Business Phone System Reviews | SE Telecom

On Wednesday, the Globe and Mail reported that a pilot program to test making credit card payments with your smart phone has officially launched. The pilot program is a partnership between Visa, Royal Bank and Rogers Communications.

The pilot program, announced a year ago and getting underway this June, is built upon a simple premise: people use their smart phones for nearly everything these days, so why not allow them to make instant credit card purchases.

The new technology, currently installed in only a certain type of Motorola phones, uses near field communications whereby a tiny chip inside the phone interacts with a sensor on a retailer’s payment terminal. Transactions take only seconds to complete, and receipts can be delivered over SMS.

Though the amount of retailers accepting these new payments is unknown, any store that use Visa’s new payWave terminals (which use a similar chip installed on a credit card) will be able to accept mobile phone payments.

The convenience of this new system is hard to argue – speed and portability allows the consumer to carry less, and move through lines quicker. However, the main stumbling block remains ensuring the security of the new smart phone transactions.

Transaction data from the new chips will be encrypted, not visible to the carrier or the retailer. What’s more, there will likely be an unlocking or password required for charges over $20, and other precautions set against fraud or lost devices. But consumers may still be wary to send their financial information over unfamiliar airwaves.

“The data is stored and transmitted in an encrypted way, so when the phone is being waved in front of the point-of-sale terminal, it’s not your number being transmitted, it’s an encrypted version,” explains Mike Bradley, vice-president of products at Visa Canada. “It’s always a balance between security and convenience. If you ask consumers about security, they want more of it. But when they are asked to make tradeoffs with usage, accessibility and convenience, that’s where the forced tradeoffs are required.”

The final hurdle, naturally, will also be availability. Before something like this catches on in the mainstream – and we see no reason it won’t eventually – more phones need to be manufactured with the chips and software installed, and more credit card companies need to launch their own versions of Visa’s pilot program.

Bloomberg has started the wildfire of rumors yet again. This time the rumor mill revolves around the iPhone coming to Verizon Wireless. This rumor runs rampant every year around Apples developer conferences and yearly iPhone releases.

What makes this rumor so different? Bloomberg claims it has two people that know the plans. These two informants are boasting that the Apple Love Phone will be coming to Big Red in January 2011.

Where do these rumors get ground to stand on? First up is the exclusive AT&T contract with Apple. Details have been very sketchy on how this deal works out. When the iPhone first hit the market in 2007, all consumers really knew was that AT&T would have the phone exclusively for two years. Amazingly, that two-year mark has come and gone now.

What else will give these rumors to stand? Verizon is currently working on upgrading its network to 4G. This is almost three times faster than what AT&T can offer. AT&T can’t keep up with the data demand they have now, let alone think about upgrading from a 3G network to a 4G network. Verizon is also going to do a bit of unveiling of 4G devices during the Consumer Electronics Show in January 2011.

The biggest rumor growth hormone comes in customer base. Apple might have sold 1.7 million iPhone 4s in the first three days of release, but how much more would they have sold had the phone been available on multiple networks? Apple is currently missing a large market that is crying out for the iPhone.

The final nail could come with the data plan death that AT&T announced just before the iPhone 4 announcements. AT&T is currently the only wireless carrier to cap cell phone data usage. This means all that fun Face Time video chatting comes at a cost of data. Verizon has not announced any plans to cap data usage.

While this is but a rumor, it certainly is getting more ground to stand on.  AT&T is riddled with complaints about its unreliable network. Apple is looking for more revenue, and there is a growing customer demand for the iPhone on Verizon. January could be a very exciting month for Verizon Customers.

October will be a big month for Avaya, as they’re releasing a new data-center strategy. This strategy is much simpler than rows of racks with equipment. Avaya is looking to bring a one-box data-center to life. This new one-box data-center is aimed squarely at taking on Cisco and their one-box strategy.

