Viber, a mobile application that offers users free phone calls and text messaging to other Viber users over 3G and Wi-Fi, announced the official launch of the Android version of the app, bringing Viber to millions of additional users. Viber also announced that it has acquired over 12 million active users (last 30 days) and has an impressive call traffic volume of over one billion minutes of calls per quarter.

It's no secret that Apple has been militant in suing competitors that employ technologies even remotely close to Apple's own. But when it comes to stealing ideas for apps from developers, Apple's intentions are a bit more dubious.

The Register reports that Apple is being accused of stealing the idea of one UK-based college student and developer — Greg Hughes. In May 2010, Hughes submitted an app for consideration called Wi-Fi Sync, which allowed users to sync their iTunes libraries wirelessly.

fring announced the rollout of its network-optimized DVQ mobile video calling technology. The company’s proprietary DVQ (dynamic video quality) technology adjusts video bit rate and frame rate according to the specific device to match current network bandwidth during a call, delivering the best possible video picture quality for available bandwidth between call peers.

This is the first time in 25 years that the FCC has passed an order that frees up wireless spectrum and makes it available unlicensed for innovation. “Wireless in general is very central to our economic growth,” Chairman Genachowski told me in a phone conversation earlier this month. He believes that wireless and wireless broadband will have a wide-ranging impact on everything from health to entertainment to education. (Related Post: All You Need to Know About White Spaces Broadband.)

“A year ago, no one was talking about the spectrum shortage in this country, and now we are moving toward solving that problem,” said the FCC chairman. According to some estimates, the demand for mobile broadband means that in three years, the current amount of spectrum won’t be enough. The FCC, in its national broadband plan, has asked for 500 Megahertz of new wireless spectrum, of which 300 MHz it wants freed up in the next five years.

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Vopium to offer a VoIP application for Nokia’s new operating system Symbian ^3 and thereby Nokia’s new flagship phone N8. All N8 owners can now make free calls over Wi-Fi and mobile data networks and be sure of Vopium automatically finding the lowest call rate when calling. International calls are made using Vopium, while calls to local mobile phones are cheapest using local mobile providers. Vopium also offers an instant messaging feature, allowing users to chat on Facebook and Messenger on their Nokia N8. Vopium is currently offering 15 minutes of free worldwide calls.

Vopium is the first VoIP application for Nokia’s latest operating system Symbian ^3. Users can make free calls from their Nokia N8 to any other mobile phone with Vopium using either Wi-Fi or mobile data networks. Vopium features an advanced built-in phone function, which always finds the lowest rate for calls and text messages on your Symbian ^3 – either via regular calls on your mobile, 3G or Wi-Fi network. International calls, for example, are made using Vopium’s servers to the overseas mobile phone.

International calls at the lowest rates on N8

The current version of the Vopium application is available now for Symbian ^3 and Nokia N8 on www.vopium.com and offers low rates on calls to landline and mobile phones, even if they do not have Vopium installed. Rates include calls to any landline or mobile phone in Thailand for just under three cents plus the local mobile rate – working out at about the same cost as a local call.

15 minutes of free worldwide calls

Vopium is currently offering 15 minutes of free calls to all new users, which is a great opportunity to try out the application on the Nokia N8 or one of the more than 900 other supported mobile phones. To get started visit www.vopium.com and enter your mobile phone number or simply point your N8 mobile browser to get.vopium.com. The updated version of Vopium will be available on Nokia OVI store shortly.

Skype has just announced the release of Skype for Android, a client for mobile handsets, built for smartphones running Android OS version 2.1 or above. In the US, Skype for Android calling works over WiFi only. Outside the US the app works over WiFi or mobile data connection (GPRS, EDGE, 3G).

CounterPath has released the Bria iPhone Edition for Apple’s iPhone, iPad and iPod Touch. Bria iPhone Edition is a VoIP softphone that works over both 3G and Wi-Fi networks.

Truphone announces the immediate free availability of its new application for Android enabled mobile handsets, introducing Wi-Fi calling on this platform for the first time.

The new Truphone for Android release 3.0 integrates a full VoIP engine allowing users to make free calls to Truphone, Google Talk and Skype users when both parties are in Wi-Fi, in addition to low cost calls to landlines and mobiles around the world whether they are in or out of Wi-Fi. This, coupled with a new, refreshed interface makes this the application of choice for the user who wants top quality user experience from their mobile VoIP application. The new release version 3.0 replaces the current live version 2.0.

The Truphone application for Android is available now as a free download in the Android Market. The new Truphone Android application is compatible with the HTC G1, HTC Magic and HTC Hero. Compatibility with other Android models with firmware 1.5 or above, including the Motorola Droid and the Nexus One will follow soon.

Truphone's Android application also includes fully integrated multi-headed Instant Messaging support for Skype, Google Talk, AIM, Yahoo! and MSN customers, allowing users to easily switch between different conversations and keep in touch with their friends whichever IM service they use.

The application builds on the company's previous release which allowed customers to make low cost calls on their mobiles when out of Wi-Fi. When out of Wi-Fi, the application works by making a local GSM call to the Truphone gateway (if a customer has a bundled package of minutes this call is often free, otherwise is charged as a 'local call'*), from where the call is then routed over the Truphone network. For details on Truphone's low-cost call rates visit www.truphone.com.

