Alec Saunders SquawkBox

Is regulation bad for VoIP?  Perhaps it might even be good. In this piece in the Prague Post, my friend Jon Arnold is quoted:

Analyst Arnold said the only law that he can foresee that would really hinder the market would be one requiring VoIP providers to pay for the use of going over carrier networks, as happens when a person makes a SkypeOut call that goes from their computer to a land line.

“Right now they get a free ride, which allows them to price their service so low,” Arnold said. “Without this low pricing, VoIP wouldn’t really grow.”

It sounds like a crazy idea, but a tax on PSTN interconnects, as Jon speaks of here, might just have the opposite effect from what most people think.  Skype has grown just fine without PSTN interconnects, so it’s not really a “free ride” as Jon says.  VoIP, and Skype in particular, is good enough that people are using it in real business scenarios today.  News.com ran a piece titled VoIP Goes to the Office recently.  According to that piece, some companies, like Aruba Networks, have adopted Skype as part of their communication strategy.  Certainly, at Iotum we have been using Skype extensively.  We haven’t paid for a conference call in months. Skype can do it from the desktop for no cost.

The market will evolve, and over time, as more people become connected using VoIP, PSTN interconnects will have less value.  Business models like Vonage’s, which simply replicate the PSTN system on VoIP, are  ephemeral, and will be replaced by something else. 

Where’s the tipping point, then?  When will a tax on PSTN interconnect simply drive more people to VoIP?  Could we be at that point now?  Are we almost there?

The Conservative Party telephoned me today to ask for money.  The nice lady on the telephone let me know that she thought there could be an election any time, and that they needed to rebuild their war chest.  I told her no, that I was irritated with Stephen Harper’s focus on same sex marriage to the exclusion of everything else, and that I disagreed with his position and handling of the issue.  I many contribute again in the future, but most certainly won’t today.

For #2 in the Rotgut Reviews series, I picked the Yellowtail Shiraz ($11.45 at the LCBO).  This is currently the #1 selling wine in the US, and therefore worthy of review. 

The winery description speaks lovingly of lifted berry aromas, spicy hints, generous ripe fruit, and vanillin flavours delivering a long and soft finish.  The LCBO description speaks of blackberry, red licorice (twizzler?), vanilla bean and plum aromas, with flavours of plum and ripe berry and a long spicy finish.

Sounds intriguing.  So what’s it really like?  Vanilla, vanilla, vanilla. Tannins provide structure, to be sure, but the overwhelming impression is of drinking vanilla extract mixed with grape juice.

Think you’re hiring the top 1%?  Know any good interns?  As usual, Joel’s viewpoint is very good. 

I just had a great customer service experience.  Iotum uses Monster for recruiting.  In the past I’ve always just bought an advertisement using my credit card, but last week I decided to open an account.  We have a few jobs to recruit for at the moment, and it’s cheaper to buy postings in bulk.  Anyway, I applied for the account online on Thursday January 20th.  I received an email, acknowledging my application, and telling that my inventory would be online within two days once the credit details had been verified.   It’s been a busy week, though, and I just got back to this this afternoon.

My inventory was not online, and my account had not been verified.  I need to post those postings today though!

I telephoned Monster, and spoke with Sylvie Brunelle.  I explained the problem. She apologized, and explained that they had had some turnover in the accounting department recently.  Then she said “Send me the job postings, and I will post them myself so that they’re online for you over the weekend“.  Wow!  Sylvie took ownership of my problem, and promised it would be fixed.  That’s the key to great customer service.

Oh, and by the way, if you know any hard core coders, or QA experts, send them my way.