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Tag: bt

  • UK's Rural Communities About to Experience Upgraded VoIP

    VoIP has become a prevalent digital solution in most parts of the world, offering quality phone service with the inexpensive convenience of the internet. But business owners in rural communities have not enjoyed the service as much as their urban counterparts. Well it seems like progress is being made, and soon more rural customers will enjoy VoIP service.

    The question was posed to Trefor Davies, a member of the Internet Services Providers’ Association UK, why is VoIP service in rural areas so complicated? He acknowledged that the issue is an incredibly important one, but as of now only about 66% of the populace can access the speedy broadband service necessary for quality VoIP connections.

    VoIP-List.com: extensive catalog of voip providers, available software and hardware resources

    Parliament is working hard to rectify the situation, which as with most other issues comes down to funding. But according to Davies, leading VoIP provider BT feels they can bring 90% of the country into the broadband fold, given enough resources. Their aim is to make that goal by the end of the current parliamentary period.

    Their hope is that those 90% of residences would have broadband service at speeds of 25 Mbps or better. The other 10% of people will continue to have spotty service, until more of the country’s infrastructure is invested in improving broadband.

    It’s a governmental issue, as VoIP is merely an update on traditional phone service, and will need to be accessible to the masses to take the next step. The sooner the private sector and the governmental funding bodies can get on the same page, the better for the country’s businesses, especially those operating well outside the major population centers.

  • Google, Sued by the British Telecom Operator BT

    British telecom operator BT sued Google in the United States for infringement of patents in areas such as mobile access to maps, Reuters.

    BT has launched the action in a court in Delaware. The complaint refers to six patents that would have been violated by https://smartphone.biz-news.com/news/tags/en_US/Google, according to BT, by services such as https://smartphone.biz-news.com/news/tags/en_US/Android, https://smartphone.biz-news.com/news/tags/en_US/Google Maps, https://smartphone.biz-news.com/news/tags/en_US/Google Music, Advertising, https://smartphone.biz-news.com/news/tags/en_US/Gmail and other products.

    "It’s about protecting BT’s investment in intellectual property and innovation. We think we have a solid case," said in a statement the British group.

    In the telecommunications industry are currently taking place numerous conflicts on patents, while the number of operators, mobile phone manufacturers and content providers try to offer attractive services such as accessing the maps or entertainment.

    Google Group is already involved in several disputes with companies such as https://smartphone.biz-news.com/news/tags/en_US/Apple, https://smartphone.biz-news.com/news/tags/en_US/Microsoft and https://smartphone.biz-news.com/news/tags/en_US/Oracle. A Google spokesman said the allegations are without foundation.

    BT announced that it has a total portfolio of approximately 5,600 patents and applications in the past financial year and demanded protection by patents of 62 inventions.

    The British group is the fifth largest company that sued Google for patent infringement.

    In August, Google announced that an agreement was reached regarding the takeover of https://smartphone.biz-news.com/news/tags/en_US/Motorola Mobility for $ 12.5 billion, the largest acquisition in its history, partly to protect themselves from aggressive legal attacks. Motorola is one of the largest portfolios of patents in the mobile phone industry.

  • BT Trials OnRelay's MBX Software


    The cellular Fixed Mobile Convergence (FMC) software provider OnRelay announced today that it has entered into a customer trial agreement with BT Global Services.

    This will allow BT to begin on-site trials of OnRelay’s MBX software with a number of UK-based and multinational customers as part of its Unified Communications offering.

    OnRelay MBX allows companies to replace some, or all, of their IP desk phones with mobile phones – and removes the need for PBX hardware.
    The software works over any public mobile network, anywhere in the world.

    Upon completion of these trials, it is expected that the OnRelay solution will join the successful BT Corporate Fusion portfolio.

    Malcolm Pilcher, head of voice CPE & FMC at BT Global Services, said the customer trials of OnRelay’s cellular FMC solution reflected BT’s ongoing commitment to addressing the demand for global fixed mobile convergence technologies.

    "We see this demand accelerating as our customers look to maximise their existing infrastructure, improve employee productivity and continue their drive to manage and control costs," he said.

    Ivar Plahte, OnRelay’s CEO, is confident that mobile PBX is the future – with smartphones increasingly replacing desktop phones to become the sole business phone.

    "BT’s evaluation further validates OnRelay’s focus on enabling enterprises to cost-effectively extend Unified Communications to mobile phones," he said.

    "2009 will be the year of cellular FMC."

  • VoIP Providers Must Allow Emergency Calls and Give Caller Location


    The UK communications industry regulator, Ofcom, has told internet telephony providers that they must now allow emergency 999 calls over their networks or face the risk of enforcement action.

    Caller location information must also be provided where technically feasible.

    Effective immediately, the ruling for Voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP) providers affects businesses such as BT, Vonage and Skype that offer services that connect VoIP calls to the public telephone network.

    Operators must now provide the ability to make calls to 999, the emergency number used in the UK, and 112, the number most used in other EU countries.

    Ofcom had previously told operators to place stickers on equipment or on-screen labels indicating whether or not emergency calls were possible over a service.

    The rule, known as General Condition 4 of the General Conditions of Entitlement, also provides that the network operator must provide Caller Location Information for calls to the emergency call numbers "to the extent that is technically feasible".

    Ofcom said that ‘technically feasible’ should be taken to mean that location information must be provided where the VoIP service is being used at a predominantly fixed location.

    In May, a child died in Calgary, Canada after an ambulance was dispatched to the wrong address in response to an emergency call placed by his parents using a VoIP phone. The ambulance had been dispatched to an address in Ontario, 2,500 miles away.

    The requirements already apply to fixed line and mobile communications providers but the VoIP industry had resisted their extension.

    In December last year, the Voice on the Net (VON) Coalition Europe was set up as a lobby group to influence the regulation of internet telephony.

    The group, which includes Google, Microsoft and Skype among its founding members, warned against the “premature application” of emergency call rules to VoIP services that are not a replacement for traditional home or business phone services".

    The VON Coalition said the move "could actually harm public safety, stifle innovations critical to people with disabilities, stall competition, and limit access to innovative and evolving communication options where there is no expectation of placing a 112 call".