DirecTV Testing VoIP Phone Service
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In response to growing competition from cable and phone providers offering all-in-one service to consumers bundling television, Internet and voice calling, DirecTV is testing out a pilot voice over IP program. The initiative will fall under the DirecPath brand.
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SOUTHFIELD, Mich., March 1  /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- Comcast, the nation's leading provider of entertainment and communications products and services today announced it has surpassed the two million-customer milestone for Comcast Digital Voice(R), the company's innovative home phone service.
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Company launches free test version of service that fosters popular Internet activity.
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DirecTV Group Inc.  on Thursday debuted its first digital video recorder with technology from another News Corp.  division, raising questions about the strength of its relationship with digital video recording pioneer TiVo.
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Troubled VoIP service provider Vonage is rolling out new products and services at the Consumer Electronics Show in a bid to reverse its downward spiral.Intellectual property lawsuits brought by Nortel, Verizon, Sprint, and AT&amp;T have distracted Vonage for the past year. During that time, customer acquisition slowed, and defections grew to 3 percent in the third quarter last year.But Vonage says it is ready to turn a corner. The suits were a weapon that the phone companies used to defend their businesses in the face of competition from Vonage, said Jeffrey Citron, chairman, chief strategist and interim CEO at Vonage. &quot;It was a successful strategy. It distracted us and slowed us down,&quot; he said. &quot;Instead of rolling out MyVonage six months ago, we were dealing with workarounds.&quot; MyVonage is the name of a new campaign at the company to introduce a host of services geared toward customer lifestyles.While the lawsuits were ongoing, the company was developing workaround technology that would allow its business to move forward without infringing on the relevant patents. Vonage has now settled all four major lawsuits against it.That has left Vonage free to spend more time focusing on its business, said Citron. It hired new engineers who designed a router, the first time Vonage will sell its own router rather than one from Cisco or Motorola.The router has an unusual feature: a screen. It displays information about problems that the modem might have in plain language. For instance, rather than showing a flashing light like most routers, this one displays words telling users that the Ethernet cable is unplugged.New customers will be able to buy the V-Portal router online starting Wednesday for $9.99 after rebates.In addition to the new router, Vonage is beginning to roll out many new features that it is showcasing at alpha.vonage.com. For instance, customers can now use voice-activated dialing, simply speaking a name to place a call. Customers can also send a voice message to anyone via e-mail. The message arrives as an attached audio file.Call blast is a new feature that lets customers send out a voice mail simultaneously to a group of people. Citron anticipates that will be useful when he&#39;s in charge of calling 15 kids who go to school with his kids to tell them there is a snow day.&quot;We expect to roll out a new capability every month or two,&quot; Citron said.Vonage also plans to offer another service that lets users access the voice recognition system from any phone to make a call through Vonage. The company is also testing software that would let customers make Vonage calls via software on their laptops.Many of these services are free to Vonage customers.Citron said that the future for Vonage will be brighter. Despite continued high churn, last quarter it had a gain of 77,000 customers, which he says isn&#39;t as good as it should be. The company has worked to cut costs, and improvements in customer service should help decrease customer losses, he said.In the meantime, speculation continues to circle that the payouts Vonage made to settle the lawsuits will cripple it. But Citron was confident that the company&#39;s troubles are behind it.
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AccessLine Communications, a leading provider of hosted VoIP (Voice over  Internet Protocol) services, today announced that its SmartVoice Service  for business now offers U.S.-based customers the ability to utilize  local phone numbers in Great Britain.
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Americans love their TVs, but do they really want to interact with them? DirecTV is betting that football fans do. The satellite broadcaster is gearing up to launch a premium-priced interactive TV package with its Sunday Ticket subscription service next season that will allow fans to check scores, statistics, and fantasy team developments right on screen with their remote rather ...
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For consumers, the benefit of VoIP has been found in the lower costs VoIP companies charge. Such service is usually cheaper because providers don&#39;t have to build huge networks of lines
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BEVERLY, Mass., Feb. 16  /PRNewswire/ -- If you are in charge of testing an IMS network, service or product, you have a lot to worry about.
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The voice-over-IP market is growing, and by next year, 50% of all lines installed in the U.S. are expected to rely on VoIP technology -- despite continuing concerns that installations can be costly.
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Voice over IP holds a lot of promise. To its boosters, VoIP is an obvious way to save money by routing phone calls over the same internal network that carries your data traffic. But IT managers have to tread carefully: VoIP technology can bite back in many ways, ranging from network slowdowns interfering with calls, to new staff and security requirements. Read this report to learn about these issues as well as best practices to help get your own VoIP initiative off the ground.
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WiMax broadband provider teams up with satellite companies DirecTV and Echostar to offer a bundle of broadband, TV and voice services.
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The online giant is quietly calling on beta testers to try out its take on VoIP.
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Express features editor Holly Morris discusses Tuesday's special report about local providers of VoIP -- services that let you talk over the Internet with a regular phone and a broadband connection.
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SACRAMENTO, Calif., May 30  /PRNewswire/ -- Comcast announced today the launch of Comcast Digital Voice residential phone service in several Northern California communities, including Chico, Paradise and Magalia.
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The ground rules of the tests of Cisco and Avaya systems.
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Federal regulators will try again to test prototypes for transmitting high-speed internet service over unused television airwaves. The devices will be tested in laboratory and real-world conditions.