<![CDATA[[MobileRatty] tag: sunrocket]]> http://mobileratty.com/tag/sunrocket Wed, 30 Jan 2008 13:41:46 +0000 iRatty Engine http://blogs.law.harvard.edu/tech/rss <![CDATA[Vonage Lives to Fight Another Day...]]> http://mobileratty.com/article/655e6719f024372ce5ad005e2d1d38fb http://mobileratty.com/article/655e6719f024372ce5ad005e2d1d38fb Vonage today announced an agreement for a $220.3 million financing which is seen by many experts as crucial to its survival. Silver Point Finance LLC, which already holds a $216 million financing stake in Vonage, will lead the financial deal, which consists of $130.3 million in senior secured first-lien credit, $72.0 million in senior secured second-lien credit and the sale of $18.0 million of convertible secured third-lien notes. The proceeds will be used to help refinance $253 million of debt.

Analysts and bloggers such as the VoIPPrincess, have pointed out that the recent financial crisis and credit crunch made Vonage's refinancing efforts very difficult. I too have had my doubts whether Vonage could secure more financing in this tight credit crunch market.

"We are pleased to reach definitive agreement on this refinancing at a time of unprecedented volatility in the credit markets," said John Rego, Vonage's chief financial officer. "This agreement provides clarity to our partners and suppliers regarding the Company's liquidity position in these challenging financial times," he said.

Even with the financial deal, Vonage still faces tough challenges ahead. It still has to replace 1/3 of its customer base due to churn and faces tough competition from Cablecos and phone companies that offer bundled & discounted triple play packages. Vonage started many years ago at $39.99/month (unlimited plan) if I recall and today's unlimited plan has dropped to just $24.99/month. As voice minutes continues its spiral towards $0, it becomes increasingly harder for single play players like Vonage to be profitable.

That said, 8x8 is a single-play VoIP company, which offers Packet8 residential and business VoIP services and they continue to grow. 8x8 doesn't get nearly the media attention that Vonage does, yet continues to perform well. Part of their success is that 8x8 has targeted businesses with their Virtual Office, Virtual Trunking, and Packet8 Hosted Key system offerings.

According to the VoIPPrincess, "In the last five years, 8x8 revenues grew 460.3 percent while Vonage's grew 0.0 percent. 8x8 made $700,000 during the first quarter of this year. Vonage lost $8.9 million and is shopping for a $215 million refinancing deal to stay out of bankruptcy. 8x8 holds 73 patents. Vonage just got its first."

I've talked to 8x8 over the past several years and when I remarked how much Vonage was spending on advertising and customer acquisition, 8x8 told me several times they did not intend to try and match Vonage's huge marketing campaigns. I recall commenting to 8x8,  "I'm reminded of the turtle vs. the hare. Slow and steady wins the race, right?" 8x8 agreed with the analogy. While Vonage just got an injection of cash/adrenaline to keep the hare running, one has to wonder if and when the hare will crash and burn. If it does, I don't think that spells the death knell for single-play VoIP providers just yet. It does however signal the end of high-flying, high-spending, VoIP (woo hoo) TV commercials on every other minute, which is good news for me, since I'm sick & tired of fast forwarding my DVR past those annoying woo hoo commercials. Lastly, I think 8x8 might just be in prime position to pick up many Vonage customers should Vonage fail.

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]]> Mon, 20 Oct 2008 07:02:34 +0000 vonage vonage lives vonage customers bites voip provider bites voip match vonage vonage fail voip patent Vonage Lives to Fight Another Day... <![CDATA[T-Mobile @Home offers $10 per month unlimited VOIP]]> http://mobileratty.com/article/c446f7bac84892745d2a3fca44cf8e84 http://mobileratty.com/article/c446f7bac84892745d2a3fca44cf8e84 t-mo

Starting July 2nd, existing T-Mobile customers will be able to add unlimited VOIP home phone service for $10 extra per month, plus a one-time outlay of $50 for a T-Mobile-branded Linksys wireless router with built-in VOIP functionality. The router has two SIM card slots inside and, as such, can handle two separate phone numbers.

