The website of Alex Kinch, live from London
Archive for April, 2007
Vodafone to charge more for VOIP from June
Apr 30th
Link: Vodafone’s new pricing model excludes VoIP and P2P | The Register
So you’re the proud owner of a Nokia N95 connected to Vodafone, and want to use something like Truphone, or another VOIP client. You’ve already read the bad news that in their infinite wisdom Vodafone have decided you don’t want to use VOIP as it’s an ‘inmature technology’, but that didn’t stop you finding a way around it. And now this..
Vodafone’s new pricing model for data comes in on 1 June and at a glance seems fair enough – if you use less than 0.5MB in a day you’re charged at a penny for every 5KB you use (£2 a MB), go over that and the next 14.5MB is free, then you’re back to a penny for every 5KB used.
So far so good, if not a little complicated. But then the cursory glance of the small print reveals this:
Slipped in to the conditions of use is a clause stating that VoIP and peer-to-peer services (P2P) are excluded from the offer, billed separately at £2 a megabyte, with a minimum of 5 pence per session. Skype is listed as an example of a VoIP service, but the definition of P2P is much broader, including “instant messenger services, text messaging clients, or file sharing”.
Eh? So if you make a VOIP call Vodafone will not only charge you £2 per meg, but also a minimum of 5 pence per session. Consider it a stealth ‘connection fee’ for VOIP. That is, if you can *actually use* VOIP on your Vodafone handset.
So while the rest of the industry is going off doing ‘unlimited’ (subject to fair use) data policies, Vodafone are making life more complicated – and at the same time having a jolly good go at killing off the concept of mobile VOIP.
T-Mobile launch 3G USB modem
Apr 25th
This is rather sexy.. a USB 3G modem for just £30 if you take out a 12 month T-Mobile Web’n'Walk data contract. You can even get it for nowt if you opt for an 18 month or 24 month contract.
It’s made by Huawai, who also do the same device for Vodafone. Interestingly enough they’re offering it for free, with a £45/month ‘unlimited’ (which is really 1Gb according to the small print) included, or £95/month if you want to add on 100Mb of data on ‘preferred’ international networks.
I am REEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEELLY liking this.
GMTV drops Opera, staff ‘removed from normal duties’
Apr 23rd
Link: BBC NEWS | Entertainment | GMTV drops its phone-in provider
Well it’s all go today isn’t it? Learning from previous similar episodes, ITV breakfast broadcaster GMTV have ousted Opera Telecom (or Opera Interactive Group, as they’re now called) as their provider of premium phone and text services ‘with immediate effect’.
Meanwhile, here’s the latest statement from Opera themselves:
Earlier this year Opera Interactive Technology took positive steps to improve its administration procedures and can confirm that all competition contestant entries throughout the entire competition period are now considered equally and fairly, whether handled directly by Opera Interactive Technology or by its telecommunications partners, using a randomised computer programme.
This process implemented as at 1st March 2007 has been observed and reviewed by Deloitte’s and has been successfully passed as satisfactory and in full compliance with the latest ICSTIS guidelines.
Opera has in no way benefited financially from any errors in procedure in the past and will continue to keep its processes in line with any future OFCOM or ICSTIS guidelines.
Opera Interactive Technology has today removed relevant staff from normal duties with regard to GMTV competitions pending further investigation.
The last paragraph about removing staff seems to be a bit pointless – maybe it was written before GMTV announced they’d ditched them.
What’s your mobile wallpaper?
Apr 21st
Saw this while flicking around the BBC News website earlier..
BBC NEWS | Technology | Cameraphone use impacts graphics
The popularity of cameraphones has led to a decline in the sale of wallpapers and phone graphics, a survey has found. Increasingly people are personalising their mobiles with pictures they have taken themselves rather than paying for content found analyst firm M:Metrics.
