Edgewater wrote a blog titled, “UC and Hosted PBX- what the future will bring“. The conclusion HPBX sales are rising. DUH!

Megapath just re-launched its Broadsoft based service as Mobile UC with video calling and SMS. Presence, IM/chat and screen sharing are also included. While the market for mobile apps, conferencing and video calling may not be there yet, it is developing. Even, Thinking Phones integrated PGi conferencing into their bundle.

One problem is that it is sold as a product. It needs to be sold as a business outcome. (I know, I say that a lot.) Think about voicemail-to-email or voicemail transcription – these aren’t really appreciated until they are used.

The other problem is that everyone sells the same thing: Broadsoft and Polycom phones. Some of the SPs need to start thinking outside the box to deliver something different. For one thing, the hosted VoIP players are starting to look like Polycom dealers, not VoIP service delivery companies. For another, they all look the same.

Meanwhile, PBX boxes have declined in price. All the way down to sub-$200 from SpeedyTel.

ESI is a PBX manufacturer who recently launched a hosted PBX service (with Netsapiens softswitch) and a mobile app that makes the cellphone a desk phone. Allworx from Windstream is likely the closest competitor as Allworx is a PBX with a mobile app that simulates a desk phone and WIND offers Hosted PBX (powered by Metaswitch).

With all of the competition out there, positioning is required.

From my agent side, I am seeing SMB going from Hosted back to PBX or keeping their PBX as long as possible. Much of it has to do with call quality. I understand on OTT that you can only do so much about QoS, but it is hurting the whole business when over the top VoIP doesn’t work well. In at least one case, the features were listed but not how the business could take advantage of them. Typical.

Companies are entering (or re-entering) the space, but it still all the looks the same. It is time to either change up the bundle or start talking about what it is like to own your last phone system.

I don’t know if building a head-end, buying set-top boxes, and then negotiating for TV channels is the best use of time or capital. It certainly isn’t great ROI. I recently had a cable exec ask me what to think about what if cable stopped offering TV?

Certainly we are seeing a convergence of 5 things:

1. New generation that doesn’t sit for TV
2. Mobile TV
3. Binge watching 
4. Time Shifting
5. Economic burden

No one is quitting broadband, but they cutting landlines and TV. (Unless you are a sports fanatic, then you are stuck to the cord of cable TV.)

The stickiness of the triple-play is still there but fading since now people just want fast Internet everywhere. How do you provide that?

There’s this article about the state of TV. Roku boxes are being used more and more to deliver a creative TV product.

Think about this: instead of spending huge CAPEX on a declining investment, how can you re-think the delivery of TV? The top rated broadcast TV shows are sports. Can people watch the rest on Hulu or somewhere else? If you are offer fixed wireless, couldn’t you see HDTV antennas and install to a PVR?

Our consumers are at a crossroads: as soon as they figure out how to stop paying for pay TV, they will.

I think some people are under the impression that a Lit Building, a multi-tenant building with fiber into it, means that the carrier will give away the bandwidth. That is widely inaccurate.

A lit building means that you won’t wait months for a build out and turn up of service. That’s the benefit of a lit building to the tenants.

Most carriers, especially the ILEC variety, charge a loop to every address — yes, even to some data centers unless that data center is on a special list. Even Level(3) charges a loop (or backhaul) to a POP. They have to make money on something because the cost of the port is so low.

Fiber locator has a fiber map program. Access is about $500 per month. It isn’t a complete carrier list by any stretch. Cable companies and ILECs don’t usually give out a lit building list. Carriers that are primarily fiber companies like Cogent do keep a list, but not a public one. And I don’t quote Cogent because they are not channel friendly.

BTW, when service providers talk about Cogent or HE at $500 per Gig, they mean port only in a designated data center (like 56 in Atlanta). They don’t mean everywhere. And roof rights on 56 are a challenge to come by. I have even heard SPs give per MB pricing for bandwidth but it usually doesn’t include the loop. And there is usually a loop. Even in the data center, there is not only a x-connect fee, but that carrier has a loop somewhere to deliver that bandwidth where it needs to go. There is always a loop.

The latest is my average experience.

An ISP requests a quote for 100 MB and 200MB.

