As we follow markets, and budget resources for translation, marketing, content, stats and analytics, traffic and billing decisions and pricing, it’s important to consume and digest whatever data is available – and remember as always, while reviewing any data regardless of the source, it’s important not to take a measure at its face value but keep in mind exactly how it works, exactly what it’s measuring, what its limitations may be, and how it applies to your specific situation, requirements, planning and goals.

In a recent survey by Nielsen Online the total number of active Internet home users increased overall but 2 of the 10 countries tracked.

Active home Internet users declined in the U.K. (-1.14 percent) and in Switzerland (-0.81 percent). Combined, it was a loss of 326,506 active Internet home users – not a big number, especially for a single month, and possibly the result of methodology.

Overall, the number of active Internet homes increased 1.96 percent over the previous month. The countries with the highest increases include Brazil (8.32 percent), Australia (7.28 percent), Japan (2.75 percent), and Italy (2.23 percent).

Nielsen Online uses a sampling methodology applied worldwide, which allows for data aggregation on a regional and global basis. Active Internet users are derived from the number of users who have logged on in the previous 30 days.

Voice over IP (VoIP), or the process of transmitting voice calls over a computer network is no longer a new concept. VoIP has been around for many years now, and has promised to revolutionize the telecommunications industry for just as long. I had a talk recently with FtOCC certified IT and VoIP consultant Chris Sherwood, out in Los Angeles. The question posed is…has VoIP yet proven itself to be a viable alternative to legacy voice and PBX solutions? The answer, he says, “is yes and no.”

He told me there are many companies including Vonage and Road Runner now offering unlimited long distance for a small monthly fee for consumers, as well as numerous VoIP providers offering calls to anywhere in the world for pennies per minute – and even T-mobile is now offering a two year contracted service for ten dollars a month after modem purchase and set up fee. In theory, he said, this is a great concept, and has made these companies millions of dollars in revenue in the consumer market.

“The business market however, is another story. The smallest of businesses can certainly take advantage of this type of solution, but any small to medium business making more than five simultaneous calls will have problems switching to VoIP for one main reason,” he continued, “Internet bandwidth is still too small and too expensive. Most small to medium businesses have DSL/Cable or T1 connections to the Internet where the upload speed is no more than 1.5 Megabits per second (Mbps). At 60 Kilobits per second (Kbps) per voice call, this starts to really add up, and when you factor in normal Internet usage and SoHo routers that can’t prioritize VoIP traffic, you will soon be dropping calls and having ‘tinny’ voice quality. This causes employees and customers to become frustrated, and potentially results in lost business due to poor voice quality and company representation.”

Drawing on over a decade of experience in the field, Chris started in on the nitty-gritty: “That being said, there is one huge advantage to running VoIP in your business, and that is as an alternative to a legacy PBX. PBX systems from companies such as Lucent, NEC, and Mitel can be horrendously expensive even at entry level pricing. Companies can spend in excess of $25,000 for a PBX that has minimal features beyond providing dial tone and voice mail capability. For additional features, or to run a reliable call center, the price can skyrocket to anywhere from $100,000 to $500,000. By replacing a legacy PBX with an Asterisk based solution, such as Fonality’s Trixbox system, you can make literally hundreds of calls within your LAN without a reduction in voice quality, and you can get premium PBX features such as conference calling, call queuing, an auto attendant, voice mail to email, paging and intercom, and music on hold for a fraction of the cost of a legacy PBX.”

“When used as what I like to call a ‘hybrid’ PBX system, this solution can be a huge advantage in both features and cost savings. If you use standard (POTS) phone lines or a voice T1/PRI for connectivity to the outside world in conjunction with a VoIP based PBX for your internal call routing and functionality, you are getting the best of both worlds, and an extremely reliable telephony solution. Asterisk-based PBX systems have their foundation in Linux which has already proven itself to be the most stable enterprise level operating system available today. I have had Linux servers in production data centers online for in excess of 400 days straight without a reboot. Linux Web servers running Apache serve the largest percentage of Web pages on the Internet today. I am completely comfortable using it for telephony as well. Used with the proven reliability of the ‘Ma Bell’ telecommunications infrastructure that has been in place for decades now, hundreds of companies are switching to this type of solution…and the stock prices of legacy PBX providers going into the toilet is proof positive that the paradigm is shifting.”

