New Service Lets MDU Residents Choose Digital and Bundled Service Providers

Broadband National’s new “MDU Module” enables property managers to provide unbiased information and access to Internet, television, digital phone, rental insurance, home security and more

Broadband National, Inc., the leading ecommerce platform promoting digital services and products, today announced a new application focused on the 20 percent of U.S. households that move annually. The new “MDU Module” is a turn-key application that allows owners and management companies of multi-dwelling units (MDUs) to offer residents a seamless process to order services that are typically required when moving into a new apartment or condominium. The company’s MDU Module will provide the millions of Americans living in apartments and other multiple dwelling units with access to the largest selection of services backed by an unbiased, unified comparison and ordering experience.

The announcement comes on the heels of a recent Federal Communications Commission (FCC) Report and Order which makes exclusive deals between network operators and the owners of MDUs illegal. The Broadband National offering addresses this new freedom of choice by enabling owners and managers of MDUs to provide their residents with unbiased information and access to a number of digital services including Internet, cable and satellite television, and digital telephone. Owners and managers will also have the flexibility to customize the module to offer additional services, such as renters’ insurance, security systems, appliance and furniture leases, grocery delivery services and more.

“The MDU Module was designed to help property owners and managers not only remain in compliance with the FCC ruling, but also to streamline their own operations while enabling their residents to conveniently choose the best available services in their area,” said Vinny Olmstead, president and CEO of Broadband National. “The offering truly enables MDU managers to become a trusted, one-stop resource for their residents by leveraging Broadband National’s insight and access to thousands of service options.”

Several top real estate management companies have already selected the Broadband National Module to deliver this new level of convenience to residents at properties across the country. The service is scheduled for general availability in Q1 2008. For more information, contact Mark Weibel at (772) 316-1007.

About Broadband National, Inc.

Broadband National is a leading online ecommerce platform that enables consumer and business users to research, compare, and purchase services such as high speed Internet, television, gaming, VoIP, photo sharing, videos, home security, and more on its proprietary IBIS software. Advertisers such as Comcast, AT&T, D-Link, Panasonic, and DIRECTV use the highly configurable and flexible platform to promote services in a convenient, customer-friendly format. The IBIS platform powers more than 1,000 websites and is also leased to many Fortune 500 companies enabling them to monetize online, call center, and in-store traffic. For more information please visit www.broadbandnational.com.

Verizon Donates $60,000 and Free Calling Services to Aid Victims of Southern California Wildfires

Verizon Helps Keep Evacuees, Responders Connected During Crisis

Verizon is stepping up with a $60,000 grant to assist Southern Californians forced from their homes amid devastating wildfires that have swept across the region.

Verizon is also providing evacuees with a range of free calling services - from cell phones to automatic call-forwarding - to help them stay connected during the natural disaster. "Ourhttp://www.blogger.com/img/gl.link.gif neighbors are in trouble and we want to help," said Verizon West Region President Tim McCallion. "Communicating in times of crisis is critical, and obviously many people need food, shelter and other basic necessities. We are providing an array of financial and operational support to those who have been displaced by these devastating fires, and we intend to help make the homeowners, business owners and relief workers' lives a little easier during this very trying time."

The Verizon Foundation will donate $60,000 to the American Red Cross for fire victims, with the grant to be divided equally among the Los Angeles, San Bernardino, San Diego and Riverside county chapters of the Red Cross.

Phones Aren't Safe Either, Hackers Say

By Marty graham October 21, 2007

Hacking VoIP is easy, says John Kindervag, and it gets you well past the phone. Using penetration tests propounded by a tool called VoIP Hopper, he and partner Jason Ostrom got well past the phone into the corporate systems that support it from hotel rooms, corporate offices and so on.

“The whole catalyst behing VoIP Hopper is we were in a hotel room with a Cisco phone,” Ostrom says. “We were (able to get) into the (hotel's) corporate network and got access to their financial and corporate network and recorded other phone calls.”