You’ll get an additional number on top of your current cell phone number or you can port your existing landline number over if you have one. The offer is available for individual mobile plans running $39.99 and up per month or family plans over $49.99 per month. The VOIP service requires a broadband connection and includes unlimited local and nationwide calling, voicemail, call waiting, and caller ID.

I’ve been testing the service for the past couple of weeks and I’ve been very impressed. The setup was dead simple and the call quality has been outstanding. I’ve had Vonage, SunRocket, and Lingo in the past and there have always been occasional hiccups and audio dropouts here and there but this is the first service I’ve used that’s actually been mostly transparent. I had the whole system up and running in about 15 minutes and haven’t touched it since, which is a good sign.

If I were a T-Mobile customer, I’d absolutely add this to my account for $10 per month. It’s a no-brainer unless you’re on an unlimited mobile plan. And if you’re on a plan with a ton of minutes that you don’t end up using each month, you could even drop down to a cheaper calling plan and then add the @Home service to make up for the difference in minutes.

The service has been available in Seattle and Dallas for a while now but will be available nationwide on July 2nd. It’ll be interesting to see how (or if) other carriers react with similar offerings. The pricing is really aggressive for something like this so I wouldn’t be surprised to see current and new customers adding it to their accounts.

HotSpot @Home [T-Mobile.com]

]]> Wed, 25 Jun 2008 00:01:05 +0000 month service home service voip service requires current cell phone phone mobile plan plan july 2nd T-Mobile @Home offers $10 per month unlimited VOIP <![CDATA[Packet8 Drops International Calling Phone Rates]]> http://mobileratty.com/article/fe98d2594b5c373a395c109336169588 http://mobileratty.com/article/fe98d2594b5c373a395c109336169588
Packet8 sent me an email announcing several price drops. They also stated, "And now all calls to India are only 5.9¢ per minute — permanently!" While that's a great rate, not sure they want to pain themselves in a corner. Suppose someone offers 4¢ per minute to India - is Packet8 going to stick to their guns and stay at 5.9¢ per minute? Ok, I'm being nit-picky with their words. I'm sure they meant it will never go up, but potentially could go down.

In any event, check out the email I received from Packet8 with the amazing rate drops.

More Affordable International Calling

Packet8 has just reduced international calling rates in several countries, making it more affordable than ever to stay in touch with family, friends and customers outside of the United States. Take advantage of some of the lowest international calling rates available anywhere.
 
For just pennies per minute, you can make calls from any Packet8 Virtual Office, MobileTalk or Residential account.

Check Out These Low Per Minute Rates

Country

Was

Now

India

China

3¢

1¢

Canada

Vietnam

19¢

10¢

Canada

Philippines

16¢

13¢

And now all calls to India are only 5.9¢ per minute — permanently!

For a complete list of Packet8’s low international rates, visit http://www.Packet8.net/international_services/.

Save up to 90% or more on your international cell phone calls

You can also get the same great low international rates on your cell phone with Packet8 MobileTalk. No monthly fees! No calling cards or pin codes! Just high quality digital calls over the Packet8 network! Visit http://mobiletalk.Packet8.net to learn more.

France

Sweden

UK

Italy

Norway

Germany
8x8, Inc.
3151 Jay Street
Santa Clara, CA 95054

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]]> Wed, 07 May 2008 06:11:56 +0000 packet8 mobiletalk mobiletalk international packet8 packet8 mobiletalk launches phone low international packet8 network affordable international Packet8 Drops International Calling Phone Rates <![CDATA[VoIP Call Screening]]> http://mobileratty.com/article/c4e7519dd278110ab8888e43c2971038 http://mobileratty.com/article/c4e7519dd278110ab8888e43c2971038 SunRocket implosion. Robert was a huge fan of SunRocket over both Packet8 and Vonage. One of his favorite features was SunRocket Signature Message Screener, a piece of software that runs on your PC and allows you to see who is calling (Caller ID with Name) via a TOAST icon in the System Tray. Even cooler, SunRocket Signature Message Screen lets you screen the voicemail message on your PC speakers as it is being left in real-time and it allows you to redirect the call to a predefined number (such as your cell phone).

