VoIP Service Provider Comparison

[muppetmaster]

Well done. A couple of things:

- Skype does allow for BYOD, they are just USB vs Ethernet
- Would be good to see http://www.teliax.com up there too

[mberlant]

Don, thank you for the comments. I am sure we will incorporate some of them in the future. Some of the items on your wish list, like the location of proxies, will be very hard to learn, since these are considered trade secrets by many of the probiders.

About the active link to the provider, the web address is a clickable link, but we can see how difficult (easy) it would be to make the logo clickable, as well.

Your specific corrections regarding BV have been incorporated. FYI, Conference Bridging is a central facility for handling more parties than 3-way calling. Generally, each party calls in to the Conference Facility and enters a PIN to join the conference.

Cheers,

Michael

[mberlant]

Muppetmaster,

What products are available for Skype BYOD? I didn't see anything except USB handsets, which don't qualify as access devices because they still require the proprietary client to be running. What did I miss?

Also, I will add TelIAX once I can get a hold of them on the phone to fill in the blanks of the Voxilla chart. Their web site has virtually no information available prior to signing up for service.

Thank you,

Michael

[BSalita]

Do you mean the a product like Model VTA1000 Skype VoIP Gateway at http://www.pcphoneline.com

I have one and it works as advertised, much better than Chat-Cord.

[cayman]

Thanks Michael. Great job which should be *very* hlepful to the community.

A couple very quick additional notes:
1- the www.broadvoice.com link is messed up in the table
2- I'd suggest making the last update date in a more international format like YYYY-MM-DD or YYYY-mon-DD as 05-05-05 is *very*confusing to everyone (actually not that dates but certainly dates like that). I think 2005-Feb-07 is relatively OK without losing the US-centric.
3- Suggest a bit more detail on the "I" link for conference bridging to distinquish between it and 3-way (thanks for the explanation).

Cheers,
- Don

[mberlant]

Don,

I made the changes you suggested in 1 and 2. I will work through 3 and make comments where appropriate.

Thanks for your help. Whenever the same sets of eyes look at something, they always see the same thing. The suggestions you are making to me are the very ones I make when reviewing someone else's work.

Michael

[RichChang]

Hi,

Thanks for putting us in your comparison list. We appreciate you taking the time to gather all that information about us.

I am hoping we can get some of the data updated? I have the changes listed below.

Thanks!
-Rich
QuantumVoice

---------------

Service synopsis: QuantumVoice is the broadband phone service product offering of Advanced Media Services, LLC (www.ams-llc.com), a provider of bundled tv, internet, and phone services.

Analog telephone device provided: Sipura SPA-2000 or Linksys PAP2

Customer-provided device (BYOD): All Service plans -- Cisco ATA-186, Cisco Deskphones, Linksys PAP2, All Sipura Devices, Softphone, Asterisk

Conference Bridging: If this is 3-way calling, this is a 'Yes'

Softphone Support: Yes

Outgoing/Incoming Faxes supported: Yes (*99 dial-prefix for outgoing faxes)

Dedicated fax line: Yes (Non-Michigan phone number $5/mo)

Block International calls: Yes (default setting)

Block incoming anonymous calls: Coming soon.

Block telemarketing calls: Coming soon.

Selective forwarding: Yes

Set Default Codec Used: Yes (through ATA - G.711 or G.729)

411 Information: Coming soon.

Customer Service:
Web Forum: Yes (does this fall under "Web based technical support"?)

[PhoneBoy]

Got most of the changes made

[BSalita]

"Coming soon" is not helpful information and should not be published. There are many reasons. It is easy to abuse. It is not verifiable. It is a false comparison unless you contact every vendor and ask "Is this feature coming soon?". Even then you will rarely get an accurate answer. Reputable vendors will not talk about unreleased feaures. Disreputable vendors will say "Coming soon" and not deliver soon. "Soon" has no timeframe. Is it next week, next month, next quarter? If you start with "Coming soon" other vendors will be pressured into misrepresentations. If "Coming soon" is accurate, it should imply that all null entries are "Not coming soon". It implies that the author of the comparison has reason to believe its accuracy, which will surely result in retractions or incredulity. Lastly, it will lead to greater maintenance.

BroadVoice, as an example, has raised the ire of this forum by continuing to advertise that LNP is coming soon since Summer.

At a minimum, don't use "Coming soon" unless there is a definite availability date and a press release, in which case, use the published availability date.

If a vendor wants people to know a feature is coming soon, they can show it on their own website.

Am I negative enough about this?

[mberlant]

BSalita, your comments have convinced me.

RichChang, I have updated all of your firm facts and look forward to learning when we can change those No entries that are "coming soon" to Yes.

Everybody, if there are any "coming soon" entries that I haven't caught, please let me know.