Thoughts from the Shelf

Concluding The Shelf’s five part series featuring technology that could make it big it 2008 The Shelf examines mobile VOIP.

VoIP is a Voice Over Internet Protocol service that enables users to make voice calls across the internet. VoIP involves sending voice information in digital form in discrete packets rather than by using the traditional circuit-committed protocols of the public switched telephone network (PSTN). The major advantage of VoIP is that by using the internet telephony users can avoid the charges existing telephone networks already have in place.

In addition to IP, VoIP uses the real-time protocol (RTP) to help ensure that packets get delivered in a timely way.

VoIP has already taken of in a huge way with the help of increasing numbers of domestic broadband connections, and users are already seeing the savings VoIP can provide, especially with international calling. Big names like BT are now even incorporating VoIP calling into their broadband and call packages.

With savings already being made in the home through VoIP, challenging existing domestic telephone networks, it is only a matter of time until VoIP services trickle into mobile phone networks too. Thanks to the increasing number of handsets fitted with 3G this look a certain development in 2008.

All that is technically required for mobile VoIP is a 3G speed mobile data service, a technology is readily available in handsets currently on the market. The next stumbling block is preventing mobile networks from prohibiting VoIP mobile communication, after all they want to protect their revenue stream. The only additional hold up for mobile VoIP after this is the requirement for a soft client on the mobile handset that a customer wishes to use. Skype is one example, and recently teamed up with 3 to release the first VoIP handset.

The catch here is the VoIP calls still have to travel over a mobile network, (unless made through wireless hot-spots or the like) so whether this remains true VoIP is a question the pessimists among us may like to ask. Truephone is a good example here.

New legislation that is to be brought in will now mean motorists caught driving whilst on a mobile handset could be sent to jail for up to two years. The change in policy has come about as the altered laws involving mobiles and driving that were introduced in September are said not to have had the desired effect on motorists.

Using a mobile phones while driving was first banned in 2003, but since then thousands of drivers ignore the law each day, despite an increased £60 fine and penalty points being introduced in September.

Under the new guidelines most motorists caught using mobile handsets whilst driving will still face the increased fine and penalty points that was introduced in September. The changes however will give courts more power against anyone who has an accident whilst on their mobile, the result of which could be a dangerous driving conviction and a two year jail term.

Increased penalties do not solely apply to accidents but any driving that falls short of what is deemed safe. Sending text messages, speeding and over taking whilst on a mobile could therefore result in the increased penalties. The laws also include using Sat-Nav devices whilst driving.

Motorists who cause death on the road could additionally be prosecuted for manslaughter, a charge that carries penalties up to life imprisonment.

The change in policy comes at a time when the safety of using mobile hands free kits whilst driving has also been thrown into question, with one large transport company already banning employees from using them.

Findings from the Transport research Laboratory had suggested that driving whilst using a mobile handset could be more dangerous than drink driving. Other reports have also suggested using a mobile behind the wheel puts a drivers concentration at the same levels as the drink drive limit.

With hands free kits also being declared unsafe, it is suggested that it is actually speaking to someone not in the car themselves that is deemed distracting and is therefore dangerous.

“What we think that is to do with is that the passenger can see the traffic around you and can maybe pick up on your body language cues, and then modify the conversation accordingly.” Said Dr Nick Reed

I agree with the fact that driving whilst using a mobile phone is not only irresponsible but can impair someone’s driving ability, but to make such a stark comparison to drink driving is more a scare tactic in my opinion.

I can understand how concentration levels may temporarily drop whilst a mobile call is taken, but this is for the duration of the call, and no way does someone remain under that reduced state of awareness for anything like the length of time a driver under the influence of drugs or alcohol does.

If talking on a hands free kit is distracting, so too is talking to passengers, however I doubt the government will advise against car sharing!

Drivers who do answer a mobile whilst driving certainly do not set out on their journey with the intention of breaking the law, and it is a split second decision to answer the call. This does not justify it, but this point is intended solely to make the comparison with a driver under the influence who sets out intentionally breaking the law, knowing full well his ability to drive will be impaired for the entire duration of their journey. Yet people who do use a mobile handset could still end up with a two year jail term along side people the steal, rape and murder.

It is the culture of using electronic device behind the wheel that needs to be tackled, and with increased policing this culture would change.

“We’d like to see police on the streets taking action. The best deterrent is for a motorist to be either pulled over themselves or know someone else who has been stopped.” RAC

Unfortunately increased penalties which result in jail terms will only send otherwise law abiding members of society to an already overcrowded prison system, whilst proper criminals get increased parole, home sentencing and ASBO tracking.

A freak accident occurred this weekend which left me without the use of a mobile phone. For the past five years or so I have mulled along with my present phone provider 02 which by and large has been more than satisfactory, collecting annual handset upgrade as and when they are available to me. Thanks to my handset being rendered useless however I was now in a position where I would be paying a monthly line rental fee for the remaining 7 months without actually being able to use my included minutes. Not only this, but the thought of seven months without mobile was not an option, being that it is essentially my only point of contact.

I did have the option of claiming off my mobile insurance, but with a £20 excess and lengthy claims process, I was looking down other avenues. It was then that somebody told me of the recent trend of third party mobile operators buying existing contracts out in order to get you to switch mobile phone networks.

