As voice over internet companies go out of business the FCC decided there should be some warning for customers, unlike the surprise received by Sunrocket customers. The FCC approved a rule yesterday that mandates that struggling VoIP companies must give customers and regulatory bodies "reasonable notice" before they shut down. The rule is meant to avoid a repeat of the sudden SunRocket shutdown in July 2007 that left thousands of customers without any phone service, including access to 911 and other emergency numbers. But the FCC did not specify the amount of time a VoIP provider has to provide its warning, so for now the vague "reasonable notice" timeframe is up for interpretation. [+]

The economy is bad and we all know it, but Northern Telecom is not happy. Nortel's Carrier Networks group, which houses its carrier VoIP service and Application Solutions division, saw revenues slip to $737 million, down 32 percent year-over-year and 48 percent from the previous quarter, according to first-quarter financial results released today. While Nortel blamed much of the decline on its wireless segments, it's likely that Nortel's Chapter 11 bankruptcy proceedings impacted the VoIP part of the group's earnings as well, as every division of the company saw a marked revenue decline for the quarter. Company-wide, Nortel reported a net loss of $507 million for the quarter, as its $1.73 billion in revenue was off more than $1 billion from the $2.76 billion it recorded in the first quarter of 2008. The company said it is still in the [+]

Phone.com has introduced its Virtual Number service, allowing customers to - a la Google Voice - choose one primary phone number that acts as a gateway to any/all of the phone numbers the customer may already use. There are also some freebies if you refer other customers to the service. Unlike GV, a Phone.com customer can transfer an existing number to act as a Virtual Number or assign a new number. Customers can also upload their address book from most major email programs to program call routing information based on caller ID, as well as for use during click-to-call, call blocking and other tasks. In addition customers are able to upload their address book from most major email programs; the contact information can be used to program call routing based on caller ID, and during click-to-call, call blocking, and additional tasks that [+]

Microsoft subsidiary Tellme announced it will offer Global Crossing VoIP service and improved call automation as part of its contact center offering. Tellme claims a customer can save up to 60 percent per minute by using the Global Crossing offering for its contact center, while also eliminating transfer costs and lowering costs additionally with access to local number service. "Our goal is to give enterprises technology that improves the customer experience but also affords them the ultimate financial flexibility when deploying voice services," said Jamie Bertasi, senior director of Business Solutions at Tellme. "From initial deployments we're seeing impressive cost savings and results that we're sure our customers will be excited about." Tellme's automated answering platform also got updated in this release as a result of collaboration with Microsoft's Speech Components Group. [+]

Truphone released version 3.0 of its mobile VoIP app for the Apple iPhone Tuesday, and added SMS over IP, updated presence, and better WiFi hotspot recognition. The upgrade also enables the app for use on the 3G network, which was not possible with previous releases, and improves call quality. Truphone 3.0 improves presence and IM capabilities by combining many popular IM applications like AIM, Skype, and Yahoo! Messenger on page for easier navigation. The 3.0 release also lets users know when other Truphone for iPhone users are available with presence icons. [+]