I explain that 100MB and 200MB that there will be a big difference due to one being delivered on FastE and the larger on Gigabit transport. The ISP tells me that 100MB comes on a Gigabit circuit. That isn’t my experience; but it does depend on the carrier.

The other request was “because we are a WISP we are adaptive and flexible. Just find us a lit building nearby.” I offer a fiber finder service for $350. This would have been a good match. Instead, I explain that I will have to manually filter through fiber maps and lit building lists as best as I can.

Two carriers no bid this because there fiber network was too far away. The ILEC did bid. It was off-net for another carrier but they did bid less than the ILEC and reasonable. I sent these quotes to the ISP.

The response was baffling, “Can you find a building that is nearby (say 5, 10, 15, etc miles) with more bandwidth?” That’s a large, variable radius. The quotes were delivering the bandwidth to the end user site; not somewhere 10 miles away where you would have to negotiate roof rights and purchase licensed link gear.

In this case, the carriers I work with did not have fiber near this location. My lit buildings lists didn’t have anything nearby either. (The lit building lists are spreadsheets, not mapped or organized by zip code.) I explain all this. Hear nothing back. Ping them again.

The reply, “I do think that the cost is higher than what we can do there, so we’re looking at a nearby already lit building and licensed link.”

The lesson I need to remember here is that as a salespeople I have to do a better job of discovery. I should have nailed down budget first. Next, I should have suggested the fiber finder service, which does come with a refund if the circuit is ordered through my company.

Many of you are also experiencing pricing pressure from your customers. I would encourage you to also ask at least one more question: what is your budget? It will save you time and frustration.

I think some people are under the impression that a Lit Building, a multi-tenant building with fiber into it, means that the carrier will give away the bandwidth. That is widely inaccurate.

A lit building means that you won’t wait months for a build out and turn up of service. That’s the benefit of a lit building to the tenants.

Most carriers, especially the ILEC variety, charge a loop to every address — yes, even to some data centers unless that data center is on a special list. Even Level(3) charges a loop (or backhaul) to a POP. They have to make money on something because the cost of the port is so low.

Fiber locator has a fiber map program. Access is about $500 per month. It isn’t a complete carrier list by any stretch. Cable companies and ILECs don’t usually give out a lit building list. Carriers that are primarily fiber companies like Cogent do keep a list, but not a public one. And I don’t quote Cogent because they are not channel friendly.

BTW, when service providers talk about Cogent or HE at $500 per Gig, they mean port only in a designated data center like 56 in Atlanta. They don’t mean everywhere. And roof rights on 56 are a challenge to come by. I have even heard SPs give per MB pricing for bandwidth but it usually doesn’t include the loop. And there is usually a loop. Even in the data center, there is not only a x-connect fee, but that carrier has a loop somewhere to deliver that bandwidth where it needs to go. There is always a loop.

The latest is my average experience.

WISP requests 100 MB and 200MB “but because we are a WISP we are adaptive and flexible. Just find us a lit building nearby.”

I explain that 100MB and 200MB will be a world of difference due to one being delivered on FastE and the larger on Gigabit transport. WISP explains to me that 100MB comes on Gigabit circuit. (In my 15 years, it usually comes on FastE on most carriers.)

I explain that I will have to manually filter through fiber maps and lit building lists as best as I can.

Two carriers no bid. The ILEC did bid. It was off-net for another carrier but they did bid less than the ILEC and reasonable.

The response was baffling, “Can you find a building that is nearby (say 5, 10, 15, etc miles) with more bandwidth?” That’s a big, variable radius. The quotes were delivering the bandwidth to the end user site; not somewhere 10 miles away where you would have to negotiate roof rights and purchase licensed link gear.

It turns out that carriers I work with don’t have fiber near this location. My lit buildings lists are from 2011 and have nothing nearby. I explain all this. Hear nothing back. Ping them again.

The reply, “I do think that cost is higher than what we can do there so we’re looking at a nearby already lit building and licensed link.”

It’s why salespeople have to do a better job of discovery (me included). I should have nailed down budget first and exactly what the service provider wanted.

I don’t like to give credit to the Duopoly but in this case, this was smart marketing:

AT&T and Box to pave secure path to cloud content via VPN.

For one, it is a strategic partnership (with Dropbox competitor, Box).

For another, it talks about security in cloud and adds the term VPN which IT managers can understand.