Tonight was one of the rare occasions to play with all these beauties at once. Will spare you of too much introductory stuff and jump right into the testing results.

[+] click picture to enlarge

Toys in test:
1. Reference RDS/RCS 1Mbit cable connection via 54Mb WiFi - http://www.rdsnet.ro/
2. Vodafone 3G/HSDPA 3.6Mbs Huawei USB ‘SmartModem’ - http://www.vodafone.ro/ [product page link]
3. Orange 3G/HSDPA 3.6Mbs Option ICON II USB Modem - http://www.orange.ro/ [product page link]
4. Zapp Mobile 2.4Mbs Z010 CDMA 1xEV-DO wireless modem http://www.zapp.ro/ [product page link]

Testing machine and area:
1.83Ghz Core 2 Duo 2GB RAM Apple Macbook with a/b/g/n - enabled Airport WiFi card.
All tests were performed in a residential area in Bucharest, RO. Time 11:00ish PM. Moderate network loads.
Additional testing was performed on a WinXP Dell 1.6Ghz Core2Duo machine. Performance obtained was about 30% lower!!

Testing on:
- Local (short path) download - Zapp data driver library
Test file - Software image WL-500gx - Deluxe (v 2.1) - 1x/EV-DO [3.20MB]

- External (overseas) download - Revision3 / Diggnation
Test file - diggnation–0108–2007-07-26multipass–large.h264.mov [108MB]

- Ping to google.com

Without further ado, the results:

============================================

The control RDS cable connection needs no introduction or explanations. It performed as expected, capping out at the 1Mbs mark. Response times were great -inline with expectations- but maybe reported a tad lower as the WiFi router adds its own slowdown. This said, here are the screenshots.
Short path:

Overseas:

— google.com ping statistics —
12 packets transmitted, 12 packets received, 0% packet loss
round-trip min/avg/max/stddev = 67.475/68.679/71.692/1.056 ms

============================================

The Vodafone HSDPA SmartModem. I had a really good experience using this modem with speeds in excess of 300KBs (3-4Mbs). Unfortunately I was unable to replicate the performance tonight. Granted, and this goes for the other two players, the quality of the link, signal strength, network load and cell performance affect the max speeds attainable. Vodafone RO provides 3G+ (HSDPA) 3.6Mbs service in major cities and a guaranteed minimum of 1.4Mbs. What I managed to get was a not-so-flashy minimum with an excellent signal strength.
The proof-
Short path:

External:

— google.com ping statistics —
12 packets transmitted, 11 packets received, 8% packet loss
round-trip min/avg/max/stddev = 278.274/313.286/609.070/93.856 ms

Notes: The application (Vodafone Mobile Connect for Mac) needs to be downloaded from the VF website. It weights around 15MB and it’s fairly easy to install and use. The drawback is that an additional “Activate” click has to be performed in order to enable the connection in the pref pane. The link is pushed through a VF APN proxy that strongly compresses the traffic (esp JPG images). That adds a certain lag and forbids use of some web bandwidth testing apps.
VMC:

[+] click to enlarge

============================================

Orange touts a fresh 3.6Mbs capability in its network. Although generally slower compared to Vodafone, with a poorer link quality, the very ugly Option modem has performed on par (if not a tad better) with its competitor. Here is the proof:
Short path:

And overseas:

— google.com ping statistics —
12 packets transmitted, 12 packets received, 0% packet loss
round-trip min/avg/max/stddev = 267.750/283.606/298.381/8.540 ms

Notes: Orange has performed notably better than VF in the response time test, with almost half the average round-trip time. Great news for VoIP applications. Its Mac application I had to request at Orange Customer Service and was later forwarded in an email. The whole process took around 10 minutes. GlobeTrotter Connect weighs around 2MB and is spartan. It required a restart (not typical for OSX) to work without asking for one. The traffic is also routed through a proxy but optimization is only provided through separate APN.
Orange took no pride in customizing the packaging of their modem, sign of eagerness to take it to the market. More so, the documentation has Mac screenshots of an app you expect to find in the package but can only get separately, on request.
Not so cool!
The app:

[+] click to enlarge

============================================

Zapp…oh Zapp…used to rock when its antenna was in good shape. Anything between 1.4Mbs and 2.0Mbs was possible. It’s generally a connection that can handle many streams at a time without degrading the ongoing transfers. It scales in an intelligent way. Plus, unlike Vodafone and Orange, the connection is direct without a pass trough a proxy for compression.
On the short path the Z010 would usually do 150KBs and on the diggnation file it would normally fly at a sustainable 180KBs!
I’ll add the screenshots though, but with a big fat disclaimer: this is not how a *healthy* Zapp modem performs!
Local (their own freakin servers):

