Customers Say Broadband Speed and Reliability Are Improving

WESTLAKE VILLAGE, CA – Customers are more satisfied with residential high-speed Internet this year than they were last year, mostly because of higher connection speeds and fewer service outages.

Every year, J.D. Power and Associates asks consumers to evaluate their Internet service providers based on performance and reliability; cost of service; customer service; billing; and offerings and promotions. This year, overall satisfaction reached 639 on a 1,000-point scale – 22 index points higher than in 2008. Satisfaction with performance and reliability now averages 687, a 43-point increase from 644 in 2008.

In many instances a household’s Internet connection acts as the backbone of its voice, video and information services, making the provider’s ability to provide a fast, reliable connection particularly critical,” says Frank Perazzini, director of telecommunications at J.D. Power and Associates. “As households become more dependent on services provided via the Internet, eliminating outages and providing consistent connection speeds will become necessities in Internet service providers’ business models.”

J.D. Power found that consumers are becoming more interested in bundled telecom services, with the proportion of customers saying they will probably or definitely bundle services in the next year increasing to 52 percent from 43 percent in 2008. The most popular telecom bundle is a video/Internet combination, selected by about a third of customers who bundle services. Triple-play (voice, video, data) bundles increased from 16 percent in 2008 to 19 percent in 2009.

“Internet service may be considered the linchpin of the bundled offering, serving to drive both customer loyalty and incremental sales opportunities,” said Perazzini. “As competition for new customers increases among Internet service providers, retaining the existing customer base while promoting additional voice and video will continue to be critical.”

The highest-rated ISPs included Verizon in the East, Bright House Networks in the South, WOW! in the North Central region and EarthLink in the West.

The study findings include the following key trends:

  • The proportion of high-speed Internet service customers loyal to their provider has increased by two percentage points from 2008, to 32 percent in 2009. Additionally, 66 percent of customers state they “definitely will” or “probably will” recommend their provider to others in 2009-an increase of four percentage points, compared with 2008.
  • Among customers who contacted their service provider to resolve a problem or question, average hold times have decreased by nearly 30 seconds in 2009, compared with 2008.
  • DiVitas's Mobile UC Now Available on the Latest Devices - www.voipplanet.com

    DiVitas's Mobile UC Now Available on the Latest Devices
    November 2, 2009
    By Ted Stevenson

    Since mobile unified communications became a reality in earnest, two to two-and-a-half years ago, the number of dual mode handsets supported by any given provider's technology has been a big bone of contention—or, more accurately, promotion. ('We support 437 handsets; we're better'—you get the idea.)

    Mountain View, Calif.-based DiVitas Networks today made an announcement that pretty much sews up that competition for good (or perhaps makes it irrelevant going forward).

    The flashy way to state what they've done would be something along the lines of: 'DiVitas's technology now works with the iPhone, BlackBerry, and Android phone—not to mention the desktop PC.' While those are the big attention-getters, in reality what they've done is to make their technology compatible with any device that runs a Web browser—a number that's growing every day.

    According to CEO Vivek Khuller, the market reality that set the company on the development path that ended with today's announcement was the overwhelming predominance of what they are calling "Bring Your Own" phones.

    "We [started with] the notion that the mobile devices would be bought by the enterprise and distributed to the employees," Khuller told EnterpriseVoIPplanet. "The reality is that people pick their own phones. People pick their own plans, their own carriers.

    "So for people like us, who are in the business of writing enterprise mobile applications, if we cannot put our applications on this wide variety of phones, we really lose the ability to drive true gains within the enterprise," Khuller said.

    This clearly called for a new approach: Rather than negotiating with owners of 'closed,' proprietary operating systems in order to gain the access necessary to write native applications for more devices, why not build a way to accomplish the same end using a piece of open technology that's already on the device?

    That is exactly what DiVitas has done.

    "This is the approach we are taking to mobilizing the suite of enterprise applications that we're focused on," Khuller elaborated "—mobilizing the desk phone, corporate IM, and social apps like status and presence and location and network—and tying it all together in a single client and making that available on a phone that could be any phone that's bought by an individual."

    Not only does this vastly enlarge the potential market universe that DiVitas can address (nice for them), it make the benefits of mobile unified communication (cost savings and enhanced communications efficiency), available to many kinds of organizations that would be unable (or simply unwilling) to try to impose on their end users the kind device uniformity that would have been required heretofore.