SunRocket Signature Screener
SunRocket Signature Message Screener image courtesy of MyDigitalLife.us

Because it automatically plays out your PC speakers, the software gives your hosted VoIP voicemail service the feeling of a true home answering machine. Robert's only complaint he told me is that when the caller is leaving a message and you decide to redirect them they hear a ringing tone, which can be disconcerting to the caller.

Still call screening on broadband VoIP service is a must. Why oh why Vonage, Packet8, and all the others haven't copied this feature yet is beyond me. When I did have Vonage, I disabled their hosted voicemail because I like to screen callers and used a Uniden 5.8GHz TRU8885-2 multi-handset phone system which features call screening on any of the phone handsets. After all, the call could be a telemarketing call, or it could be family or friends calling. Without live call screening to me and to many people the voicemail system is useless. I should also point out that CallWave can be used as a hosted voicemail replacement and they support not only call screening but also Voicemail-To-Text transcribing. (See: Rich's post on CallWave) Why don't any of the major broadband VoIP service providers offer this functionality?

Robert was very sad to hear SunRocket was ceasing operations, which meant he was losing call screening. He asked me for advice on which VoIP service provider I'd recommend he switch to. However, we both learned that Teleblend was going to take over SunRocket's operations and maintain the existing feature set, including SunRocket Signature Message Screener. He's been a happy Teleblend user ever since. His only complaints about them is they don't seem to update their website very often and they started a blog, which also isn't updated.

Then Robert started talking about the big hoopla surrounding the Skype outage. Robert said, "Did you hear about the Skype outage? Apparently, Microsoft Windows Update caused the Skype supernode network to crash."

With a big grin on my face, I responded, "Did I hear about the Skype outage? I broke the story about the Skype outage and I theorized what the cause was - Microsoft Patch Tuesday and I was right. I was linked to by several bloggers & websites, including Computerworld, PC World, GigaOM, and Good Morning Silicon Valley. A couple mainstream media outlets linked to it and the San Francisco Chronicle called me for an interview on this major news since I broke the story. (SFC article is here.)"

I thought to myself, "Sheesh, don't you read my blog? [sigh] With friends like these..."

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]]> Wed, 30 Apr 2008 05:45:31 +0000 sunrocket signature message message voip call sunrocket sunrocket lives voicemail voicemail replacement sunrocket warns VoIP Call Screening <![CDATA[Packet8 Virtual Office Adds Salesforce.com VoIP Plugin]]> http://mobileratty.com/article/cb89e2019060d7d317e59ec847f4d01f http://mobileratty.com/article/cb89e2019060d7d317e59ec847f4d01f
Packet8 has always been at the leading edge of cool VoIP applications and products. Packet8 was the first to offer a videophone for their residential VoIP customers (see my review of the Packet8 Videophone) They're had several other firsts to their name along with several patents to boot. Packet8 is like the dark horse when it comes to VoIP. While they don't have their name in lights like big bad Vonage, Packet8 has been slowly growing their customer base while adding cool new features. One advantage Packet8 has over Vonage and other VoIP broadband players is that Packet8 has gone after both the residential and business phone market simultaneously. These are vastly different markets, and would seem to many that Packet8 is biting off more than they can chew. But again, they keep steadily adding more customers. You know what they say - slow and steady wins the race.

Well, today I learned about another interesting VoIP application that Packet8 is offering - namely integration with Salesforce.com. You can call any of your Salesforce.com contacts to your Packet8 Virtual Office extension with the new salesforce.com plug-in application, which is available free to Virtual Office subscribers. Simply click the link next to a contact in the Salesforce.com browser window and you can instantly call your contacts. Just as nifty, incoming calls are displayed with pop-up screens based on the user's Salesforce contacts (using CallerID info).

Packet8 Virtual Office and salesforce.com partnered together to offer small businesses an integrated CRM telephony solution that lets subscribers place calls over the Packet8 Virtual Office service directly from their Salesforce application by either clicking the contact's phone number or using the dialpad on the Packet8 interface window.