A la longue:

— google.com ping statistics —
12 packets transmitted, 12 packets received, 0% packet loss
round-trip min/avg/max/stddev = 254.470/386.584/1362.356/296.632 ms

Notes: It breaks my heart to bash Zapp so badly after serving me 140ishKbs downloads for years in times when Orange/Vodafone only had shitty EDGE (150ishMbs) with this poor performance due to the faulty modem. Yet I think the ping results are relevant, the Z010 still doing good at 254.470 minimum round-trip time! Mkay… we have some spoilers here as I knew what to expect of some modems in test. Also sadly reporting that the CDMA modem was only here for a broader image of the competing technologies, less for actual results. It’s had a long service life feeding my mobile lifestyle and unfortunately it has the antenna bruised, which translates in very poor reception - read performance!
The Z010 needs no drivers for Mac running OSX, a compatible driver already rests in the OS’s library. With the connection set up in the pref pane, call is initiated in 2 clicks and established in less than 3 seconds! No other apps involved! Sweet!
Unfortunately the Z010 is no longer offered by Zapp but can be purchased by special request. It features a battery of its own that improves overall performance and lowers the drain on the notebook battery. It also has a b/w LCD screen that displays data such as signal strength, time/date and battery level. SMS can also be received on the device.

============================================

The conclusion is optional for a buying decision. Both Orange and Vodafone do well in normal-real life tests! Both offers are compelling, reasonably and approachable priced for near-unlimited traffic (8GB/month). Both modems come free with subscription and are both Mac and PC compatible. If on the PC counterpart the modems have PnP installation - the drivers are stored on the modems themselves - you’ll have a little more trouble getting them for your Mac. Be advised! Request those drivers before you are on the road and need further internet access! :)

Not surprisingly, both modems do shitty jobs on Bill Gates-flavoured machines. With Orange capping downloads at around 85KBs I went no further testing and lit up the Mac. And there numbers started looking like the ones on the marketing fliers. ;)

Overall brief: sexiness/performance/ergonomic; grades from 1-5

Vodafone 3G/HSDPA SmartModem: 5 / 3 / 4
Orange 3G/HSDPA Option ICON II USB Modem: 1 / 3 / 3
Zapp Z010 CDMA 1xEV-DO: 3 / 4 / 3

===== 5 cigarettes were smoked during the making of this review. please do not try this at home. smoking is bad for your health!! =====

No intro, no closing bells, just a really illuminating talk I had with Mike Puchol (Whisher.com co-founder) and Chad (AustinTX of elfonblog.fondoo.net), a WiF pod regular. They were really nippy about recording but I was really lazy about editing and posting. Sorry guys!

We discussed topics ranging from Apple to Fon and Gizmo Project. Then, in Part 2, Chad and Mike went on their own bragging their thorough knowledge of wireless tech. Worth listening to! Big time!
We had fun and I’m sure you will too. :)

Get the topics here: Podcast.txt

Download MP3: WiF podcast / 1 of 2 for April 9th ‘07
(running time 25:50)

Download MP3: WiF podcast / 2 of 2
(running time 49:35)

Update: Yeah, the audio feed doesn’t really work (hey Feedburner, thanx!) like snooz_bar pointed out in the comments. If you don’t mind doing this the old fashioned “Save as..” way until I get to the bottom of it we’d be really happy.

Yesterday Skype announced a new update for Skype Beta. It contains the usual bug fixes, and a brand new feature: Skype Prime Beta.

Skype Prime enables paid Skype-to-Skype calls and video calls, in order for experts to be able to gain some revenue from their expertise. It works like a normal free-call at the beginning, and when the “expert” decides he can ask for a “payment request” from the caller, one time fee, or a minute based fee. Everything sounds great so far, not depending on borders anymore to make paid calls to experts, but it has a few drawbacks. First of all, Skype charges 30% from the revenue, so a person who has enabled Skype Prime Beta for his expertise, and stays 100 minutes on the line with a $1 fee per minute will end up with about $70 in his pocket, the rest goes to Skype, and that only if he resides in a country which is covered by PayPal, because you cannot use Skype Prime if you don’t have a PayPal account.

Another thing that comes to mind, are certain people who would just love to use this in a different way. Yes, You’re thinking what I’m thinking, sex calls, video chat, and so on. Is someone at Skype going to monitor that? If yes, where is the privacy between a lawyer who wants to share his expertise through Skype Prime and his customers? lots of questions come to mind right about now.

