Over on TMCNet, I wrote about Virgin Mobile USA’s Broadband2Go prepaid mobile broadband offering For occasional Sprint EVDO users, Broadband2Go is sorely tempting and cheaper than the Sprint phone-as-modem (PAM) [...]]]>

Sprint is buying Virgin Mobile USA for no more than $688 million.  It’s a great deal for Virgin and a “stop the bleeding” move for Sprint.

Over on TMCNet, I wrote about Virgin Mobile USA’s Broadband2Go prepaid mobile broadband offering For occasional Sprint EVDO users, Broadband2Go is sorely tempting and cheaper than the Sprint phone-as-modem (PAM) deal.  A Sprint customer pays $480/year for a PAM plan,  while the Broadband2Go deal requires a one-time purchase of an EVDO USB frob  at $150, plus usage at $20 per 250 MB on a 30 day use-or-lose basis.

Since Virgin Mobile is/was a Sprint MVNO customer, a Sprint data customer would get the same coverage area and presumably the same QoS through Virgin Mobile.   Crunch the numbers and Sprint’s ARPU on such a customer goes from $40/month to $0.  Purchasing Virgin Mobile means Sprint gets some pre-paid revenue to make up for the PAM drops which in some respects is “better” revenue (better margins baked in, few people use all of the data in 30 days),  but net-net meant Virgin Mobile USA would be cannibalizing some of Sprint’s own customer base.

Broadband2Go is currently the only prepaid mobile data offering in the U.S.  Be interesting to see if Verizon Wireless goes beyond its “day pass” concept with pre-paid devices and rolls out a similar product by the end of the year.

Putting Sexy Back into WiFi

Satellite Arrives (Again)

What Could Be With LTE

The Potential Promise of WiMAX

Looking Past Palm Pre Madness

Broadband On The Pay As You Go Plan

Android Smartphones as [...]]]>

Over the past couple of months, I’ve been contributing to TMC.   I’ve listed my most recent pieces on wireless IT below:

Putting Sexy Back into WiFi

Satellite Arrives (Again)

What Could Be With LTE

The Potential Promise of WiMAX

Looking Past Palm Pre Madness

Broadband On The Pay As You Go Plan

Android Smartphones as a Business Device?

Is Now the Time to take the iPhone Plunge?

Some of these make me go “Hmmm…” because I’m thinking about getting a new phone down the road.

I’m also looking at the Virgin Mobile broadband pay-as-you go plan as a backup connectivity solution and dropping my Sprint PAM (Phone as modem) data plan for tethering.

1)       Jeff Pulver can still pull over 100 of the “right people”  to an event just after InterOp and just before the U.S. Memorial Day weekend.

2)       The baseline for a PSTN/POTS phone call hasn’t changed [...]]]>

If you don’t feel like plowing through all of the HD Communications Summit pieces, here’s a recap of what went on.

1)       Jeff Pulver can still pull over 100 of the “right people”  to an event just after InterOp and just before the U.S. Memorial Day weekend.

2)       The baseline for a PSTN/POTS phone call hasn’t changed since 1937 or so – unlike everything else in the modern world.

3)       Pulver plans an FCC petition this fall to upgrade PSTN to HD;  digital TV provides a case justification to move to a new technology.

4)       Frequency range for a PSTN call is 300-3000 Hz

5)       AudioCodes Google Search on “HD Voice/VoIP” – Past 10 years, 190,000 hits. Past 12 months, 82,000 hits, so the trend line is going up and to the right.

6)       Depending on who’s talking, HD audio would use a range between 100-7000 Hz. Diminishing returns after 7000 Hz delivery.

7)       The tighter PSTN clips consonants.

8)       FM radio sounds better than a PSTN call.

9)       HD Connect is the working name of the HD Communications trade association Pulver is starting because a) Polycomm has a trademark on HD Voice and b) AudioCodes has a trademark on HD VoIP

10)    Everyone wants a “HD Connect” logo to put on their boxes

11)    When HD voice (generic) happens [in North America], it will happen really really fast, predicts everyone.

12)    But right now, [North American] service providers are on the fence waiting to see who jumps first.

13)    Nobody can agree on a single HD codec, but most agree we need fewer codecs and there seems to be sufficient codecs out there

14)    More codecs = more part cost, more support costs, so the fewer, the better

15)    Ain’t no such thing as a “free” codec. Support costs and potential indemnification issues lurk.

16)    Wireless and wireline will likely use different codecs because the cellular carriers need to get the most out of their leased spectrum (i.e. spectral efficiency)

17)    Transcoding will be necessary to move between HD codecs; AudioCodes is happy.

18)    North American cable companies are getting ready for HD, but until the business case is clear (i.e. “Show me the money”), they aren’t in any rush.

19)    Cable may have a leg up by locking in DECT CAT-iq as a standard so service providers can provide an end-to-end experience without transcoding or other tweaking.

20)    The Europeans are ahead of us (again).  BT, France Telecom, T-Mobile are all deploying HD today in their respective territories.

21)    France Telecom expects to be able to exchange HD voice calls with other carriers by the end of the year.

22)    Enterprises are likely to be the earliest adopters of HD. They control their own infrastructure, are deploying VoIP, HD gets rolled out as “just another app” onto the existing infrastructure.

23)    Avaya has incorporated wideband codecs in all of its phones; Polycom is adding wideband codecs to all of its phones.

24)    HD is a “killer app” when it comes to talking to a non-native language speaker and you can’t understand his/her accent.  The broader range means you can understand what someone is saying rather than having to work at interpreting (i.e. filling in the blanks) as to what they are really saying.

25)    HD on cell phones is happening – in Europe.  France Telecom is (once again) leading the way with mobile HD.

26)    Truphone says it is working with HD in the lab and is ready to roll when the time is right.

27)    Qualcomm has done demos/field trials of HD on cellular.

28)    In the trials, Qualcomm used the Swiss-army-knife of IP telephony – Digium’s Asterisk – to transcode between its 4GV-WB codec and G.722.

29)    Qualcomm is still trying to fight the EVDO/LTE battle.

Earlier pieces on the HD Communications Summit

HD Communications Summit: Pulver announces HD marketing association, FCC petition, fall event

HD Communications Summit: Codec convergence, “HD” logo take center stage

HD Communications Summit: Cable bides its time

HD Communications Summit: Islands of HD, trending upward

HD Communications Summit: HD Cellular is happening

HD Communications Summit: Analysis – Will international needs bootstrap HD voice?

Presentations at the HD Communications Summit – pictures

HD Communications Summit – A PR/marketing view