    "If you want to distribute a client through a large population—say a student body at a school—and there are 10,000 or 20,000 students, and each student had a different device from a different service provider, it becomes a very difficult problem for the school," Khuller observed by way of example. "But if you can make it Web enabled, it doesn't matter which carrier or which phone these guys are using, as long as they have a Web browser on the device."

    Not only are enormous deployment hurdles swept away, participation quickly becomes essentially universal. And, of even greater importance from the IT department's perspective, they're fully in control of the technology—with little or no device management to attend to.

    "The biggest problem we solve for the customer is not only giving them the application mobility around voice and social apps, but more importantly, delivering this functionality in a way that it can be sustained both by corporate IT or the service provider." Khuller pointed out. "Since the application is Web driven, the amount of device management an enterprise would have to do is minimized; everything is managed at the server, so there is nothing to download or upgrade—or manage on an ongoing basis."

    Ron Hutchins, CTO of Georgia Institute of Technology, agrees. "Universities constitute one of the most diverse handset ecosystems, where IT has minimal control over selection of handsets or carriers by students," he said. "With support for iPhone, Android, and BlackBerry, DiVitas would be able to offer handset and carrier choice that would be very appealing in a college campus environment."

    Also because it is server based, the DiVitas Web interface can be easily customized. Colors and logos can be easily changed, for example. Moreover, custom applications can be integrated into the interface by means of the DiVitas API (DAPI).

    Khuller cited a hypothetical example of an international financial organization customizing the DiVitas Web client with its logo other elements and creating a communications portal they could roll out to their employees, worldwide. "It doesn't matter which phones these guys are using. As long as they have a Web browser on their phone, they're basically connected to the enterprise communication services through that portal."

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    Redefining Unified Communications - DiVitas Changes the Game | NetworkWorld.com Community

    I noted a while ago that the future of enterprise communications is in social networking. It's easy to see why this should be: e-mail has become a vast wasteland of spam and other irritations, IM is increasingly in popularity among essentially all classes of enterprise users, and there's a fundamental requirement for file (and many other forms of) sharing within the closed-user-group paradigm. Closing the user base keeps the riff-raff and especially spam and other distractions out, and also enhances integrity and expands the range of possible functions while maintaining security and enhancing ease-of-use and productivity.

    And that's where convergence/mobile unified communications pioneer is DiVitas Networks is going with their recent announcement, which also pursues one of my favorite directions (and a natural fit and requirement for social networking of any form regardless) - Web services. There's no software to load here, and instant support of a broad range of key handsets. Client behavior is uniform across handsets, minimizing the training and support load and maximizing flexibility. No new apps need to be developed. And a single LDAP directory can be used for all enterprise communications functions, meaning everything works the same whether at one's desk or out and about. This is a great addition to the overall power of mobility, and builds upon DiVitas' previous convergence and mobile unified communications capabilities.

    What we need, I've contended for some time, is an easy-to-use, extensible, multi-modal communications service for the enterprise. The Web is the platform, wireless is the transport, and the handset is the delivery vehicle. Add a small about of software (again, via the Web), and we're just about there. After all these years, even for those who haven't been paying attention, mobility is finally getting interesting!

    Court again upholds Save our Homes - South Florida Business Journal:

    The 1st District Court of Appeal has rejected another challenge to a state law that provides tax breaks to Florida homeowners.

    The three-judge panel said in its ruling that it has already “considered and rejected virtually identical constitutional challenges.”

    To qualify, a residential property must be a primary residence that meets homestead requirements.The constitutional amendment, which passed in 1992 and went into effect in 1995, caps the increase in annual assessments of homestead properties in Florida to 3 percent or the Consumer Price Index, whichever is less. It was designed to protect full-time Florida homeowners from skyrocketing increases in property values.

    Last year, a challenge to the amendment was filed after voters approved a provision that allows for residents to take part of the tax break with them when they move.

    Those challenging the amendment argue that it is unfair to new residents and those who are not permanent Florida residents and violates U.S. constitutional rights of travel and interstate commerce.

     

    Hispanics most avid mobile broadband users - South Florida Business Journal:

    While Hispanics trail other U.S. populations in overall access to the Internet, they also are among the most avid users of mobile broadband, a new report finds.

