As usual, Carolyn Schuk over at Voxilla writes a great post summarizing Skype’s appeal to business users. The bottom line is that today, Skype works well for a “small workgroup to increase productivity”, but it just doesn’t bring it for all around business-class communications.

When I first heard about Talkster back in October, I was intrigued. I participated marginally in their alpha program and thought their service “cool”. But at the time, it seemed to be raining mobile VOIP services like cats and dogs. Wasn’t Talkster just another “me-too” service? Today, with the launch of their new beta program, I had a chance to chat with CEO James Wanless, who set me straight on what Talkster is really all about. So, if you are an IT lead, manager or director of information systems in your company, or if you want to control the mobile devices your employees use, then you need to know about Talkster.

First, about the beta program. The beta is really designed to serve users a small slice of the potential of the Talkster network. It showcases two main pieces of functionality. 1) enable moble phones to call instant messenger with voice services such as MSN, Gizmo Project, and Google Talk. 2) enables long distance calling at substantially reduced long distance and roaming rates.

Talkster services operates on any regular mobile phone that has a web browser. The beta takes minutes to set up and you don’t have to install software on your phone or computer. Basically, you create an online account with the names and email addresses/numbers of your MSN, Gizmo Project and Google Talk buddies. Next, you use the browser on you mobile phone to log in to your Talkster account. You’ll see your contact list with a presence icon beside each name indicating if they are online or not. Select a name and you make a voice over IM (VoIM) call to that person free of charge. Alec Saunders did a nice demo on his Blackberry a while back with some good screen shots. Tom Keating in today’s post also has some good observations.

But while the consumer side of the Talkster network is ready now, the goal is comprensive and consolidated control over mobile communications services and devices for the enterprise. In fact, Talkster styles itself as a business mobility company. They’re not in the race for the cheapest phone call, what James Wanless calls the “race to zero”. “That’s not a great business model”, he says. “Talkster provides a contact centric service for mobile business users. Phone numbers, IM addresses, even SIP URls are all consolidated into one interface. Users just have to choose by name and not worry about how the call is placed. But on the enterprise level, companies can manage people on their cell phones out in the field and bring cell phone usage in line with company policy.” In the business version of the product to be released this spring, Wanless says Talkster will provide these essential tools so that the enterprise can manage their mobile users.

The Talkster beta service is open to users worldwide at www.talkster.com. Enterprises interested in the forthcoming enterprise service can send an email to enterprise@talkster.com.

If you are thinking about trying Asterisk open source PBX in your home or small business, I suggest you read Tom Keating on Trixbox 2.0, “the easiest way to get Asterisk up and running in just minutes”. 

Now chances are at this point you probably already know more than a little about what Asterisk is and why you need it. But, if you’re like me and need to start at the beginning, start with the Trixbox wiki (formerly Asterisk@Home) on voip-info.org.

Well, after eight uneventful months, Vonage and I are parting ways.  Perhaps not the most auspicious way to start off a blog about VoIP but I’m being honest here. I’m not going to go into a big rant. Flame throwing just isn’t my style. I don’t hate Vonage. The service just wasn’t financially making sense for me. The phone usage in my business isn’t enough to warrant a fixed monthly plan, even one as low as $24.99. Plus in my area the call quality wasn’t pristine. And some people do get excellent voice over Vonage. But I generally experienced crackling and lag on most calls.

If anyone has comments on Vonage quality in their area, let me know.

From the Vonage forums, it’s clear that call quality varies tremendously from region to region. My advice is that if the VOIP service, Vonage, SunRocket or whatever, isn’t what you expect, try something else. The VOIP marketplace is growing by leaps and bounds, and as a consumer you should shop around.

But now that I’ve done Vonage, it’s time to move on over to other VOIP solutions. Skype, SightSpeed, and Gizmo are the free ones on my radar and make the most sense for me given my business.

As a follow up to an earlier post on Does VOIP Jump the Generational Gap, I agree with Jaanus that Grandmas can certainly use VOIP too (or Skype as the case may be). The fact that some are teaching the rest of us to use it is amazing. Although, of the b-zillion Skype users out there, the number of savvy Grandma’s is (I’m guessing) quite small.

That being said, I just can’t shake that feeling that while my Gran may be able to use it, there’s no question that I, or someone else will need to set it up for her. From buying the right headset, to downloading the software, to adding the kids to the contact list, and finally making the call.

But what the heck, it’s a good idea so I think I’ll put Skype through the Grandma test it and see how it goes. I’ll keep you posted.