American Airlines is launching its new Wi-Fi Widget that enables customers to identify Wi-Fi equipped flights 24 hours prior to departure. Customers can visit aa.com/wifiwidget to find and use the Wi-Fi Widget. The tool allows travelers to determine if their American Airlines flight will be scheduled with Wi-Fi enabled aircraft. Customers can also embed the Wi-Fi Widget in their own blogs, Web sites, and social network sites, which makes finding Wi-Fi on American Airlines flights even easier.

Simply enter your flight number or select your flight's departure airport from a drop down menu to find out in seconds if your flight is scheduled on a Wi-Fi equipped aircraft. For a quick video demonstration of how to use the Wi-Fi Widget.

Recently American completed the installation of Wi-Fi on 150 MD-80 aircraft. Combined with the 15 Boeing 767-200 aircraft that also have the service, American Airlines fleet now has 165 planes that are capable of providing customers with the ability to surf the Web, check e-mail, send instant messages, and more on a greater number of flights. In August 2008, American became the first U.S. airline to launch the Gogo service. Since then, thousands of customers traveling on American aircraft have enjoyed onboard Wi-Fi service while flying throughout the United States.

Coming soon, customers will also be able to determine if their flight has Wi-Fi by looking for the Wi-Fi symbol on the AA electronic gate information display screens at the airport.

Gogo service turns an American Airlines flight into a Wi-Fi hotspot. Once the aircraft has reached 10,000 feet, users can simply turn on their Wi-Fi enabled devices - such as laptops, smartphones and handheld PDAs - then open their browsers and be directed to the Gogo portal page where they sign up and begin surfing. Gogo also provides complimentary access to all that AA.com has to offer, including booking flights, hotel stays and rentals, checking AAdvantage accounts, and more.

Once connected, passengers can surf the Web, check e-mail, send instant messages, access a corporate VPN, and even start holiday shopping with SkyMall. By placing an online SkyMall order onboard, customers will receive a $12.95 discount on orders totaling more than $100 - covering the price of the Gogo session.

Each paid Gogo session includes full Internet, e-mail and VPN access. Cell phone and VoIP service use are prohibited.

The US Federal Communications Commission is considering a plan that would reclaim some precious airwaves from the country's television broadcasters and reinvent them as wireless broadband.

According to the Wall Street Journal, the FCC intends to release the plan on Friday as part of an effort to ensure that there's enough wireless bandwidth for the America of the future. "The record is very clear that we're facing a looming spectrum gap," said Blair Levin, who oversees the plan, part of a wider push to expand US broadband.

The plan would involve the FCC buying spectrum back from TV folk and then auctioning it off to wireless folk. The FCC has already opened up the television "white spaces" as unlicensed spectrum, hoping to create a kind of "WiFi on steroids."

But the new plan creates vast swathes of licensed wireless broadband, providing more bandwidth for the likes of AT&T and Verizon. Alongside God and Dolly Parton, the nation's TV broadcasters vehemently opposed the white spaces move, and you can bet they'll do the same with the proposed plan to take back even more spectrum.

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After demonstrating how easy it was to eavesdrop and record VoIP calls made over an unsecured WiFi network on the iPhone using open source software called UCSniff, Sipera Systems, which offers real-time Unified Communications (UC) security, released the Sipera Secure Live Communications (SLiC) mobility solution.

The company claims Sipera SLiC is the industry’s first security solution enabling enterprises to “tame” the smartphone, permitting employees to use VoIP, UC, cloud telephony, and other low-cost and feature-rich communications applications on mobile devices with complete security and privacy.

The study, performed by Perspective Associates, concluded that unlicensed use of white-space spectrum could lead to low cost wireless broadband access in rural areas since white space is essentially supercharged WiFi that can operate over a larger range than WiFi. The study also said that white-space spectrum will lead to a number of devices and services because of a low cost of entry.

"This innovation in unlicensed spectrum is built on competition between thousands of manufacturers, service providers, and system integrators of varying scale and scope competing to sell a wide range of products and services directly to end users," the report said. "In contrast, voice and data services in licensed spectrum are provided by a small number of network operators, selling largely similar bundles of services."

The FCC last year approved unlicensed use of white-space spectrum as long as the services don't interfere with existing services. Google, Microsoft and Motorola are among the service's largest backers. Still the National Association of Broadcasters has filed suit against the FCC over interference concerns. White-space standards have yet to be established by regulators and device makers.

Source: FierceBroadband

As predicted last month, the IEEE has finally approved the 802.11n high-throughput wireless LAN standard.

Finalization of the new wireless networking standard--which is capable of delivering throughput speeds up to 300 megabits per second (and even higher)--took exactly seven years from the day it was conceived, or six years from the first draft version. The standard has been through a dozen or so draft versions.

News of the ratification broke via a blog post displaying an e-mail sent by Bruce Kraemer, longtime chairman of the 802.11n Task Group, to task group members. There has been no public announcement yet. Update 5:49 p.m. PDT: A press release has been issued.