Salesforce.com & Packet8 plugin

The Packet8 Virtual Office Interface for Salesforce is currently supported by Internet Explorer 6.0 or later on Windows XP or Vista - sorry Mac fans. It also won't run on other browsers such as Opera, Firefox, or Opera. Limited browser support aside, Packet8 continues to add interesting VoIP applications that make VoIP a much more compelling argument to switch from PSTN other than simply cheaper voice minutes. Well done Packet8.

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]]> Wed, 09 Apr 2008 06:10:55 +0000 packet8 voip cool voip applications cool voip applications videophone packet8 videophone packet8 outage sunday packet8 virtual office Packet8 Virtual Office Adds Salesforce.com VoIP Plugin <![CDATA[Worldgate Ojo VoIP/Videophone Service in Trouble]]> http://mobileratty.com/article/4d7fe97c86d76bc2e764e18af6ce0257 http://mobileratty.com/article/4d7fe97c86d76bc2e764e18af6ce0257 I've been monitoring Worldgate Communications, makers of the cool looking Ojo videophone for the past several days. I received word that their service was down for a few days and I attempted to reach them, but got a general mailbox. I didn't leave a message, but instead waited to see how this would pan out.

Well, today, I learned that Worldgate is currently in a dispute with its largest customer over the payment of significant monies which the company believes are owed to it.

A Form 8-K was filed by Worldgate Communications claiming that its largest company has refused to pay. The 8-K states that the customer's refusal to pay such monies has contributed to a shortfall in the operating cash available to the Company to continue operations.

Accordingly, on January 30, 2008, the Company shut down its operations as a first step to winding down its business, which will occur if the Company is not able to secure payment of the monies believed to be owed and/or new financing. The Company continues to explore potential financing opportunities and is also pursuing legal recourse against the customer. Thus, bankruptcy may be coming shortly, which would be another black eye for the VoIP industry after Sunrocket ceased operations.

Worldgate would intend to resume operations if it can obtain financing or payment of the monies believed to be owed in a timely manner. Without such financing or the payment of monies believed to be owed, however, the Company will continue its plan to wind down the business.

It's too bad if Worldgate ceases, since this is one of the coolest looking video phones I've seen. Be a shame if these ended up in a landfill. I actually have a couple Ojos in the labs I've been meaning to test. I hooked up one and if I recall it has SIP settings, so in theory, someone like Packet8 could take over and provide service to existing Ojo customers. Packet8 is probably best suited for this, since they offer their own cool videophone.

Thanks to Sal Costello for the tip

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]]> Tue, 05 Feb 2008 08:05:09 +0000 ojo company continues company continue continue operations significant monies service operations monies Worldgate Ojo VoIP/Videophone Service in Trouble <![CDATA[8x8's Packet8 Posts Steady Growth]]> http://mobileratty.com/article/27d2be44e8feff5622c784d4e306e81d http://mobileratty.com/article/27d2be44e8feff5622c784d4e306e81d Packet8 may not be the largest VoIP service provider, but they have nice stable growth. Unlike some VoIP service providers which tried to grow fast but then crashed and burned (See SunRocket posts here, here, and here), Packet8 has had slow steady growth over the years.

So I'm pleased to report that 8x8, Inc. (Nasdaq: EGHT), provider of Packet8 broadband Voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP), videophone and mobile VoIP communication services, today announced revenues for the third quarter of fiscal 2008 were $15.8 million, compared with $14.8 million for the second quarter of fiscal 2008 and $13.3 million for the same period of the prior year, an increase of 7% over the prior quarter and 19% year over year.

Net income for the quarter was $1.4 million or $0.02 per share, the second highest quarterly earnings in the company's history, compared with a net loss of $2.6 million or ($0.04) per share for the second quarter of fiscal 2008 and a net loss of $2.8 million or ($0.05) per share for the same period last year. Total revenues for the nine-month periods ended December 31, 2007 and 2006, were $45.3 million and $38.7 million, respectively, an increase of 17%.

You can read the full financial results after the jump...

Continue reading 8x8's Packet8 Posts Steady Growth...



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]]> Wed, 30 Jan 2008 13:41:46 +0000 packet8 8x8 voip voip service providers million prior quarter quarter packet8 broadband voice voip service provider 8x8's Packet8 Posts Steady Growth