“Just a year ago there was one sector where the hybrid PBX solution fell way short, and that was for companies with call centers larger than 20 agents. The problem for those companies was not so much the lack of VoIP technology, but rather the lack of management and reporting tools for medium-to-large call centers. But just in the last ten months there are now great solutions available, and they are getting better all the time. VoIP still has tremendous potential in this industry when you consider options such as work-at-home agents, seamless cross-country or international call routing, and cost reduction, however no one has yet created tools robust enough to compete with the agent and call detail reporting and management you can get with a legacy PBX solution. Attention investors! There is a huge opportunity for innovators in this market if you don’t mind battling the big boys.”

So what does the future hold for VoIP? Chris assures us it can only get better. “As we are starting to see Internet connections of 10Mbps and higher coming into homes and businesses, using VoIP for both internal and external voice calls will become a much more viable solution within five years. Once huge fiber links straight to the home and office are commonplace, and Internet bandwidth is sufficient to handle both normal Web traffic and tens if not hundreds of simultaneous voice calls with ease, there will be a new paradigm in place to the benefit of home users as well as small to medium businesses. Within our lifetimes I believe we can expect to see the downfall of the legacy telephony infrastructure. Just as analog broadcast television is finally dying out in favor of digital cable; VoIP will reign supreme before we know it.”

Chris Sherwood is an FtOCC certified IT and VoIP consultant based in Los Angeles and it was my pleasure to speak with him. He has worked in IT and telephony for 12 years in numerous sectors, and is the author of the popular ‘Trixbox Complete Setup Guide for Small Businesses’ available at sureteq.com. He has written numerous telephony and networking white papers and has been featured in Network World magazine. You can contact Chris by emailing chris@sureteq.com.

We listen to our merchants, and in our endeavor to be the global leader in the provision of real European Direct Debit solutions, coupled with value added benefits related to our banking focus, we are rolling out our Webbilling Advanced Direct Pay for 43 European countries.

For over eleven years Webbilling.com has focused on the use of Direct Debit for the conversion of European traffic in the United Kingdom, Spain, Netherlands, Austria and Germany, and now you can access the rest of Europe using Webbilling.com Advanced Direct Pay.

Key benefits of Webbilling Advanced Direct Pay include:

• Advanced Direct Pay Covers 43 European Countries
• Payment Funds Are Available in as Little as One Day
• Advanced Direct Pay Guarantees No Chargebacks
• Your User Can Remain Completely Anonymous
• Take Advantage of our Webbilling Periodic Recurring Process

Today’s rapid and ever changing e-commerce world demands innovative ideas and solutions in order to increase market share; strengthen your brand and grow your bottom line. Innovative processing ideas combined with ongoing research and development is what keeps Webbilling.com and our merchants on top of the ever evolving global markets. We utilize the latest technology and experienced staff to ensure the steady growth and profitability of your business. Our innovation is driven by our experience.

Senior Partner Michael Reul assures all prospective client-merchants that “we have worked hard to enable our Webbilling Advanced Direct Pay surfer/users to have access to merchants’ sites in as little as one day. While this method is not as effective as our true direct debit, and not exactly impulse buying, it is guaranteed no chargebacks and works effectively for the 38 European countries still requiring a physical signature for real pull debits. We will continue to innovate and refine our techniques in this area in order to further maximize our merchants’ earning power.”

- Individual Solutions for Individual Requirements -

The Webbilling.com team is setting appointments for August Internext. Introduce yourself at the Mix & Meet Market Thursday August 7th, 2008 or contact us in advance for an appointment to discuss Webbilling Advanced Direct Pay and all aspects of our proven EU direct debit platform. Let us show you exactly how you can best leverage current economic conditions for your specific programs.

Please contact:
Webbilling.com B.V.
Email JoeD


About Webbilling.com:

WEBBILLING.com B.V. is the leading provider of real EU Direct Debit services to e-commerce companies worldwide. With a negative database and systems developed over ten years, superior fraud detection and established collection services, Webbilling.com has the experience to maximize your revenues, and the expertise to guide you to the best EU conversion rates possible. Their European Direct Debit can be added to any existing billing cascade and does not cannibalize credit card revenue. Webbilling.com assists client-merchants by combining in-depth knowledge of the European market with proven technology, powerful time-tested relationships, client focused expertise, and personal service second to none.

Further Reading on Related Topics

Your Alternative Billing Self-Test

Do You Really Bill the United Kingdom?

EASY NATS IMPLEMENTATION!
Boris set us up! Contact me for details.