    In fact, 53 percent of Hispanics use mobile broadband, compared to 33 percent of whites, according to the report, published Wednesday by the nonprofit

    Hispanic Institute.

    http://altfarm.mediaplex.com/ad/ck/10236-87861-25783-1?mpt=5805952" target="_blank">

     

    Hispanics also outpace the general population when it comes to digital media consumption, with 42 percent accessing and downloading digital media, compared to 35 percent of those in the general population.

    The report notes that there are 48 million Hispanics living in the U.S. with 81 percent of them concentrated in 10 states, including Florida, which has 20 percent of the Hispanic population.

    The report suggests that policymakers consider Hispanics’ concerns as they develop a national broadband strategy.

    It recommends, among other things, that broadband access be expanded, and that consumer-friendly tax policies be implemented to ensure that not only Hispanics, but other minority and lower-income populations, can continue to afford wireless broadband services.

    In addition, the report recommends that Lifeline/Link-Up programs continue to offer discounts to qualified, low-income wireless customers. “These policies are essential to help Hispanics make a complete transition to mobile participation in the new American innovation economy,” the report states.

    Click here to read the full report.

     

    Report: Florida’s tax system among worst - South Florida Business Journal:

    Florida’s poorest residents pay a far higher share of their income in state and local taxes than do the richest families in the state, according to a newly released report by the

    Institute on Taxation and Economic Policy, a Washington, D.C.-based think tank.

    The report notes that Florida’s lowest income group – those making about $10,500 a year – pay more than six times more of their income in taxes than those in the top 1 percent – those making about $2.4 million a year – based on income and taxes paid in 2007.

    http://altfarm.mediaplex.com/ad/ck/10236-87861-25783-1?mpt=3279952" target="_blank">

    Those in the lowest group pay on average 13.5 percent of their income in state and local taxes, while those in the higher income bracket pay, on average, 2.1 percent, the report notes.

    Middle-income families – those making about $37,400 a year – pay an average of 9 percent of their income, or more than four times as much as those in the highest income group.

    Nationwide, the state and local tax obligation for all states averages about 10.9 percent for low-income families, 9.4 percent for middle-income and 5.2 percent for those in the top income bracket.

    The findings are, in large part, due to the fact that Florida has no personal income tax, and relies on the state sales tax for revenue.

    The report, which calls Florida’s tax structure “antiquated,” calls on the Legislature to revise the state’s tax system to “make it fairer and adequate to meet the need for public services.

    Click here to read the full report.

    Poll: Floridians not upbeat about economy - South Florida Business Journal:

    Despite some positive economic news of late, Floridians are not feeling very upbeat about the economy, a new poll finds.

    More than 83 percent say they are concerned about their money challenges, while 43 percent don’t expect they will be financially better off a year from now, according to the poll, which was conducted as part of a new statewide financial education initiative called Money Wise Florida.

    http://www.3freemonthsnow.com/" target="_top" />

    The program is a financial literacy campaign that was created in partnership with Florida Chief Financial Officer Alex Sink.

    In addition to the poll, the project will include a 30-minute television special that will be broadcast statewide in 2010.

    Among other findings:

    • Thirty-eight percent of those polled say they have personally suffered a financial crisis in the past year, 73 percent know someone who lost their job, and one-fourth say their home is worth less than their mortgage.
    • Fifty-five percent are not confident investing in stocks, real estate, buying a new house or car.
    • Seventy-two percent are not confident about changing jobs, starting a business or running debt.
    • Forty-seven percent will spend less on this holiday season.
    • Forty-three percent most likely will cut going out to eat from their budget.
    • Twenty-one percent most likely will cut out going to the movies.

    Most Floridians report good basic financial habits: 95 percent say they check their credit card bills monthly, 92 percent say they check their bank statements monthly and two-thirds say they pay off their credit cards monthly.

    “All that translates into a population that is largely frozen in place, unwilling to make the kind of changes, investments or purchases that could stimulate Florida's sluggish economy,” the report notes.

