I hate to be blogging about Apple again, but it has been quite ubiquitous of late and given that I own an iPhone, an Apple TV, a Mac Mini and a MacBook Pro, I cannot help caring.

From a PR standpoint, the last few months have been mixed at best for Apple (more on that later), and yet from a financial standpoint it has been pretty much blowing right through this recession, announcing just last month the best non-holiday quarter in the company’s history. What’s going on here?

I grew up very much a PC guy. My first computer, in 1994, was a 75MHz Pentium I with 8 megs of ram and a 500 MB hard drive running Dos and Windows 3.11. I was 14, it was by far the coolest thing I’d ever owned, and the internet was just getting started. Sometimes when I’d go visit a school buddy of mine, I’d take a peek at his dad’s Apple PowerPC which, he liked to remind me, was much more expensive and cooler than my PC. It also wasn’t compatible with mine. It never would be. Apple actually cultivated that difference, it thrived on it: remember ‘think different?’

From that point until about a year and a half ago, I discarded Macs as over-priced, over-engineered rounded cubes without a delete key or a right-click button, designed by and for intellectual snobs.

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©2008-2009, Gallop Services, Inc. All rights reserved.

VOIP service Skype (Etilities Forum) made headlines everywhere earlier this week when it finally released its iPhone application. The reception was overwhelmingly positive with great reviews and millions of downloads. Wireless providers, however, were not so pleased: AT&T (Etilities Forum) quickly responded by changing its terms of use to restrict the use of third party apps like Sling and Skype on its network. For example, Skype can only work with a wi-fi connection. AT&T does not allow it to work over its 3G network. This of course generated much negative media coverage, with talks of already instigating FCC probes into whether these practices are anti-competitive.

Of course it’s understandable that wireless providers are scared of the prospect of a competitor offering a cheaper service than they offer on their own network. But why stop at VOIP and video streaming? Why not start banning e-mail from the AT&T network? After all, it constitutes free transmission of text that could otherwise be done via SMS, which directly profits the wireless providers. Why not shut down all web browsers, all third party apps, and lock down that phone nice and tight? That way it’ll be just like being back in the 90s!

©2008-2009, Gallop Services, Inc. All rights reserved.

We routinely receive inquiries about the usefulness of land-lines and whether one should keep theirs.  More and more people these days are ditching their fixed phone and opting to stay in touch with friends and family via mobile phones or VoIP software such as Skype (Etilities Forum).  As far as we can tell working with our customers, the people opting to keep landlines tend to include families with young children, and elder individuals who need that quick and easy way to call 911 or other numbers during emergencies.  For my family, we primarily want to make sure there is always a phone line available for the babysitter to call us if something comes up.

For the rest of you who are willing to trade land-line for an alternative but find that your domicile lacks appropriate coverage to toss the fixed phone away, Verizon (Etilities Forum) just gave you one more reason to do so.  The company recently started offering a book-sized device to enhance and boost your wireless coverage indoors. This type of device is generally known as ‘femtocell’, and is being called the “Network Extender” by Verizon. It will run about $250 and, unlike competitor Sprint (Etilities Forum), Verizon will not charge a monthly fee for the use of the device.  Once plugged into to your local network, the booster enhances your signal around the house and gives you one more reason to save money.  For more information, see Verizon’s page on the Network Extender.

©2008-2009, Gallop Services, Inc. All rights reserved.

(Image courtesy of dslreports.com)

When Comcast (Etilities Forum) announced a 250GB per month cap on broadband usage, our analysis was twofold: First, most customers will never get close to the cap, and will therefore not be impacted by the limit in the foreseeable future.  Second, Comcast should provide a tool to monitor the entire home’s use of its broadband connection, rather than just on each individual PC.

It now appears that Comcast has stepped up to the plate and prepared a tool that will assist their customers with monitoring and controlling their home’s broadband usage.

According to Comcast insiders, customers will gain access to a web-based monitoring tool sometime in January.  This methodology will avoid the primary pitfall of PC-based monitoring tools: not every network-dependent device is a PC.  Many homes have voice-over-IP systems (like Vonage and Skype), gaming platforms (XBOX360, Playstation 3, Wii), and countless new streaming devices including Roku, Apple TV, and even the venerable TiVO.

Each of these growing number of devices rely on a broadband connection to enhance the consumer’s experiences with their services.  Bandwidth monitors that only report on a single device would complicate users’ ability to determine how much of their 250GB is used by a movie rental or video game.

Only time will tell whether broadband providers will increase their caps to keep pace with the growing reliance on broadband Internet.  However, a means to monitor usage at the account level is a good sign that Comcast sees the forest from the trees.  We’re anxious to see how long it takes for other providers to follow suit. Gallop will continue monitoring the changing landscape of the market to see how technology developments affect bandwidth caps placed on consumers.