As a little postscript to that Bye Bye Vonage post, I discovered that while Vonage customer support is 247, if you want to CANCEL their service you have to call during business hours (between 9 and 4:55 Eastern). I’m on Pacific time so it took me three tries. Guess they don’t want to make it too convenient if you plan on jumping ship!

But they were very polite, and even offered me free service for a few months to see if they could fix my voice quality problems. I was tempted, but like most people, I don’t want to spend my time friggin’ around with tech support trying to fix it. It ’s not good use of my time. I want it just TO WORK.

I opted to pay the $50 cancellation fee and just move on…

Thanks to Tom Keating for alerting me to Skype’s new call transfer feature. Tom points out that this feature that smooths the way for Skype as a practical business phone system.

Call transfer is available as part of Skype 3.5 BETA so it’s still in trial mode. You won’t get this version by updating Skype from the Help menu. You need to go here and download the beta.

Following on Peter Csathy’s post about how he uses SightSpeed for business and personal communication, Andy shares six tips for making video calls. In a nutshell, 1) Get over it, your hairdo’s not that bad 2) Get a hat, 3) Come as you are, be comfortable, 4) Have good lighting, 5) Learn to multitask on camera, 6) Don’t worry about multitasking on camera, it’s not considered rude.

Thanks Andy!

In an article this week on TMCnet, the research firm TeleGeography reported that US subscribers using VOIP services rose 18 percent in the last quarter to 18.2 million with Vonage being the largest provider with 1.95 million subscribers. Why are they still the biggest?  Massive media campaigns on the web, TV, radio, and sporting events helps…a lot. And don’t forget the catchy jingle and celebrity endorsements. But all that stuff just gets the consumer to the web site (retail sales excluded). What happens after that?

Of course once the consumer turns into a subscriber, keeping them is a whole other story. This blog, as well as many others, has touched on what appears to be widespread customer service problems. In fact, I still get responses to a post back in September on the runaround I received when I wanted to cancel my Vonage service. And my story wasn’t even one of the crazier ones. (Check out Tom Keating.)

Since cancelling Vonage in August, I’ve been keeping busy blogging about the a wave of emerging voice over Internet services. I haven’t applied for any other national broadband phone service, like Primus or Shaw Digital Phone, in my area. I’m happy trying various softphones and of course my PhoneGnome.

But, I decided to take a fresh look at the Vonage web site and see if they are doing anything differently. In my opinion, for all their faults once they’ve got you, Vonage does a lot that’s right.

1) Clear description of services/plans above the fold, with enough text to explain what the plan is all about without clicking 

2) Site navigation is SIMPLE: tabs to products, services, availability and features are clearly identified

3) Upfront explanation of device bundles, including what’s free, what’s extra, and information to help figure out which device is right for me 

4) Special promotions, deals, and other creatives are below the bread and butter products. This is important (I think). To me this says that our products are the most important thing we have to offer, not the limited time sweet deal.

Packet8, Lingo or SunRocket just don’t communicate as well. These three providers all had the basic residential and business plan info above the fold, but I found it took more clicks and more reading to find the additional information I needed. Comcast Digital Voice was the most annoying. Perhaps because they are basically an entertainment company, they feel they have to “entertain” me while selling phone service. A whole bunch of flash nonsense. Stupid. And they won’t tell me anything about their products/services until I tell them my address and zip code.

I guess my point, to make a long story even longer, is for emerging products and services to learn a few lessons here. Speak clearly to your audience. Communicate your product and services upfront. Explain what’s included (device bundles, software) and what’s extra BEFORE the sign up process. I don’t want to see a small asterisk footnote that says the service works with the purchase of $75 VOIP adaptor right at the very end. And finally, don’t hide behind walls of flash animation and annoying forms that make users type a bunch of stuff.

Jeff Pulver started it, Andy Abramson followed, etc. etc. I was tagged by Peter Csathy and Ken Camp. Here are my five fascinating facts.

1) My hobby is cardmaking. Like I’m nuts about it. I have literally spent a small fortune on stamps, ink, paper, doo-dads, embellishments (that’s card lingo, you guys). I’ve even driven down to Seattle to attend a paper crafts conference. Yes, such things do exist.

2) I really really hate peas.

3) I grew up sailing with my family. A 34-foot trimaran my dad built. He still sails it today!

4) I worked for a company called Xinex in the early 90s. We built a “CTI” phone and buisness phone system based on a flavor of ATM (who needs IP, we scoffed). Imagine, voice AND data on the same wiring. Remarkable. Tom Keating’s post on CT/CTI got me reminiscing.

5) I harbor a longstanding promise to myself to write a novel.

Okay, so next I tag  Carolyn Schuk, Garrett Smith, and David Beckenmeyer.