(The 802.11n Task Group is part of the 802.11 Working Group, which oversees WLAN (wireless local-area network) standards. Task group members include the majority of Wi-Fi chipmakers, software developers, and equipment OEM vendors. Meru Networks, one of the members, posted the blog that broke the news.)

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Equi-Wireless services are robust and highly reliable. The highly scalable services utilize a mesh architecture with no common point of failure. Equi-Wireless services provide native IP addressing with no tunneling, QOS for voice services and do not traverse the open internet.

"Equi-Wireless combines the capabilities of our powerful MPLS network with the reliability and cost effectiveness of wireless, said Marcus McEwen, president of Equivoice Inc."

Multiprotocol Label Switching (MPLS) enables customers and carriers to build next-generation intelligent networks that deliver a wide variety of advanced, value-added services over a single infrastructure. This economical solution can be integrated seamlessly over any existing infrastructure, allowing subscribers with differing access links to aggregate an MPLS edge without changing their current environments.

Equivoice Inc. was founded by President/CEO, Marcus McEwen, a telecommunications entrepreneur with over 25 years of experience and CIO, Scott Grau, patent holder of "System and method for communication of audio data over a packet-based network" Document Type and Number: United States Patent 5526353.

Source: PR Web

The contract from the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency provides Raytheon $24.4 million for one year. Options would extend the deal for the mobile network to 2012 and raise the potential value to $155 million.

The system will integrate more than 30 different military, civil or coalition radios into an affordable single network to facilitate communications.

Raytheon says the unique architecture of the system overcomes the limits of most networking systems in use today.  The company also says the system allows for many more users to join the network at the same time.

Source: AP

 

AudioCodes has teamed up with MailVision to offer a mobile soft client (Pico) and a versatile mobile clients' Distribution Platform to Israel's leading mobile service provider, Cellcom.
As a result, Cellcom is to offer a new service called Cellcom Link, which allows roaming subscribers to initiate voice calls and send text messages (SMS) over a Wi-Fi connection, via their current mobile handsets at low rates.

Mike Storella, director of business development at VoIP phone maker snom, believes unified communications is the strongest segment in the communications industry.
As customers look to become leaner and meaner, he stresses the advantages offered by wireless technology, such as WiFi, saying he feels it should be "everywhere".

A new app is offering iPhone users a way of making Skype calls using 3G by turning outgoing calls into incoming ones.
Appropriately called Incoming, it connects to any landline or mobile phone over Edge, 3G, and WiFi - whereas the official Skype for iPhone app is limited to WiFi.

Traditional network-based mobile carriers face the real prospect of losing a major slice of their voice traffic and revenue to new non-infrastructure players that use VoIP.
This could mean that within 10 years, more than 50 per cent of mobile voice traffic will be carried using end-to-end VoIP, according to Gartner.

INTERVIEW: Alan Paton, research director for independent VoIP comparison website LowCostMob.com, tells voip.biz-news about the increasingly crowded - and sometimes confusing - mobile VoIP market.
He also explains how social networking and Instant Messaging services such as Twitter have the potential to extend the appeal of mobile VoIP beyond simply offering cheap calls.

That's a change from recent years, when flashy new phones and data services hogged the spotlight. This year, the developments have been more appropriate for a recession: People who are least able to pay are getting cheaper service.

In traditional prepaid service, which generally has been marketed to people with iffy credit, customers buy minutes in advance, and often are charged a fee for each day they use the phone.

The big change this year has been the rise of prepaid plans with no limit on the minutes used.

In January, Sprint Nextel Corp. made a bold move to capture a larger share of the prepaid market, launching a service with unlimited calling, texting and Web access for $50 per month under its Boost Mobile brand.

The plan was partly a response to MetroPCS Communications Inc. and Leap Wireless International Inc., two upstarts building their own wireless networks. In the last few months, they've expanded into New York, Boston, Philadelphia and Chicago with unlimited plans that cost around $50 a month, depending on the options.

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Skype is now available for the iPhone - and will be coming to BlackBerry in May.
The VoIP app on the iPhone will only work over Wi-Fi and not 3G. It will allow iPhone subscribers to use phone numbers in their existing iPhone address book - without the need for duplicate lists.
As always, it allows free calls between Skype users and charges for calls to landlines or mobiles.
UPDATE: Since being released on Tuesday it has emerged that Skype on iPhone does works over 3G, despite being intended only for use with WiFi.

Marymount High School in Los Angeles has recently deployed Xirrus 802.11n WiFi arrays campus-wide as it prepares to roll out a new 1:1 computer initiative.

The independent, all-girls Catholic high school will utilize the new wireless network throughout its 6.5-acre campus to support a rage of wireless educational tools. The deployment is aimed at giving the school increased flexibility without diminishing the overall power of the network.

The options for VoIP calling on the iPhone are expected to continue expanding with both Skype and Truphone expected to join a growing list of VoIP apps for the Apple handset.
Truphone already provides an app for the iPhone which enables users to make low-priced international calls via the GSM network even when the smartphone is not connected to the Wi-Fi network.