    BlackBerry Bible: Everything You Need to Know About Your RIM Smartphone - CIO.com - Business Technology Leadership

    Thu, August 13, 2009CIO

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    image of Unlocked Verizon Wireless BlackBerry Tour Running on AT&T

    Unlocked Verizon Wireless BlackBerry Tour Running on AT&T

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    BlackBerry Tips: Using Folders to Unclutter Your RIM Smartphone

    Research In Motion's (RIM) latest slogan is "Life on BlackBerry." And rightly so; BlackBerry owners turn to the devices to store more and more data and applications for life inside the corporate walls and out. Here's how to use BlackBerry folders to organize and manage all that clutter.

    BlackBerry Browser Shortcuts: Killer Keyboard Tips & Tricks

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    Best BlackBerry Shortcuts: Aflac's Mobile Guru Shares Tips

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    Five Essential RIM BlackBerry Keyboard Tips and Tricks

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    image of the keyboard on a Research In Motion (RIM) BlackBerry Bold 9000

    BlackBerry Bold 9000 Keyboard

    Advanced Keyboard Shortcuts for Power Users

    Always looking for new ways to do more with your RIM BlackBerry? Learn the following tips and tricks, including two from the co-CEO of RIM himself, and take your smartphone prowess to a whole new level.

    BlackBerry Storm Shortcuts: 20 Touch Screen Tips and Tricks

    The new BlackBerry Storm smartphone is packing a brand new version of RIM's handheld OS, v4.7, and with that OS comes a whole new set of shortcuts. These 20 tips and tricks will help you get the most out of your shiny, new Storm--and its SurePress touch screen.

    More Advanced BlackBerry Keyboard Tips and Tricks for Power Users

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    TeleNav Navigator gives BlackBerry and other smartphone owners instant access to a slew of valuable features, including audible driving directions with rea l-time traffic alerts, various maps and mapping services and local search. Here's how to get even more from one of the best BlackBerry navigation applications on the scene.

    BlackBerry How To: Change E-Mail Signatures (BIS & BES)

    BlackBerry e-mail auto-signatures let you save time on typing and reduce unnecessary strain on BlackBerry thumbs, as well as proactively apologize for possible typos. Follow these simple steps to create, modify or erase BlackBerry e-mail signatures--for both personal, or BlackBerry Internet Service (BIS), and corporate, or BlackBerry Enterprise Server (BES), accounts.

    BlackBerry Tips & Tricks: Boost Your BlackBerry Digital Camera Experience

    The latest edition of Research In Motion's (RIM) BlackBerry Connection newsletter went out yesterday, and the mailing included more than a dozen tips and tricks on how to improve your BlackBerry-digital-camera know-how. Most of the suggestions are fairly basic, but they're worth a look--especially if you frequently employ your smartphone to snap pictures. I've also got a couple of related tips of my own that you won't find in any RIM newsletter. Keep reading for specifics.

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    BlackBerry Tip: Delete Carrier Crapware, Icons (We're Looking at You, AT&T)

    Did your wireless carrier push out a handful of unwanted apps and games to your BlackBerry? No worries. Delete or hide those dastardly downloads with these simple steps.

    BlackBerry Bold Tip: Fix AT&T Cellular Video Glitches

    Since the first time I fired up the AT&T Cellular Video application on my BlackBerry Bold 9000, I've experienced maddening variation in streaming video quality due to the device's tendency to switch back and forth between 3G and 2.5G EDGE while Cellular Video is in use--even with full 3G network coverage. The service usually works great over 3G, but it's a choppy nightmare over the slower EDGE cellular connection. Luckily, I found a quick workaround that helps ensure my Cellular Video experience is as smooth as possible.

      On to More BlackBerry Tips & Tricks >>

    FREE CIO BlackBerry Newsletter

    Get better use out of your BlackBerry and keep up-to-date on the latest developments. Sign-up »

     

    Twitter Bible: Everything You Need To Know About Twitter - CIO.com - Business Technology Leadership

    Twitter on Your Mobile Device

    Best (Free) Mobile Twitter Apps for BlackBerry, iPhone, Windows Mobile

    Twitter lets you share details on whatever you're doing. But how many truly interesting activities happen in front of a PC? Thanks to these seven mobile Twitter apps for BlackBerry, iPhone and Windows Mobile devices, wherever your smartphone goes, Twitter can follow.

