th, 2011


Western Australia Police are investigating a case of IP telephony fraud which saw three Perth businesses faced with a combined bill exceeding some $70,000.

The WA Police technology crime investigation unit said that fraudulent international calls were made over the businesses' Voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP) networks after their networks were hacked.

WA Police Sergeant Graham Clifford said VoIP fraud has cost Perth businesses tens of thousands of dollars.

"Attacks usually occur over weekends in order to maximise the amount of time the breaches will go unnoticed," Clifford said. "By the time business owners return to the office on Monday or after a long weekend, the damage has already been done."

Full story:
»www.zdnet.com.au/wa-police-chase···074.htm

2011-04-09 10:48 PM
HIMALAYAN NEWS SERVICE


KATHMANDU: Internet Service Providers Association of Nepal (ISPAN) has decided to halt the Internet service for an hour on Sunday. The Internet service will be shut down from 1 pm to 2 pm on Sunday, said Binay Bohora, president of ISPAN.