Believe it not, 8×8 Inc. is the “best VOIP provider”, according to a new study by TomsNetworking – topping rivals such as Voange, CallVantage and VoiceWing. 8×8 scored particularly high for “geographic service availability”. What I want to know is why there is a disconnect between what the study dug out and the sharp decline of 8×8 shares over the past four months. 8×8 may – or may not – have great service but it matters not if not enough people actually buy it.

Another day, another U.S. executive being recruited into Nortel's virtual executive suites. This time, it's a new chief technology officer, Gary Kunis, who used to be Cisco's chief science officer. Nortel's current CTO, Brian McFadden gets bumped…er, I mean, receives a new assignment as chief research officer (whatever that means!). In the Canadian Football League, there are rules that stipulate a team must consist of a certain number of Canadians (known as non-imports) and non-Canadians (known as imports). There are slightly more non-imports on a team than imports to maintain the CFL's domestic flavor. Perhaps Nortel, Canada's flagship high-tech company, should adopt the same guidelines. Of the senior executives part of the new and improved management team (a.ka. the post-Frank Dunn regime), only two – CFO Peter Currie and McFadden – is a Canadian. What's with that, eh?!

After much speculation, Vonage is finally introducing local number portability in Canada. This should give Vonage another tool in convincing reluctant Canadian consumers to climb on the VOIP bandwagon. Another important development is Bell Canada’s willingness to offer “naked DSL”, which means Vonage customers do not have to have local and high-speed service from Bell to use Vonage. Vonage said customers can now transfer numbers from most major Canadian telephone companies in all 14 of its local service markets.
The big question is when demand for VOIP will pick up in Canada. While there has been lots of hype, there were less than 35K residential customers in 2004. This, of course, will like change this year as Bell, Rogers, Videotron, Shaw and Cogeco move into the VOIP market.
Another huge challenge facing Vonage and rivals such as Primus and AOL is penetrating multi-phone households. Vonage is great for a one-jack home but it is less than elegant if you want to use the phone jacks around the house. Vonage can either come up with an easy way to connect to home network, or it can do something like bundle multi-phone (two, three or four handsets?) cordless packages with its telephony service. Until this problem is addressed, there will be many, many households that Vonage and its peers will be unable to access from a primary line perspective.

Newsday has a nice little opinion piece that should warm the heart of technology lovers. Newsday argues companies such as Grokster shouldn't be attacked by the movie and music industries because their technology provides a legitimate way for people to share information – even if people use it to steal movies and music. It's the classic “guns don't kill people, people kill people” argument. If the Supreme Court agrees with Newsday's position and, more important, the Sony Betamax decision, it will more pressure on the music and movie industries to meet consumer demand. So far, the music industry has failed miserably to solve the online puzzle. When Steve Jobs is the most innovative person when it comes to delivering music online, you know something is terribly wrong with the music industry itself.

A bit of a tangent from the world of tech and telecom, but if you get a chance, check out David Byrne's new online radio station. It's definitely what you would expect from the Talking Heads frontman: eclectic, different, intriguing, strangely addictive. I'm not a big online radio listener but I've got Mr. Byrne bookmarked already.

Bell Canada moved cautiously moved into the VOIP market today by launching a Vonage-like service in three cities in Quebec. To be honest, it looks like a pilot project and a shot across the bow of the CRTC, which is taking its sweet time deciding whether or not to regulate VOIP. There are several intriguing parts to Bell Digital Voice. First, the regulatory angle. Clearly, Bell is displeased the CRTC appears to be leaning towards a regime where VOIP services offered by incumbent carriers will regulated, while rivals such as Rogers Communications and Vonage Holdings will be free to set their own prices. By brazenly launching a VOIP service before the CRTC makes a decision, Bell is saying “Look, VOIP is an Internet application so stop thinking of regulating our VOIP service in the same way as traditional telephony service.” Bell has bolstered its case by launching Bell Digital Voice without it to its broadband access service – thereby making it clear to the CRTC its VOIP service is just an Internet application available to anyone with broadband access. My take is if the CRTC regulates ILECs who offer VOIP service, Bell will launch a legal challenge. Basically, Bell is backing the CRTC into a corner in a game of chicken.
As for what Bell is offering with Bell Digital Voice – three simple plans ranging from $38 to $45 a month, which is not cheap but reasonable. It includes lots of features, including the ability to do conference calling, and free long-distance. Eamon Hoey, a telecom consultant, describes Bell Digital Voice as the “beginning of the beginning of the end” of the long-distance business, which had already had the bottom taken out of last year when Bell launched a $5 for 1000 minutes plan.
All in all, I would give Bell credit on all fronts. It introduces what appears to be an attractive service that's reasonably priced, and sends a strong message to the CRTC that push has come to shove. We know where Bell stands, now it's a matter of finding out where the CRTC is going to go with VOIP.