AT&T today announced the availability of U-verse Voice in several Ohio markets, including Columbus and Akron. U-verse voice is an IP voice product which is bundled with U-verse broadband and video services. U-verse voice adds a suite of features to traditional voice service including, unified messaging, click to call from the TV or PC, simultaneous ring of up to four phones, and a web based call management portal. AT&T offers to U-verse voice plans; 1) U-verse Voice Unlimited, which includes unlimited local and nationwide minutes for $40 a month, and 2) U-verse Voice 1000, which includes 1,000 Call Anywhere minutes to any location in the U.S. or U.S. territories for $30 a month.

AT&T today announced the availability of U-verse Voice in parts of Oklahoma City. U-verse voice is an IP voice product which is bundled with U-verse broadband and video services. U-verse voice adds a suite of features to traditional voice service including, unified messaging, click to call from the TV or PC, simultaneous ring of up to four phones, and a web based call management portal. AT&T offers to U-verse voice plans; 1) U-verse Voice Unlimited, which includes unlimited local and nationwide minutes for $40 a month, and 2) U-verse Voice 1000, which includes 1,000 Call Anywhere minutes to any location in the U.S. or U.S. territories for $30 a month.

Yahoo and JAJAH announced a partnership where JAJAH will operate Yahoo! Messenger’s VoIP platform. Yahoo! Messenger is Yahoo’s instant messaging (IM) platform, and JAJAH will manage PC-to-phone and phone-to-PC voice calls tied to it. JAJAH will take over the provision of the telephony infrastructure, payment processing, and customer care for Yahoo!'s premium voice users who make and receive voice calls through Yahoo! Messenger. Yahoo! Messenger operates in 200 countries with nearly 97 million users worldwide (comScore, February 2008). JAJAH operates an open source VoIP platform, and currently claims over 10 million users.

Vonage, the VoIP service provider pioneer, has apparently been given a lifeline by some unnamed financiers. Vonage has $253 million in debt due this coming December, and it’s widely believed that it could be a crippling blow to the company if not refinanced. Vonage reports that it has a letter of intent for new private debt financing for $215 million, which should conceivably be enough to allow Vonage to continue as a going concern. Vonage is not completely out of dangerous water yet. Even its own press release says, “The letter of intent is a proposal that will be used as a basis for financing and does not constitute a commitment.” The terms of the debt placement will be under great scrutiny as well. If they are too onereous, Vonage may not be able to effectively operate under them.

Vonage’s fate, whichever way it ends up, will have serious competitive implications. Should it go out of business, there will be over 2.5 million VoIP subscribers up for grabs, along with serious public relations damage to remaining pure play VoIP service providers. Should they remain in business, they will continue to impact the competitive landscape with their assault (albeit less aggressive) on incumbent phone and cable companies, offering a legitimate voice alternative.

Skype announced flat fee unlimited calling plans to 34 countries across the world. Skype claims the new plans reach over a third of the world’s population. Subscribers can select specific countries or regions for the unlimited plans. They can also select all 34 countries to include in the unlimited plan. The plans range from just under $5/month to close to $15/month, depending on which countries/regions are selected. There is no long term contract associated with the plans.

AT&T is expanding wholesale VoIP services by announcing the availability of a Gigabit Ethernet connectivity interface for AT&T Voice over IP Connect Service (AVOICS). Wholesale VoIP providers connect to AVOICS via AT&T's Multiprotocol Label Switching-Private Network Transport (MPLS-PNT) service. AT&T claims the AVOICS connectivity interface enables customers to interconnect with the AT&T network more efficiently, more easily manage their networks and edge equipment and help reduce costs through the use of less expensive interface hardware.

The speculation of Vonage’s demise has been present almost since the company’s founding. There’s probably an odds book in Vegas on the subject. The Wall Street Journal is adding some fuel to the speculation with a recent article that highlights the latest concern. Vonage’s auditor, BDO Seidman LLP is raising “substantial doubt” about their ability to continue as a going concern. The doubt comes in large part due to a $250 million dollar debt payment looming for Vonage. The debt comes due in December 2008. They obviously don’t have the assets to settle that debt and are looking for ways to refinance it in an incredibly shaky credit environment. As for now, Vonage reports in a recent SEC filing that they ended 2007 with a $217 million working capital deficit.

Vonage has had a significant impact on the competitive landscape. You don’t even need to include their 2.4 million+ subscribers to include them in the VoIP pioneer playbook. Their bigger impact was the fight they brought to the arena, by taking on behemoth incumbent phone and cable companies with a competitive voice product. Some will argue that Vonage brought VoIP to the mainstream. Others will argue that they are “parasites,” riding the networks of their competitors with an inferior product. Whatever the argument, there is no denying their place in competitive telecom history. They’re certainly not dead yet, but it doesn’t look too promising for them. I suspect that Vonage wears this current struggle, as well as their numerous past ones, as a badge of honor. One that they believe they will surely overcome. Stay tuned.

AT&T announced the availability of AT&T U-verse Voice in Sacramento, a primary line VoIP service. U-Verse voice offers a variety of "next generation" features including an online call management portal, simultaneous ring of up to four phones, and click to call from the PC or television. U-verse voice offers an unlimited calling plan for $40/month and a 1000 minute plan for $30/month.

SureWest announced the launch of a VoIP primary line product, branded as SureWest Digital Voice. The VoIP powered service offers packages ranging from a nationwide unlimited plan for $39.99/month to a “Digital Basic” plan for $12.99/month that offers 300 “anytime” minutes. The similarities to wireless package explanations are no coincidence. Unlike bring your own broadband (BYOB) VoIP services like Vonage, SureWest requires customers to subscribe to their high speed Internet service. They are marketing voice and data bundles that range from $71.98/month for 10 Mbps broadband and unlimited voice to $45.98 for 3 Mbps broadband and 500 “anytime” minutes for voice. SureWest Digital Voice can also be included in a triple play package. For plans that aren’t unlimited, incoming calls and outbound calls to other SureWest customers do no count against the minute allotment. SureWest Digital Voice adds unique features not available on their traditional voice product including simultaneous ring and a “Digital Phone Manager,” which is an online phone portal manager.

SureWest joins other traditional telecom service providers, including AT&T, who are embracing VoIP powered primary line service. These services are being marketed as cutting edge “digital” services to counter cable and other VoIP competitors who position their voice product as ahead of the “stodgy, old local phone company.” But telcos have something else up their sleeve as well. VoIP’s promise is that of a more efficient and less costly way to deliver voice. So while in the short term, products like Digital Voice hope to appeal to customers who are vulnerable to switching to the local cable company’s competing voice product, the long term prospects include migrating all voice service to IP, and the lower cost of network advantages it provides.

Welcome to the world of SPIT, op SPam over Internet Telephony. It’s the latest craze for spammers and it’s causing headaches for VoIP providers like Skype. SPIT is very analogous to SPAM, where VoIP subscribers receive actual unsolicited telephone calls offering typical SPAM type products like organ enlargement or weight loss pitches. The difference with SPIT though is can be much more damaging to a VoIP providers network because of the large bandwidth bottlenecks it can create. If not kept in check, SPIT can cause serious quality of service problems for VoIP providers, leading to a potential competitive disadvantage.

The last thing VoIP providers need is more call quality problems. The reality of SPIT is it is quite rare on privately managed VoIP networks, like those offered by cable companies. It’s much more prevalent on public Internet VoIP services like Skype. There are ways to defeat it through filtering and firewall applications. As VoIP News reports, companies like NEC offer SPIT protection services.