What background image have you got on your mobile? Rather sadly on my E61 I’ve still got the T-Mobile default wallpaper – the lack of a camera is probably a good reason why I haven’t changed it 
New Yorkers get their own ‘text a drink’ service
Apr 20th
Happy hour by SMS, with BuyYourFriendADrink | Webware : Cool Web apps for everyone
If you owe a friend a drink, or just want to be nice, head on over to the BYFAD Web site and fill out the form–you’ll need to have that friend’s cell phone number on hand. You can opt to give them a dollar amount between $5 and $250, and there’s a 99-cent processing fee. Then, your friend receives an e-mail and a text message alerting them of the yummy drinkable gift, along with a promotional code.
Nice! Looks similar to the Corney & Barrow BuyMeADrink service that was talked about way back in September 2006. Anyone in New York gonna give this one a go over the weekend?
ICSTIS issue £222k of fines, but let Richard and Judy off the hook?
Apr 20th
The latest adjudications are out. It’s not a great time for the premium SMS market at the moment, what with the recent shenanigans of Ekohgate and seemingly the whole TV industry ‘forgetting’ ICSTIS regulations – which lead to the recent ICSTIS review.
In this round of adjudications, premium SMS accounts for £107,000 worth of fines, with the rest being for voice and interactive TV voting related services.
Meanwhile, according to ICSTIS the articles that appeared yesterday in The Sun and the Daily Star that they’ve imposed a fine of £250k are a total pork pie, and they haven’t got that far yet.. but haven’t said they won’t be doing such a thing in the future.
ICSTIS wishes to make it absolutely clear that these reports are incorrect. The case involving the You Say, We Pay service has not yet been considered by an ICSTIS Adjudication Panel. When it is considered by that Panel, it alone will determine liability for any breaches of the ICSTIS Code of Practice and, if that was to be established, only then will it determine what sanction, if any, should be applied. The case will proceed only in accordance with proper process.
Interesting times eh?
Vodafone explains N95 crippling | The Register
Apr 20th
Vodafone explains N95 crippling | The Register
It’s been a busy few days around these parts, so we’ve kind of picked up on this a bit late. If you’ve missed it being reported on other sites, the story goes something like this.
On Wednesday this week, The Register broke the news that Orange and Vodafone are shipping Nokia N95 handsets in the UK with the VOIP capability removed. As one of the main selling points of the N95 (apart from it looks damn sexy, and does everything short of making a decent cup of tea), understandably there’s a growing backlash about what appears to be two mobile operators trying to protect their traditional voice revenue by stopping their customers using VOIP, and therefore bypassing their network.
Orange so far have said not a lot – apart from confirming they have disabled the VOIP functionality on their branded N95′s, and future VOIP-enabled handsets may – or may not – have VOIP disabled.
Vodafone, on the other hand, have said that the move was actually to protect their customers from running up unnecessarily high data bills. Uh right. Maybe they’re planning to disable the Wifi option on the N95′s too?
Trading Standards have waded into the argument, as Nokia are advertising the N95 as being VOIP-capable – but the version sold by Orange and Vodafone isn’t. Meanwhile, there’s probably someone over at the Advertising Standards Authority trying to figure out who to blame for misleading advertising.
If you’ve just bought a Vodafone or Orange-branded N95, there is a way to sort this. First, go back to the store you bought it from and shout. Very loudly. Make it clear that the lack of VOIP means your phone is useless, and you’re going to talk to the ASA, Trading Standards, Watchdog, et al, about how you feel you’ve been misled.
Second, you *could* reflash your phone to a standard Nokia version of software, instead of the operator crippled one. However, be warned – this isn’t for the faint hearted, and will most probably invalidate your warranty along the way.
If you’re a Vodafone and Orange customer finding yourself in this predicament, let me know!
BBC NEWS | Business | Blackberry reveals failure cause
Apr 20th
BBC NEWS | Business | Blackberry reveals failure cause
The maker of the Blackberry wireless e-mail device says an insufficiently tested software upgrade was the cause of this week’s network failure.
Oh dear me. Not a good day to be the person who was responsible for that upgrade! I feel totally lost without my mobile email, so I have sympathy for everyone in the US, Canada and other chunks of the world that it affected. Research In Motion (RIM) have not come up with a figure of how many people were affected, however the BBC are quoting 8 million worldwide users, so it’s pretty safe to say it was at least a few million.
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