Click here for the entire story.

Does VoIP Make It Easier For Scammers?

By, Deb Shinder

If you’re considering switching from the traditional public switched telephone network (PSTN) service to VoIP, you might be wondering whether the change will make you more vulnerable to scammers, help protect you from common scams, or not make much difference at all.

Con games are about as old as human history; there will always be people around who attempt to use deception to persuade others to do something — often, to give them money or something else of value. In today’s electronic world, that something else may be passwords used to access various accounts at financial institutions, etc., or it might be credit card numbers and similar information used to obtain goods and charge them to someone else.

Most jurisdictions have fairly broad laws against fraud that cover both in-person and online scams, and many are now enacting legislation to deal specifically with the types of fraudulent schemes commonly perpehttp://www.blogger.com/img/gl.link.giftrated over the Internet. How much of a threat is VoIP? Let’s take a look. Click here for the entire story.

New worm hits Skype

A new worm has hit the internet and is being delivered in the form of an instant message on the popular internet phone service Skype.

The worm accesses the host PC by utilizing Skype's application programming interface and then deactivates any security software before proceeding to mail itself to people on the victim's Skype list. It then starts accessing any passwords or personal information on the infected computer.

The instant-message chat invitation the worm is concealed in, reads: "Hey, where I put ur photo ;-) now u populr. oops sorry please dont look there. look what crazy photo Tiffany sent me, looks cool." Finnish security software company F-Secure has dubbed the worm W32/Skipi.A. Symantec meanwhile is calling it W32.Pykspa.D.

The company claims that the worm is one of a new family called Pykspa which have been surfacing recently in various forms on the internet. On August 16th this year the Skype network went down for the first time, due to millions of users rebooting their PCs at the same time following a Microsoft security update.

CyberData Introduces New VoIP Zone Controller, 4-Port Audio-Out

CyberData Corporation announced the release of its new VoIP Zone Controller, 4-Port Audio-Out. The Zone Controller is a SIP-endpoint that enables access to analog paging speakers through a VoIP phone system. Each of the 4 audio outputs is designed to interface with a standard analog paging amplifier. The zone control function is set up through its web interface and offers up to 15 programmable paging zone groups in addition to page-all.

"The zone controller allows for a cost effective migration from legacy phone systems to VoIP, utilizing existing analog paging systems," said Phillip Lembo, President of CyberData Corporation, "while saving installers and end users time and resources due to its ease of installation and its flexibility when configuring paging zone groups."

The CyberData's VoIP Zone Controller is scheduled for release on September 21, 2007 and can be purchased from a variety of distributors and resellers. Please visit CyberData's website for details.

The new VoIP Zone Controller, 4-Port Audio-Out will be on display at the Internet Telephony Conference & EXPO West 2007, September 10-12, 2007, booth 241, at the Los Angeles Convention Center in Los Angeles, California.

Businesses Fail To Secure Wireless

Businesses fail to secure wireless

Though wireless technology is in use by most businesses, many neglect to secure their wireless technology, a new survey from the National Computing Center (NCC) has found.

A full 40 percent of the businesses surveyed admitted that their wireless networks were either only partly secured or not secure at all. In addition, many companies have not secured their VoIP networks and are unaware of the security weakness posed by using USB devices. Stefan Foster, NCC managing director said: "Running unsecured Wi-Fi is like locking the front door, but leaving the windows open.

"Fraudsters are increasingly targeting IT systems and the growing use of Wi-Fi is attracting their attention both inside and outside of the office environment." The NCC survey also found that of the businesses who have VoIP, only 15 percent have bothered to secure their network.

Meanwhile, a recent survey carried out by Trend Micro revealed that mobile workers pay less attention to internet security than those who operate from an office.

Comcast Self-Install VoIP Kits Launching within six months...