TechCrunch reported this, and the original announcement is here.

Panasonic is trying to get the attention of all Skype users with the new KX-WP1050 Wi-Fi phone which allows the user to move around the house without worrying about missed calls. Or make and receive calls in a public hotspot, which doesn’t require browser authentication. Although the price is rather astonishing $399.95, the KX-WP1050 includes a cordless handset with an integrated 1.8-inch LCD display for displaying Skype contact lists, call histories, address books, and other elements of the phone interface.
The KX-WP1050 is compatible with free Skype-to-Skype calling, and is capable of placing and receiving calls with normal landlines and mobile phones using SkypeIn and SkypeOut. Still not very convinced that spending $400 on this phone it`s a good deal? Well, maybe the wireless base station, which automatically connects to the handset using 256-bit AES encryption (WPA) so no one can drop in on your calls will give you an answer. Anywhere users can get a broadband connection—whether via Ethernet or 802.11b/g Wi-Fi, using DHCP, PPPoE, or a static IP address—users can guarantee their calls are secure.
The design is not that great (as a matter of fact it’s ugly as hell), the orange buttons and the big round one that controls the menu makes you look at it as if it where for kids, and it`s rather large, but the big display adds a plus to the whole look. The little case for all of them is a little impressive and will sure convince many undecided people.
This new model offers the range and security of WPA encrypted Wi-Fi technology, as well as Quality of Service (QoS) to improve voice quality.

Getting a job in the Internet era is trivial if you’re serious about your skills and really want to go the next mile. It’s a personal matter to choose fun over paycheck, relocation over your home town or country, alternative crew or 9-5 army. Since I deal with the following companies in various ways, I’ve settled on which I’d say yes or no to if they made me an offer I couldn’t refuse. Not all of them are in the wireless field, but they are all Internet players.

The beloved-

1. Skype, because they preserve identity and stimulate individual development, while managing to hold a functional team. Plus, working for Skype is fun.
2. Moo, because they use Macs, are innovative and have a good sense of humor.
3. Meraki, because they’re still young and I could get there in time to make them work.
4. Apple Inc., only if i took Steve’s job. It’s the only decent/thrilling job in Cupertino.
5. A Chinese OEM. I bet that’s fun! :)

The ‘no so much’-

1. Google, because they’re big and matte. Individual identity? What’s that?? So what if they pay, give you free candy and loundry? The paycheck should cover that plenty anyway.
2. Yahoo!, oh no! These guys have lost touch with the 21st century realm.
3. T-Mobile, too big and slow moving, lost in the incumbment’s junkyard. I’d say yes only if they gave me an innovation team to work with and took us seriously.
4. Fon, because they’re only cool on paper. I’m into really changing the WiFi world!
5. Cisco, because only the Japs know the secret of the do-it-all company.
#. Dell, nope! Don’t ask!
#. Boingo. Nope! Innovation??? Ring a bell?
#. Vodafone and the like. No way! Clock tickin for you guys! ;)

I’m off to my favorite caffe downtown to sip on a latte! Which employer would let me out of the cubicle before 5pm?

Update:

I knew my friend Dennis of wirelessjobs.com, senior recruiter at T-Mobile USA will have a word against my “uncool employer” tag next to T-Mo’s name. :)
I give him that! Plus, he makes my point shake further by touting a 4PM out-of-the-office Latte! But still, have any of you ever used T-Mobile hotspots in airports or caffes around the world? Don’t you just hate those hours you have to keep an eye on the bill instead of staying productive or simply relaxing online? Yeah, WiFi should be free! Or nearly! Not 8 Euros an hour ($6 in the US)! I just love Budapest’s Feriheghy Airport where there’s a T-Mo hotspot and a *free* Pannon aside! :)
Since Fon wants to place a router next to every Starbucks in the US I fear T-Mobile has to figgure out something else for their WiFi branch. I haven’t seen a counter-move on their behalf, the one and only reason I placed them in the “not so much” section of my picks list.

Off the record, Dennis: make me an offer I can’t refuse and I’ll prolly say yes! :) But make sure we fix that 20th century pricing. This is 2007!

Host: Dan, lead WiF-er
Guest: Chad (AustinTX), lead Fonero poster on the Fon.com boards

Dan discusses FON and Whisher with AustinTX on this first WiF podcast. It’s rather experimental, humble and may have hickups. One will find there’s a lot of room for improvement, but as that comes with time, let me see your support by at least bearing with this release episode :)
Dan also has to stop recording at night and sleep more!

