TA Week-in-Review, 8/21/6

Podcast

TA Week-in-Review

8/21/6 MP3 6 min

News

Supreme Court sides with cities in phone tax dispute A state law changing the way local governments tax telephone services was tossed out Tuesday barely five weeks after it took effect. KansasCity.com 8/18/6 legal

Trouble in Carlyle's Paradise The private equity firm's investment in Hawaiian Telecom is proving tougher to manage than expected. BusinessWeek 8/18/6 corp

Free Wi-Fi—at a Price Plans by cities to provide low-cost wireless Internet access could crimp sales for smaller providers and may spark a wave of consolidation. BusinessWeek 8/18/6 wifi

Top 10 Municipal Wi-Fi Plans Some of the largest U.S. cities have hatched big plans for providing low-cost wireless broadband to residents. BusinessWeek 8/18/6 wifi

Citywide Wi-Fi equipment maker boosts speeds Cities using gear from Tropos to build their citywide networks could have more bandwidth capacity at their fingertips this fall. CNET 8/18/6 wifi

Call centers ramp up VoIP Though adoption hasn't climbed as swiftly as predicted, the outlook for growth is still positive, report says. CNET 8/18/6 voip

Warning: Your Wi-Fi Is Vulnerable to Attack Researchers show how hackers can take control of even encrypted Wi-Fi laptops. BusinessWeek 8/6/6 wifi

Skype intros new Wi-Fi phones Skype announced three new Wi-Fi phones that will allow people to talk over the Internet for free. CNET 8/6/6 wifi

Cablevision signs up 1 millionth phone subscriber Company is winning new phone customers as it faces increased competition from phone company Verizon. CNET 8/6/6 broadband

Study: Net telephony quality worsening While it's no secret that Net phone services don't offer the same call quality as traditional phones, a new study suggests that the quality of voice over Internet Protocol is actually getting worse. CNET 8/6/6 voip

Sprint income falls, revenue rises Sprint Nextel, the No. 3 U.S. wireless provider, said earnings fell, hurt by hefty merger charges and fewer wireless subscribers than expected. Reuters 8/6/6 wireless

U.S. broadband adoption jumps 33 percent in 2005 U.S. high-speed Internet subscriptions soared 33 percent last year to 50.2 million lines, according to the latest data released by the FCC. Reuters 8/6/6 broadband

Local VoIP numbers, international cell calls Imagine being able to use the hundreds of spare local minutes you get with your cellular plan toward international calls. CNET 8/6/6 voip

Verizon prepares for next generation of broadband Verizon has yet to finish building its FIOS network, but it's already taking steps to upgrade it to the next generation of technology, which will quadruple the amount of bandwidth capacity available to each home. CNET 8/6/6 broadband

Telecom tax imposed in 1898 finally ends Levied on wealthy Americans with phones in 1898 to help fund Spanish-American War, tax was discontinued Tuesday. CNET 8/6/6 legal

WiMAX: What it means & how it works A decent 4-minute

video from CNET that explains the basics. CNET 8/6//6 wifi

Cognigen hires channel industry veteran Rick Eberhardt theDigest.com 7/21/6 corp

Open Source Takes on Telecom Digium CEO Mark Spencer explains how he's woven freely available software into a low-priced phone system for businesses BusinessWeek 7/21/6 voip

VoIP: Quality is still a big concern With Net telephony poised to hit the mainstream, experts say issues with service quality need to be worked out. CNET 7/21/6 voip

Microsoft takes on Cisco with Nortel alliance The gloves are off as Microsoft challenges Cisco Systems in the corporate communications market. CNET 7/21/6 voip

Attack of the mobile viruses As mobile communications

become more prevalent, so does the onslaught of viruses. CNET's Robert Vamosi explains the mobile virus problem and how to prevent infection. CNET 7/21/6 wireless

The Politics of the Municipal Wi-Fi Wars municipal wi-fi internet access war video

This short 4-minute video gives a simple explanation as to why the two camps disagree about city governments providing wi-fi Internet access to citizens. ZDnet.com 7/21/6 wifi

BellSouth shareholders approve AT&T merger Shareholders OK $67 billion bid, but several groups, including the ACLU, have objections. CNET 7/21/6 corp

Wireless, Web seen driving AT&T, Verizon earnings The two telecom giants are expected to report a solid second quarter, bolstered by growth in wireless, Net subscribers. Reuters 7/21/6 corp

PC recycler cleans up Demand for PC recycling services is taking off, and PC recycling company Newmarket IT is taking on $50 million in funds to expand its operations. CNET 7/21/6 enhanced