This might sound like a miracle box, but it has some gotchas. The biggest is that while Cisco has a one-box strategy that contains a switch, servers, storage solutions, and applications; Avaya’s solution will contain only a switch. The reasoning for this is due to Avaya lacking the other components in its current assets.

It might look like Cisco is providing the better solution for customers, but Avaya attacks this thought process as well. Avaya goes on to point out that a datacenter does not start with a box, but rather the applications and then designing the datacenter around those applications.

Avaya is following through with this thought by focusing their one-box strategy by focusing on the infrastructure side of the coin. This will allow customers to select products that best fit their needs. Currently, Avaya is going to leave all the memory, CPU, and performance tuning to vendors that specialize in that kind of gear.

Whom will Avaya market their miracle device in a box to? The current plan is to target customers with Nortel switches that are looking to replace older technologies. The reason for targeting Nortel customers is due to the nice partnership that Avaya has with Nortel now. This partnership is what is allowing this expansion from communications gear into datacenter gear.

Avaya will also target their voice customers as well, but know that a datacenter switch will be a hard sell. The benefit of this switch is that the design consists of a 10-year life span. This will drive the cost of ownership to almost half of what the competitions has. Could this lead to even better voice equipment down the road as well. If Avaya sticks to 10-year life cycles, they could easily become a force to be reckoned with.

Yes. You read that right. In today’s sign of the tech apocalypse, Apple’s proposed fix to reception problems on their new iPhone 4 is that users change their grip on the phone. Or, of course, buy a case that can range from $20-$100.

The story starts with yesterday’s release of iPhone version 4.0 in the US, the UK, France, Germany and Japan. Not long after the usual fanatics waited in line to get their hands on first issue, complaints started coming in about reception. By putting their hands on the strip that runs around Apple’s newest iPhone, users would significantly reduce their amount of bars, breaking up reception or dropping calls.

Following up what seems to be a design oversight, some odd advice is now coming out of Apple’s Cupertino’s campus. According to Apple, the problem is that people are holding their new phones wrong, and they can fix their reception problems if they hold it differently, or buy a case that removes contact with the strip. Apple’s official statement was:

“Gripping any mobile phone will result in some attenuation of its antenna performance, with certain places being worse than others depending on the placement of the antennas. This is a fact of life for every wireless phone. If you ever experience this on your iPhone 4, avoid gripping it in the lower left corner in a way that covers both sides of the black strip in the metal band, or simply use one of many available cases.”

To us, this seems like odd advice for a somewhat odd issue. If a car manufacturer discovers a problem with gas infusion or acceleration, we would guess that their fix would be something else other than ‘put your foot on the gas pedal differently.’ Same goes for toy makers, chefs, home builders, and on and on.

The same certainly goes for the telecommunications industry. At S.E. Telecom, if a client is experiencing problems with a phone system we installed, or is having an issue with reception with a product we recommended, we’ll be there immediately to resolve the problem. We don’t tell them to talk differently into their wireless headset, or just put duct tape over a malfunctioning button.

Either there’s something still missing from this Apple story, or Apple is just missing the point. Given that they’re on a seemingly unstoppable roll with the success of their iPad and the iPhone 4 release, you could understand some short-sightedness on their part. But at some point surely, even Apple fanboys will demand better accountability from the tech company that can only do wrong when it comes to  people skills.

RIM, the makers of BlackBerry, are reportedly waiting to launch their new BlackBerry 9800, deemed ‘The Torch.’ Rumors have it slated as an iPhone killer, just like the Bold before it, but haven’t determined exactly when the Torch will be launched.

“The expectations are that they’re going to want to get a new product out into the marketplace in time for September, because that is when you get the back-to-school and big consumer push,” Mackie Research Capital analyst Nick Agostino told the Globe and Mail.

The Torch, which RIM is hoping will turn around its recent North American fortunes, seemingly can’t come quick enough. With the iPhone’s reach expanding daily into the enterprise market, and Google’s Android making big gains across the board, RIM has significant turf to defend.

