Telecom Trends

Anyone else get extra telemarketing calls on the Canada Day holiday - from companies that probably knew more people would be at home?

Here is an idea to help stop unwanted calls from duct cleaners who are ignoring the do not call list.

Just say "yes" to the call centre. Don't provide any payment info. Schedule an appointment.

Have the crew show up and then turn them away at the door. After all, you couldn't have booked an appointment, because they couldn't have called you in the first place.

Increase their cost of doing business and maybe then they will get the message.

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Update [July 3, 12:30 pm]
One of my legal advisors cautions against today's suggestions. As satisfying as this may seem, he warns that lawn care companies may do the service first and then hassle you for the rest of your life trying to collect. Others may hit you for a service call and again create a collection nightmare.

So, please be careful. Consider this to be the fine print warning on the ad.

Next week, the CRTC's hearings into ISP network management practices opens.

Dave Caputo had a great set of animations to illustrate the challenges in operating a network that delivers fair usage to its subscribers.

The graphics used the highway metaphor for the 'net, but he described the impact of a truck that suddenly got to be four lanes wide, consuming all the capacity that was available to it.

The percentage of the total highway capacity that is used by the truck wasn't relevant; the issue was the behaviour of the truck that didn't restrict it to stick to its own lane. Adding more lanes wouldn't relieve congestion. It would simply allow the truck to expand even wider.

That is how peer-to-peer file transfer applications work. By design, they expand to consume all the capacity that is made available. The analyses that look at peer-to-peer as a percentage of total traffic tend to ignore the behaviour of the applications.

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net neutrality

Happy Canada Day! Summer schedule for this blog begins this week.

Blog traffic is already down a little as many of you start to enjoy some vacation time. I have set up my northern office. I'll continue to post a few times a week - and between time toiling at the keyboard and time on the water, if I happen to land that elusive pike, I'll provide a photo.

The challenge will be figuring out a connection between the picture and telecom policy.

Keep those cards and letters coming.

The State of Brandenburg has announced that it will include satellite broadband services from Eutelsat as part of its "Broadband supply for rural areas" programme. The objective is to bridge the digital divide in the German state by the end of 2009.

Minister President Matthias Platzeck made the announcement last week at an information event on broadband:

The broadband initiative of the Government that aims to reduce to the minimum all remaining white spots once again demonstrates that no region or community in Brandenburg will be left behind.

As I have written many times before, in Canada, Barrett Xplore has continued to invest in bringing next generation satellite broadband services to complement the reach of its fixed wireless services in rural Canada.

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Barrett Xplore, satellite

Canada's Telecom Hall of Fame has announced this year's laureates, to be inducted at its November 4 gala dinner in Ottawa.

This year's class includes 2 cable TV pioneers among the 5 individuals to be honoured.

Hall of Fame director Lorne Abugov said:

For a fifth straight year, we are proud and thrilled to shine a spotlight - this year more of a coastal beacon - on outstanding Canadian telecom achievers and achievements

The inductees are:

• André Chagnon, the founder of Quebec cable giant, Vidéotron, not only propelled the company into international success but was also first brought interactivity to cable TV service in the early 1990s.
• Israel (Sruki) Switzer is widely regarded as the most knowledgeable cable technology engineer Canada has produced, provided leadership and advocacy in the development of concepts and practices that advanced the cable television industry and inspired other great Canadian broadcast entrepreneurs.
• Colin A. Franklin advanced Canada’s early global leadership in satellite communications as chief electrical engineer for Canada's first satellite programme, the Alouette 1.
• Francis Fox helped pioneer the introduction of cellular wireless telephony in this country when he, as Minister of Communications, made the historic 1983 decision to issue cellular radiocommunication licences.
• the late Donald A. Chisholm has been hailed as the 'Father of the Digital World', the Bell Northern Research digital switching initiative of the mid-1970s that ranks as one of the boldest and most successful technology advances in telecommunications technology of the 20th Century.

In addition, the Hall of Fame will recognize the two small coastal communities of Heart's Content, Newfoundland and Bamfield, British Columbia that for decades were Canada’s international telecommunications gateways to the world - the original landing sites of Canada’s first Atlantic and Pacific trans-oceanic submarine telegraph cables.

I encourage you to visit the Telecom Hall of Fame website and tour the virtual hall of fame. You can find additional background information about the laureates here.

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Telecom Hall of Fame

Some folks are apparently upset that Rogers is inserting an information frame onto the top of some users' web browsers. It is an added frame to let users know that their usage is bumping up close to the maximum under their plan or to let the user know that their old anti-virus software is about to expire.

How would you tell your customers that there is about to be a problem? With 1.6M internet subscribers, the alternative is to wait for tens of thousands of extra calls to the call centre after people get sticker shock from the extra usage charges or call technical support to find out why their free software isn't working.

It is hardly a case of interfering with the webpage. From what I have seen, the message is directly associated with important information about the customer's internet access service. Maybe the market research was correct that Rogers has found an acceptable and effective way to target those using its services?

Just like when the issue first arose in late 2007, this latest kerfuffle is much ado about nothing.