©2008-2009, Gallop Services, Inc. All rights reserved.

You may have read reports that China has been snooping on Skype (Etilities Forum) text messages to monitor the use of dangerous words like ‘democracy’. Now, since there there is no sizable difference between snooping on text messages and accessing phone conversations in the Voice Over IP (VOIP) world given that it’s all TCP/IP data, perhaps you are wondering: should this affect my decision to go with VOIP providers like Skype  or Vonage (Etilities Forum) or to stick to more traditional phone providers like Verizon (Etilities Forum), Comcast (Etilities Forum) and others?

Well, even if we put aside the fact that Verizon, Comcast etc. are all graduallly transitioning to VOIP as well (even if it’s indistinguishable to you and to the bills you pay), what you need to take away from this is that this is making news for a reason: it almost never happens to VOIP. You see all governments snoop in on your communications. The US government has been doing it for years, and more so since the controversial Patriot Act was signed into law. It happens so much and so often that it’s just not news worthy anymore. It has become a de facto parameter of our modern world.

So really the fact that you are hearing about this should make you feel more secure about using VOIP, not less so. Now does that mean that you should favor VOIP over traditional phone services? Well that depends on your ethical views. The thing about wire tapping is that it allows the government to monitor and catch criminal and terrorist activity. But it also means that your privacy is constantly invaded. So promoting safer means of communications means that your conversations are more secure, but then again so are those of our enemies.

So next time you are re-evaluating your home IT setup, in addition to price and call quality you can also take this into account. Based on our research, VOIP is no less secure than traditional phone lines. In fact, it may protect your privacy better as it can more easily implement mechanisms like encryption and tunneling since it rides on the broadband pipe.

©2008-2009, Gallop Services, Inc. All rights reserved.

The cell phone era has provoked an inevitable decline in the use of landlines in homes everywhere. After all mobile technology has been growing increasingly cheap, reliable, and rich in functionality while landlines remain comparatively primitive. The Associated Press (AP) published an article yesterday about this trend being particularly pronounced in Europe where, as of 2007, there are 112 cell phones per 100 people and anywhere from 25% to 61% of households are using cell phones exclusively.

Now we previously discussed plenty of reasons why you might want to keep your landlines. In explaining the european cell phone statistics, the AP points out that “monthly line rental for fixed phones costs more on average than a prepaid mobile phone package.” I think that if the hassle and cost of a landline were low enough, everyone would want to have one. What’s the point here? Simply that all roads lead to VoIP.

The reason why current landlines are so expensive is because they depend on old, expensive technology and on greedy, outdated pricing models. Companies like Vonage (Etilities Forum) and Skype (Etilities Forum) have gone to great lengths to make VoIP technology cheap and reliable. Given that the broadband footprint is very strong in Europe, it should not be too long before the adoption of VoIP technology explodes in Europe to fulfill the need for landlines. The European consumer base just needs to realize that it’s an option.

And why should we Americans care? Well because this will make the VoIP industry more mature. Cheaper prices, better call quality, more providers… whether the technology is improved in Europe, Asia, America or Antarctica, everybody wins.

©2008-2009, Gallop Services, Inc. All rights reserved.

With some of the recent news about hurricanes Hanna, Ike and others likely coming, one big question looms about whether we all have appropriate evacuation plans.  Living in the metro Washington DC area, our family has the beginnings of an evacuation plan, although it is admittedly not as well rehearsed as I would like.

As part of any appropriate plan, communication is critical.  Communication between the members of your family and those who want news from and about you as you relocate is paramount.  Unfortunately, too many first consider this issue only when the plan needs to be activated.

Of course, cell phones are important components of the plan, as they allow you to remain in direct contact with friends and family as you travel.  But what about your landline?  If you plan on staying with friends in another area, most providers allow you to forward your home number to another phone.  

This is where having a VoIP provider may be beneficial.  Some providers such as Skype (Etilities Forum) allow you to maintain your phone number directly from your computer, enabling you to remain in contact anywhere you go as long as you have an internet connection.  Others, such as Vonage (Etilities Forum), Lingo (Etilities Forum), or ViaTalk (Etilities Forum), enable you to carry the router with you.  With these providers, you can turn on your own home telecommunication system anywhere you go.  

We wish our best to the evacuees of Hurricane Ike, and those affected by any storms or other disasters.  Should you have any questions about these services or how to set them up as you relocate, feel free to post a comment or contact us directly.

©2008-2009, Gallop Services, Inc. All rights reserved.