The stakes for RIM are similarly high. Apple stock have surged more than 90 percent over the last 12 months, while RIM’s shares have fallen almost 30 percent over the same period. Investors are growing wary/worried, while RIM’s ceding of space in the overseas and North America markets is doing nothing to ease concerns.

The new Torch, which could provide a boost to RIM’s fortunes, is rumored to have a sleek touch screen and full pullout keyboard, a key feature BlackBerrys have always held over iPhones. There is no info, however, on improving a lagging app store or a clunky web browser.

We wouldn’t expect the entire future of RIM to rest on the eventual launch of the Torch; giants like that aren’t felled in one day. But with all the trends going against them, a winning new device would do wonders to buoy investor support and public perceptions.

Will the business phone loosen its tie a little in its newest release? Or will it stick to the pinestriped formula that made it the most popular enterprise device in the world? A lot of people – investors and otherwise – are waiting for the Torch to answer these questions.

Alcatel-Lucent has signed a three year deal with Accor Group S.A.. This deal will mean Alcatel-Lucent will be the preferred communication supplier for Accor turnkey hospitality businesses. Considering Accor has more than 4,100 properties worldwide, this is a major win for Alcatel-Lucent.

This arrangement means Alcatel-Lucent, along with their business partners, can now supply products and services customized to the full spectrum of Accor hotel brands globally. This includes those smaller 50 room hotels to the larger 500 room party central palaces. Accor hotels will also have access to 24/7 technical support. With 24/7 technical support being handled, Accor now has the time to focus on the customer experiences and needs.

What does this mean for staff and guests in the way of cool new toys? Alcatel-Lucent will be able to tailor their services based on the types of hotel. More luxurious hotels will see services like customized voicemail setups at the time of customer check-in. Customers can also reap the benefits of phone features like call forwarding, do not disturb, wake up notification, and a vast amount of language options. This is a drastic upgrade from the current can on string setup currently in place.

There are benefits for hotel staff as well. Staff will now see services like digital phones dedicated to them. There is also that nice feature of Alcatel-Lucent handling all the installation and training on these new digital phone setups. Lastly, hotel staff will be relieved of the maintenance duty of telephony devices, thus allowing hotel staff to focus on the customer instead of some finicky wires and hardware.

How soon will this new deal get set into place? How about immediately. This new deal has already started down the road of implementation globally. This is a great win for customers and hotel staff alike. Now, if only Accor would sign a deal with Apple to provide iPod Touches in every room.

Just a couple days after we gave our take on San Francisco regulating phone radiation reporting, a new study has weighed in on the cell phones-link-to-cancer debate.

According to the Globe and Mail, a British research team released data on Wednesday that indicates no connection between the radiation that cell phone towers put out and cancer. The study, which was done over 6 years, found that living close to a tower does not increase the risk of a pregnant woman’s baby developing cancer.

The study looked at almost 7,000 children born near cell phone towers from the four major carriers in Britain, and compared them with early childhood cancer rates across the country. The research showed that those who developed early childhood cancer (below the age of 5) were no more likely to live near a cell tower than not.

“These results are reassuring,” said Paul Elliot, the lead scientist who worked on the study. “We found no pattern to suggest that the children of mums living near a base station during pregnancy had a greater risk of developing cancer than those who lived elsewhere.”

The fact that cell phones and towers emit radiation, coupled with a drastic increase in how tied we are to our mobile devices (present company included), concerns about long term health implications have risen of late. Though this study – like others before it with similar conclusions — is unlikely to end the concern, mounting evidence showing no link between cancer and cell phones may slowly shift public perceptions.

Like Elliot, we’re also reassured to see this type of results, not only for its implications on the telecom industry, but for all the people like us who heavily use cell phones and may live near cell phone towers. And although this is a serious topics, with potential consequences that go far beyond that of the telecommunications industry… we still can’t help but crack that with this study data in hand, maybe AT&T can finally build enough cell towers to drop less than 50% of its calls.