11:37AM Tuesday Sep 04 2007

Comcast is now offering self-install VoIP voice kits, and is testing self-install wireless phone VoIP kits in San Francisco, with launch expected in Boston, Denver and Philadelphia within six months. The switch should drastically reduce Comcast VoIP install costs, giving them a leg up in the triple-play battle with phone operators.

Verizon incurs $880 on average per customer to get TV installed. While Comcast added 671,000 VoIP customers last quarter, Verizon lost 723,000 landline customers while adding 167,000 TV customers. "Comcast tentatively plans to charge customers $250 for three cordless phones that link to their cable modems. The total time from opening the box to getting a dial tone is 30 minutes or less, Avgiris said. "It's for the customer who says, 'I want the service, and I want it now,'" said Avgiris."

Comcast VoIP is exploding -- the company added three million VoIP customers in just two years, quickly becoming the nation's largest VoIP operator.

The company has had to hire 12,000 people in the past year and a half to help manage VoIP demand, and will spend $450 million adding telephone customers in 2008.

Free VoIP Phone Calls Await Small Businesses.

A small VoIP vendor Fonality has announced a product that allows small to medium sized business to make free VoIP phone calls. The free software known as Trixbox Pro by Fonality Inc. and supports up to 20 employees that runs on nearly any PC and nearly all telephones. Click here for the story in PCWorld.

VoIP Outages Anger Users

Voip grows in popularity as prices continue to drop vs. traditional phone services. But if you have ever been the victim of an outage you know how frustrating it can be. Last month VoIP provider SunRocket closed their doors and shut off their service to 200,000 subscribers.

That's when a company called TeleBlend stepped in and with the help of various carriers are working to restore service to the old SunRocket customers. But SunRocket left such a mess of their company that it seems TeleBlend is having a difficult time maintaining service. On August 8, they had a disruption in their service, but are working with IP networking company Global Crossing and ex SunRocket customers who are the ones most affected. Click here for the full story.

DIRECTV Partners With CURRENT Group To Enable Broadband And VoIP Services

DIRECTV Partners With CURRENT Group To Enable Broadband And VoIP Services to Its Customers

DIRECTV, Inc. and CURRENT Group announced today a wholesale distribution agreement that will enable DIRECTV to offer its customers CURRENT's innovative BPL (Broadband Over Powerline) high-speed Internet service and VoIP services at the end of 2007/beginning of 2008. DIRECTV customers will be able to access the Internet by plugging a BPL modem into virtually any outlet in their home. This easy-to-use symmetrical service can send data faster than the typical cable modem service in use today. The increased upload speed is particularly important as users rely on greater
speeds to play interactive games or send significant volumes of digital content through the Internet.

Under the terms of the agreement, DIRECTV will have access to CURRENT's BPL network, initially in the Dallas/Fort Worth BPL network that will cover approximately 1.8 million homes and businesses over the next several years. DIRECTV will be able to market a bundle that includes DIRECTV high-speed Internet and VoIP services to its residential customers. In addition, the agreement provides DIRECTV the ability to add other geographic markets as CURRENT builds out its network. CURRENT's BPL network enables both Broadband services and Smart Grid solutions designed to improve efficiency and reliability while reducing the environmental impact of electric service.

"We are pleased to partner with DIRECTV to offer them the ability to bundle their world-renowned satellite video services together with BPL high- speed Internet and VoIP services," said Tom Casey, CURRENT's chief executive officer. "Consumers in Dallas will have a compelling new choice for their broadband service and, at the same time, feel good about the fact that the same Internet network is helping to improve the efficiency and reliability of the electric grid while reducing its environmental impact."

"Our agreement with CURRENT gives our customers another high-quality, easy-to-use option to pair broadband services with DIRECTV's video offerings," said Evan Grayer, vice president of Broadband for DIRECTV. "By choosing this bundled option, DIRECTV customers will now be able to enjoy fast, reliable and secure high-speed Internet service anywhere they have a power outlet in their homes."