    Free "Tweet Tone" for BlackBerry Twitter Apps

    Never miss a Twitter "tweet," reply or direct message with this new, free "Tweet tone." Here's how to download, save and assign it to your favorite BlackBerry Twitter application.

    http://www.theinfoboom.com/pov/expert/dont-let-your-application-portfolio-manage-you">Assessing and rationalizing your application portfolio can pay off in real cost reduction and an improved IT alignment
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    UberTwitter BlackBerry Twitter App Fiasco: Lessons Learned from "Failed" Update

    Popular free BlackBerry Twitter application UberTwitter got an update to beta v4 recently. But along with a handful of new features and software enhancements, users also saw a crop of advertisements strewn throughout their Twitter streams for the first time. UberTwitter has since removed the ads, which angered many users. It serves as a cautionary tale for developers who hope to monetize their apps.

    Top 10 BlackBerry Apps for Summer: TweetGenius

    TweetGenius is one of the most full-featuredand good-lookingmobile Twitter apps on the market. Check your Friends Timeline, @ Mentions and Direct Messages with a single click from the home screen. View the Public Timeline, search all of Twitter and more. But TweetGenius's real strength is its stunning and unique UI.

    Top 10 iPhone Apps for Summer: Tweetie

    One of the best aspects of social networking service Twitter is sharing interesting experiences with all of your "followers" while you're on the move. Tweetie, one of the many Twitter apps for iPhone and iPod touch, lets you do just that, offering all the basic Twitter features and more, such as yfrog and TwitPic image support and location sharing.

    Mobile Twitter Game Heats Up; Oprah, Ashton Kutcher Fan the Flames

    Twitter has seen a drastic spike in popularity thanks to the support of a number of high-profile celebrities like Kelso--ahem, Ashton Kutcher--and the Queen Bee of Middle America, Oprah Winfrey. Along with all the newfound interest come a number of crafty software developers hoping to cash in on the mass hilarity with new, feature-packed Twitter applications and services for smartphones that let you tweet from anywhere theres cellular connectivity.

    Twitter At the Heart of New, Cheap Smartphones

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    Free TwitterBerry Mobile Twitter App for BlackBerry

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    Twitter's Potential for Business Users

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    Twitter's User Base: Why Nerds Are Losing Control of Twitter

    Twitter has gone mainstream. Who would have thought it?

    Real-Time Search Riddle: Should Google Buy Twitter?

    Buying Twitter makes good business sense for Google.

     

    Twitter Bible: Everything You Need To Know About Twitter - CIO.com - Business Technology Leadership

     

    Search Tips and Twitter Add-Ons for Better Organization

    How To Search Twitter Smarter

    Once you're actively using Twitter, you may feel unable to keep up with all the messages of value. But you can learn to search them. From hashtags to smiley faces, here are our tips on how to search Twitter to get more value from it.

    TweetDeck App Gets You Organized, Automated

    The handy, free TweetDeck app will help you organize personal and business Tweets, automate coordination with Facebook, and more. Here are instructions on how and why to get started with TweetDeck.

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    How to Find Experts in Your Industry

    Twitter's value depends heavily on your finding useful people to follow. So how do you locate the leaders in your profession? Use these easy steps to success.

    How to Track Retweets

    Stop wondering if that great Tweet that your wrote got retweeted widely, and start measuring your retweets. Here's how.

    For Twitter, URL Shorteners Do More Than Save Space

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    Twitter for Marketing Pros

    Salesforce.com Integrates Twitter to Cloud Services Offering

    When it comes to social media, Salesforce.com leads rivals like Oracle and SAP  and its success could help your company reach customers. Case in point: Salesforce.com apps now work with social networking services like Twitter and Facebook.

    Twitter for Business: Four Ways Companies Use Microblogging

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    Socialtext, a Palo Alto company that made its mark building wikis for the enterprise, has added a social networking application for businesses and a microblogging tool akin to Twitter.

    Case Study: Bringing the Twitter-like Experience to the Enterprise

    Learning from the success people have had on Twitter, the short messaging service, a public affairs firm has begun using enterprise microblogging technology from Socialtext. It mirrors the Twitter experience, but for the purposes of internal, enterprise collaboration.

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    New standalone Socialtext Signals product lets enterprise employees communicate in a real-time stream about projects, documents and other items. Think of it as Twitter for just your team.

    Think Outside the Filing Cabinet: Why Companies Should Make Their Information Architectures More Like Twitter

    It's time for enterprises to move beyond Microsoft Windows folders and SharePoint workspaces, and into Twitter-like streams.