The Next America

Cardo Scala 500 Headset

I hated this headset.

I loved the previous model (the Allways Bluetooth headset). So I was planning to love the headset since it was smaller, lighter, and the same basic design.

But performance was absymal. The first problem was the Blackberry 7250 phone (see last post). That's finally resolved with the firmware update. But the headset went from awful to occasionally awful. The problem (after a nice commute troubleshooting with my wife) is feedback. The speaker in the allways fit pretty deep inside your ear. The speaker on the Scala 500 is just inside the outer ear. Which means feedback. The microphone on a high-end headset is incredibly sensitive. A radio at very low levels creates a disaster, so feedback is a very real risk. Reviews on Amazon showed multiple people had success with an eargel that was a freebie promotional in some packages. The Scala 500 is packaged about 10 different ways with different accessories (e.g. I got a car charger). Unknown to me, the eargel is now free for everyone -- just go to the website and fill out a form. I'm still waiting a week later for mine. In the meantime, I found an even better solution. My old Jabra corded earset came with eargels (small, medium, and large for each ear). While a tight fit, these can be placed with  a couple minutes work on the Scala 500 speaker, for increased ear depth. And the tight fit means they'll stay. Lower volume levels required and no feedback (the gels do hurt a bit, though).

I don't trust it yet -- but the Scala 500 looks like it will soon earn the title of my favorite headset. And my corded one I had returned to in frustration can go back to reserve status.

Verizon Wireless Activation

For people who don't actually bring home the box of flyers and nonsense when they get a new cellphone, some/most Verizon Wireless phones are activated by dialing *228.

Bluetooth vs. Camera

Dear Wireless Vendors:
  You and your peers are terrible at understanding your customer. At my Fortune 100 company, we have a long-standing policy against cameras. Perhaps you've heard of people like John Walker (spy). We have secret documents, we build secret things. The government not only agrees with the policy, they require it.

We do several million dollars of business each year with each of you (if you're a major). Yet you don't seem to notice that we always buy the cheapest phones, even for our top executives. Why? Because they're the only phones without cameras. I'm more than happy to let a Vice President spend $200-300 on a top of the line phone. But even Vice Presidents can't violate the camera policy. So he gets the "Free" special of the week. We have almost no demand for phone upgrades, since the midrange phones from 2-3 years ago are equivalent to today's low-end phones. Bluetooth? Not a chance.

Oh, except Research in Motion gets it. Blackberries come with bluetooth, fancy screens, etc. And no camera. So our senior managers get blackberries (not so good as phones but decent). And everyone else gets bupkis. Including senior managers who prefer their blackberry coverage over the pager network instead of GSM.

If you come up with a $100 (after subsidy) phone with Bluetooth, color screen, quad-band, we will beat a path to your door. I can buy 1,000 tomorrow, upgrading entire facilities filled with ancient TDMA phones.

The first wireless company will get the 1,000. Who will break from the pack, kick Nokia in the behind, and take my money? I've been waiting 18 months.

India #1: Vonage and India

Sadly, my trip to India exposed a major flaw in Vonage. Some of their foreign connection agreements are abominable. Calling Delhi, India is an exercise in futility -- you cannot have an entire call where the caller can be heard (10+ attempts over two weeks). An MCI calling card (over Vonage) works fine, isolating it to the Vonage link to India. Chennai, India works fine by the way.

The cheapest rates in the world don't make up for thoroughly unacceptable service. Others have found the same problem.

Edit: This is discussing calling India from the United States using Vonage. I didn't take my Vonage box with me (though my brother-in-law took his to Colorado on a ski vacation last week -- worked like a champ).

Fun Vonage Facts

One of those numbers you never tracked on your Verizon landline (total minutes) is easily available via Vonage. Shockingly, I consistently use 270 minutes/month on the sole line in the house. So off to the 500 minute/month plan (break-even is at 750) for $14.99.

911 and VOIP

Martin at Telepocalypse(a genius site for anyone interested in telephony):

911 service is not a normal market product. The service that is summoned is provided through a compulsory levy on local businesses and residents. The fire brigade don’t ask for a credit card before turning the hoses onto your burning house. And if the caller is the beneficiary, you may be in no state to engage in any form of usual market interaction. The service always requires urgent response; there is no time to discover how the service should be accessed, or evaluate competing actions. When lives are on the line, you shouldn’t be reaching for the yellow pages.

Martin adeptly analyzes that 911 is a special case. I think "free market" purists too frequently forget that special cases must be handled (ATMs and pay phones are ones I've pontificated on in the distant past), though with the minimum regulation possible. He's right. My gut reaction was that 911 should be left alone since it is a huge burden on VOIP companies. But the FCC is right -- they missed the ball on cellphones (which might have been solvable) and should be encouraged to work with the industry to create reasonable regulations.

And what Martin surprised me with is that it may not be a VOIP issue. The burden should correctly go to the network service provider. By setting up a 168.9.1.1 (it needs to be routable outside home gateways but not across the Internet) IP at long-haul routers the problem is relatively easily solved. Each of this handful (one per service region) of routers is programmed with a static route to the 911 location. For service regions that cross jurisdictions, the routes could be enforced closer to the end user or the 911 facilities could cooperate to distribute the calls. Pick a VOIP calling standard that 911 will receive. Allow an optional packet as part of the handshake which could contain name/address/language/medical history information. Individual 911 facilities could thus pick any level of integration from basic (a VOIP to POTS gateway on top of the PBX) to extensive (routing to language-specific operators with visibility of medical history/ambulance/hospital preferences and automatic conferencing of a personal physician; why not add integrated linkages to home webcams as well?). The extensive case would be significantly better than the status quo.

The VOIP industry (and supporters such as myself) have thought too long about the burden of 911. Let's reverse the equation and think how with minimal regulation acceptable 911 services can be provided (Vonage's solution isn't bad -- but putting the responsibility on the network provider is better) and how extraordinary new emergency response services could be enabled using VOIP.

Vonage Followup

I mentioned before about Vonage failing after power outages. Here's the instructions on restoring service -- I helped a reader reset his which had been down for 36 hours. Turn off the Vonage box. Cycle power to the router. Wait 15-20 seconds for the router to fully initialize (on mine, you will only see activity lights once initialized -- during initialization L1 and L2 blink in various patterns). Turn on the Vonage box and in about 15 seconds you'll get a dial tone.

The Future of Vonage

Vonage is reaching critical mass. John Robb suggests AOL as a buyout possibility. One I hadn't thought of -- loyal customer base and high charges would make a good fit. Unfortunately, most AOL customers have dialup and drop after switching to broadband. But they have the reach unlike Earthlink or United (Netzero). The problem for going global isn't bandwidth (like Akamai could provide), it's the day to day trench warfare getting number availability in one phone switch at a time. This is how Vonage is achieving real market power -- hard work. They're the only people giving numbers out anywhere close to me (the next town over which confuses people a bit, but close enough).

Talked to the nicest Tier 2 technical support person on Friday at Cox Telephone. They don't have much to say when you tell them you're going to Vonage (Cox on the other hand has made significant errors in 4 of my last 6 bills). It's not like they're making much off the basic phone line (its 60% tax). So I get Vonage at the same price as a basic line with 500 minutes LD and all features enabled. After further use, the quality is better than a normal voice line, especially in bad weather.