Running time: precisely 28:03
Download MP3 file (about 25.7MB) mirrored here.

We learn via Slashdot and WirelessJobs.com that Skype has asked FCC to force mobile carriers to open up their networks to other players.
“Skype essentially wants to turn the wireless phone companies into just another network of the kind currently operated on the ground.” the guys at Slashdot explain.
That is obviously bad bad bad baaaad news for those big fellows that run BSs (base stations, that is) as they think they’ll keep those business models forever, until humankind takes over Mars, Jupiter and maybe even half of Andromeda.
Sure, Skype wants to expand the business and jump on the low cost computer to mobile train.
If their lobby does not derail, the secret will probably unveil to be discovered as one of the biggest MVNOs (Mobile Virtual Network Operator) out there. Let’s evaluate what they did so far:

- managed to open up their calls to most land/mobile lines worldwide through Skype Out service
- effectively jumped over the 500 million downloads mark
- expanded services to provide incoming calls like if they were to fixed local number
- enabled SMS to most GSM / CDMA carriers
- signed with and funded one of the most courageous WiFi sharing initiatives, Fon.com to enhance mobile wireless use of their service
- and now this, the path to having their own mobile service! Read on, we explain why this is big!

Basically they took all the steps to act like a genuine operator, only without their own net. The next step is to change all that in a way that incumbment competition can no longer block Skype’s take off!

Should the trick work we expect Skype to become world’s largest MVNO, with the power to use existant mobile nets for their service only. Why is it big? Because if they make it they’ll tickle the net neutrality bill and make sure those incumbents don’t have fun blocking Skype’s service !
We’re great fans of net neutrality and alternative services so we’ll have to vote for this.
But watch out for that monopoly this promises! Just a thought… :)

I got invited to try it out. Since it’s been widely covered I’ll spare you the trivia.
More so, it’s not even the kind of app to be run on hotspots due to above-average network and internet bandwidth it requires. Not less newsworthy is the fact that some hotspot settings, even much of our own, block some ports required by the new TV venture to run. Joost is not really *the* wireless if fun staff pick killer app, but I’ve come to value the concept a whole lot. Here’s why!I’m mainly a Mac user. A PowerPC G4 user, that is. So I couldn’t have a Mac experience with Joost yet. A limited beta release for Intel Macs was internally made available and there’s hope for the rest of us using old chips. I’ve been confined to go back to Windows to be able to get the feel of Joost. That was a huge effort for me as I haven’t come close to a PC box for casual use in more than a year, without even missing the old buggy XP.

The fact of the matter is that Joost is not so much a player, but an advanced streaming technology base on peers (something you’ve seen at Skype). That’s brilliant and is the genius behind the scenes, making it all run smoothly. It’s common sense, you’d say, to have P2P A/V when you read the specs sheet. But up until now there’s no other major league in prime-time other than these guys! It has been a rather overwhelming experience using the software because it’s one of those new things that like to have an all new approach. The learning curve is kind of steep even for a power user, fact that gave me some ideas.

Having been loured and mesmerized by Apple’s Front Row I can’t stop thinking how it would be if the two, FR and Joost, would be integrated. This is because I like the simple FR interface and the technology behind Joost.
It’s hardly unlikely that we’ll have, even in some foggy future, a venture of this kind. Of course, if Joost was only one of the scroll options under Videos in FrontRow, they’d fear getting lost in blurry waters. Which is acceptable to say the least.

It’s all beta and seeking a course. I suppose we could change and shape Joost to make it more of what we want it to be, rather than leaving it to the decisions of the developers. Sometimes entrepreneurs have great ideas but implement them badly. With all those good intentions, it’s the consumers that buy or ditch.

Joost is great! So you do want to consider it and give it a try! They have a “signup” section for beta on their site.
You could also wait for us to get some tokens as we’ll share them with you.

I will send Joost invites to the first people who post a comment here!
Remember, you can never know how many tokens Joost will award me with, so I can guarantee no numbers.

Remember “Skype, take a deep breath! You’re dead” we published a couple of weeks ago on their new pricing? We should have said “Take a deeper breath” because of new startups out there representing compelling competition. Our readers asked us about those companies and we went researching. But voip-news.com just published a list of 25 alternatives to Skype, making it a hell of a lot easier for us.

