If you perform an internet search and look for Cafe Hillel in Jerusalem, the chances are that the first few items that appear will be stories about a tragic suicide bombing that took place nearly 4 years ago, killing 7 and wounding 50.

As is the case with such incidents in Israel, the restaurant was rebuilt immediately and life continues as normally as one could expect. Cafe Hillel served as a calm refuge and communications centre during my recent visit to the area.

The cafe was my source of internet connectivity a few times over the past week or so, providing open WiFi together with one of the best lattes and iced coffees you can get (although others would argue for Tal Bagels). The service was part of the Unwire Jerusalem project.

I noticed that internet services in our hotels tended to be expensive – whether using a lobby kiosk or in-room connections. While hotels in Canada used to charge outrageous rates for internet connectivity, it has typically become an amenity here and in the US, like shampoo or soap, in part to help hoteliers move internet traffic off their dial-up PBX network.

Unlike North America, with flat rate calling for local phone calls, most other countries have metered local calling, which makes $15 per day internet seem cheap.

I found the Cafe Hillel alternative more pleasant for less money. A welcome evening stroll or $4 cab ride, a great coffee for $2.50 and a light breeze through palm trees while looking out the window at the historic German Colony.

Municipal WiFi networks are having financial problems across the US according to an AP story out this morning. I don’t think there is a one-size-fits-all solution to provide broadband access to the masses.

But, there are certainly lessons that can be learned by observing the way people consume communications services in other countries. You just need to sit back and enjoy the coffee.

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Unwire Jerusalem, Cafe Hillel, WiFi

Attention all mothers of kids on hockey teams, scouts, ballet dancers, church groups.

If your organization makes phone calls to sell tickets, run car washes, invite people to your strawberry social, you need to be aware of Telecom Public Notice 2007-15. The CRTC wants you to register and pay fees for telemarketing, even though the federal government gave a specific exemption to these kinds of calls.

I just came back from some vacation time and I couldn’t believe paragraph 9c in the Public Notice when I read it.

The Commission therefore invites parties to comment on the following:
… the Commission’s intent to establish a rule to require all telemarketers and clients of telemarketers, including those exclusively making telecommunications that are exempt from the National DNCL Rules, to register with, and provide information to, the National DNCL operator and to pay fees that may be charged by the third party who will be responsible for the investigation of Unsolicited Telecommunications Rules complaints.

Yep. Parliament exempted certain types of calls, but the CRTC is saying it intends to have exempt callers register and pay for the right to sell you cookies. The public notice is seeking comments on delegating its responsibilities for the Do Not Call List rules to the proposed Commissioner for Complaints for Telecommunications Services.

As I wrote in July, there are a number of exempt types of telemarketing calls, provided for in Parliament’s changes to the Telecommunications Act. These include unsolicited calls made on behalf of:

• registered charities;
• political parties;
• nomination contestants, leadership contestants or candidates of a political party;
• opinion firms;
• general-circulation newspapers;
• organizations that have an existing business relationship with a consumer; and
• organizations to business consumers.

Previously, it had been considered that the ‘existing business relationship’ exemption would provide a safety net for non-registered charities, such as school clubs.

If you want to comment on the CRTC’s plans, follow the Public Notice process. See Michael Geist‘s views on this subject.

When someone goes into a hardware store and buys nails, the requirement was likely to attach two pieces of wood together. There were a lot of potential solutions available and a good supplier understands how to help customers define their requirements.

A story in today’s International Herald Tribune says that there are major IPTV expansion plans to be announced in Europe this week.

Before people start jumping up and down about whether their country should lead the race, we need to focus on customer requirements.

Is IPTV a service? Is it actually one solution for a more general problem: perhaps better defined as interactive entertainment?

We prefer to remain more technology agnostic – allowing for greater flexibility and competition among competing solutions. A real challenge is in properly defiining customer requirements.

Last week, Rogers announced its new service allowing 2 numbers on one phone.

On my vacation, I noticed a number of taxi drivers with oversized mobile phones mounted on their dashboards that ring with the same number as their pocket phones.

Think about it – when you are driving, wouldn’t it be easier to have a large screen and big buttons wired into a handsfree, but keep the same familiar number when you walk around?

Which service providers: are listening to the calls for safe driving alternatives?

Newfoundland has banned the use of hand-held cell phones and you may be surprised to hear me say it isn’t a bad idea.

I’m not against driving and talking; we haven’t seen any government ban kids in the back seat. But there is a difference between just talking over your shoulder and having one less hand on the wheel.

My favourite is a neighbour with her oversized SUV, navigating in the subdivision with her knees as she has a phone in one hand, coffee in another with a cigarette dangling from her mouth. It’s an insurance claim waiting to happen.

Bluetooth has enabled a kind of universal car kit for handsfree – whether built into the car’s entertainment system, or a headset.

Mobile carriers should embrace these initiatives – it’ll take some heat off industry for the collective unsafe phone practices of some users. Besides, it can help drive accessory sales.

I’m travelling overseas this week and the entire country has required handsfree kits if they drive. It hasn’t hurt mobile sales – the country has well over 100% cell phone penetration. .

Maybe the next step is a combination universal charger and hands free kit. I vote for mini-USB as the standard.