After hearing about this option I popped into my local Jag shop at around 5.00pm on a Saturday and was quickly approached by two sales assistants attempting to make their last sale of the day. It is worth pointing out that I am very much a sceptic with scenarios like this, and in the past have mainly sorted out similar contracts online, allowing me to make a decision somewhat impartially without the sale banter that is thrown around in store.

As the friendly formalities passed I explained my situation and was promptly passed a sequence of four handsets, the Sony Ericsson K850i, W910i, a newer Nokia offering and the Samsung U700, pretty much the latest models currently available. I hadn’t recently looked at the latest offerings but they are newer models of popular handsets that I had previously come across, including my own the Sony Ericsson W850i.

Having seven months left on my contract the next step was to make a quick call to my existing mobile network provider. Currently on a the Online 30, a £30 monthly contract providing 400 talk minutes and 1150 texts, I was offered each handset on an Orange 18 month contract at a cost of £35 providing 500 minutes and up to 3,000 text messages. How anybody could go through the required 100 text messages a day and use 3,000 texts a month however bemused me.

So the drawback so far was entering into another contract, but as mentioned I would be likely to do so in seven months time anyway. Second my existing line rental still had to be paid. The next step was informing me that I would have to downgrade my current 02 contract to the Online 20, £20 a month, and they would give me the £140 cash up front to pay the remainder of the contract.

By including an up to date handset free of charge, and £140 cash back I couldn’t help but wonder where the money was for them. The entire contract would cost £630, minus the cash back leaves £390. Take the handset that retails for £299.95 on Pay as you Go, that leaves £90 for an 18 month contract. In terms of profit for the Orange this is more likely to take around the £340 mark over the 18 months as they possibly pay £50 a handset.

This still means that I receive an enhanced package for under £18 a month, which goes to Orange and for that they have to provide 500 talk minutes and near unlimited texts on my service. If text messages are deemed free this means for every anytime talk minute included on the package Orange will receive 0.27 pence. This doesn’t seem a lot to me.

To make things even better value three months insurance and a range of handset extras are also thrown in.

Add on top my existing insured handset retails for £100, and when the eventual claim came through if sold for £50 it would be the equivalent of nearly three months free line rental. Not stopping there the figures look even further out of Orange’s favour when you consider the option of reducing my contract after 12 months to £20 in a similar fashion, and moving to another network in tweleve months being bought yet out again.

After mulling this over I did ask the shop assistants where they make their money, not that I would believe their answer but having done my fair share of sales I find it interesting to see their response to such an awkward question. The response I got was that it was better to make a little profit than nothing at all, and at the moment it is more a numbers game with a drive to get people on to Orange in the hope of contract renewals in the future as opposed to short term profits.

I am interested to gage people’s opinions and similar experiences, as even as a sceptic, this deal looks very much in favour of the consumer.

The IPhone has been a popular post topic on The Shelf, and after its launch on Friday early reports show O2 (the network who agreed the rights to sell the IPhone) could have shifted tens of thousands of units already.

With the Pay As You Go Market predicted to decline in 2008 O2 is focusing on signing customers up to contracts, and the IPhone is no exception requiring an 18 month commitment to the network.

With mixed reports on exactly how many IPhones have been sold over the opening weekend, it is hard to judge the popularity of the phone but O2 have stated that sales are in line with targets.

The Carphone warehouse, the only independent retailer to stock the phone, was apparently outsold by three to one by O2 stores.

At £289 with an 18 month contract people could be forgiven on passing on the IPhone, and could have explained the lack of queues outside stores that were a familiar sight when the IPhone was released in the states. But it seems this is not the case and O2 also expect to shift an additional 200,000 units over the Christmas and New Year period alone.

O2 expect ¾ of customers for the IPhone to come from rival networks, and with the majority of initial IPhone purchases being to customers who are new to O2 this defiantly seems possible. O2 currently are the largest UK mobile network with 17.9 million customers, and after beating off stiff competition from T-Mobile and Orange (who sell the IPhone in France and Germany) for the IPhone in the UK market, this figure seems set to only rise.

Today news broke about mobile phone network 3’s plans to release the first handset which enables mobile users to use Skype. The handset will allow users to make free calls and send texts over VOIP, but at the same time as working as a normal mobile phone.

Skype is an encrypted internet telephony system that allows for the exchange of files, and with over 9 million members is used throughout homes and offices across the country. Based on peer to peer technology Skype allows users to make calls to landlines or mobile phones for a few pence a minute from their computers.

The Skype phone mobilises this Skype technology, and although phone software is available for download, this easy to use handset should be popular among Skype users. The Skype phone will be available free of charge with monthly contract subscriptions and available for £49.99 to pay as you go customers. The mobile handset will provide 4,000 free minutes and 10,000 text messages a month free of charge.

Users will automatically be logged into internet telephony accessible via one click of the Skype button, and the VOIP contacts list will also be integrated with the normal mobile phone book too.

The Skype phone also comes with a 2 megapixel camera, bluetooth, an expandable micro SD card slot and weighs only 85g. The phone will be available from Skype and 3 shops from 2nd November.