HP’s latest iPaq, 510 Voice Messenger, is a radical design for a traditional Hewlett Packard smartphone. Conservative power users might instantly drop the cash at the counter because it’s conventional candy bar body. To be honest, we’re really into the design and most loured by the features like the new Windows Mobile 6, quadband GSM / EDGE, a 220 x 176 display, 128MB ROM and 64MB RAM, microSD expansion, Bluetooth 1.2, the very power effective 200MHz OMAP850 EDGE and duuh built-in WiFi.

Looked at it and said “That will be my new Skype phone!”
Only that it won’t be able to run it! Skype for Windows Mobile, with over 6 million downloads, already runs well on TIOMAPs but currently only ARM9 (v5 instruction set) devices are supported. Furthermore, the new VoIP layer added in WinMobile6 it’s not going to make things softer for the awarded application as it’s been designed to differently handle audio.
It may run however, experts say, with some later ROM upgrades.

Myria from pagetable.com tells us that Skype Reads Your BIOS and Motherboard Serial Number

What happens, is that they use a protected executable file to dump the BIOS POST data, feed it to the client installed on your computer and then probably call back home with this info. What they use it for, and why they are doing that, is still unknown, and the blogosphere will buzz about this until an official press release from Skype will surface. Probably nobody would have figured this out if it wasn’t for Skype omitting to think about all the 64bit processors out there, not compatible with their code.

This seems to be another big screw up from the Skype team, and will surely make all reverse engineering fans try to take a look at *everything* Skype does while running on their computers.

Read more about it at: Skype Reads Your BIOS and Motherboard Serial Number

Follow up: As expected, Skype came up with a plausible explanation for reading your computer’s BIOS POST data with a protected executable. According to them, it’s a thingie that will help them lock their plugins to a computer by embedding the motherboard’s “public” serial number. I use quotes when I say public because they used a “public query to the BIOS” but if it’s that public, why is it hidden? and why don’t they do it when you’re installing your newly acquired plugin from Skype, instead of sending it back home? Apparently, the last build available for download from Skype does not include reading your BIOS POST data anymore. Well, let’s see what the users think about this.

But no matter how you put it, reading of such sensitive data broke Skype’s commitment “Skype is free of Adware, Spyware and Malware” and by their definition:

What is Spyware?
“Spyware relates to software that becomes installed on computer without the informed consent or knowledge of the computer’s owner and covertly transmits or receives data to or from a remote host. For example, spyware may monitor a user’s behaviour and pass on details of a user’s activity (for example their user names or passwords) to a third party.”
Skype’s announcement was made on their Security Blog.

Now we were curious who EasyBits are and followed a few Google leads. We ran over this page for a product called Skypito. I wanted to reproduce some stuff here about their service and privacy policy but it’s a big NO NO! :) Just go there and check it yourselves. The page is 70% “Privacy Policy” and “Legal Notice”. Since I can’t replicate any copyright protected information on that page I’ll have to let you read it. Nevertheless, I know we don’t like any application that phones, even in a way that’s not personally identifiable, critical system data to a given server.

About a month ago Skype quietly announced a new pricing policy to be effective starting Jan18th. Nobody really knew anything about it and being a beta tester didn’t help either. The little I could learn was that Skype was planning to introduce a per-connection fee general plan.
Straight from the official Skype blog:

“The connection fee is a straightforward set-up charge per call.[..]
The connection fee is 0.039 Euro, excl VAT or the equivalent in local currency.“
Also, “Skype’s new pricing strategy will roll out worldwide during 2007. When launched in full, the pricing strategy consists of a premium subscription package (Skype Pro), one feature of which removes per-minute charges for SkypeOut calls to domestic landlines and includes a small connection fee.“

Now, of course they advertise some lower rates on a few destinations too and say that their new disruptive pricing is revolutionary and cool. We always thought Skype was just too good to be true. Great sound, great client application, cross-platform compatibility, great image and friendly marketing, cheap worldwide calls.
It was just a matter of time till they decided they’re just not getting enough. It’s hard to start as a conventional telco killer then to realize you have to eat too and hey, why were you stupid to start your business with rates so low??
There’s a rule by which, once you’ve lowered prices, you can’t rise them back. Skype lowered some tarrifs but pumped up a whole new wallet killer: the connection fee.
And since Skype is famous at dropping calls frequently, f**k this! The game’s over. Everyone used to close their eyes and said “it’s okay” when calls dropped because the whole thing was cheap.
But who’s willing to spend about 2 minutes ($/euro 0.039) of global rate calls on every call drop?

My forcast: one more year!
Sorry Skype, you blew it this time!

PS: don’t forget the competition.