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Microsoft Teams Up With Japanese VoIP Carrier
paritosh wrote to mention an Ars article about the joining up of Microsoft and Softbank to provide enterprise-level VoIP, IM, email, Internet, and groupware to the Japanese market. They are already discussing bringing it to the U.S. if it succeeds there. From the article: "With Softbank BB supplying most of the VoIP infrastructure, Microsoft's primary focus in this agreement will be providing hosted versions of its server products. Some of the products mentioned in the agreement include Exchange 2003, Office Live Communications Server 2005 and SharePoint. I wouldn't be surprised to see Windows Messenger make its way into the mix considering its new PC-to-POTS capability, which can act as a segue into the larger areas of the VoIP market in North America."
How has this hurt Microsoft before? How has an unreliable product put into a market that already has many alternative reliable products ever stopped Microsoft?
It's really no different than MS getting into the toaster market. There is a level of expectation people have for appliances, and they freak out when an appliance starts acting up. Add in to the mix that those same people who have a certain level of expectations in their phone systems are business types, and you have to tread carefully.
I know. I do voip stuff ( with asterisk. ask for it by name ), and normal, rational people get very weird when something acts up in a phone system. Even if it's something that doesn't actually mean anything ( like the tones don't echo, or it takes longer to connect a call than they are used to. ). Businesses depend on their phone systems more so than their computers, and with the advent of computers in the work place, the phones are kind of seen as the last bastion of technology that "Just Works", making them that much more precious.
I refuse to setup someone's business using voip over the internet, given how flaky it can be. If that's truly what MS wants to try, more power to them, but they will fail hard. Further, it will damage their already shaky rep.
Mod me down with all of your hatred and your journey towards the dark side will be complete!
Haha, okay, I'll bite this obvious troll.
Anyone who knows anythign about Japanese VOIP will tell you immediately what a total piece of shit it is. First of all, Softbank is NOT a "VOIP Carrier". There are no VOIP carriers in Japan other than NTT. Anyone who tells you otherwise doesnt know the situation. What happens is you have NTT reselling lines to smaller companies. More on this later.
The real failure with Japanese VOIP (other than per-minute charges for voip calls!) is the whole new "050" prefix where all voip shit goes to. Yes, you can get a new voip number, but it will be some random 10-digit 050 prefix number taht you'll have to tell everyone. Number portability? forget it.
There's the new overpriced hikari denwa service which lets you (finally) have a landline phone # tied to voip but it requires a) expensive and unavailable in 99% of Japan NTT-flets connection, b) still bills 8yen/3 minutes for all calls (and increases with distance)... What the fuck are they thinking?
Then there's like 1000 "ISPs" selling "IP-Phone" services, but all they are doing is reselling NTT garbage. SO you take already expensive NTT rate, add on some extra shit by each ISP, and you got a total failure in the works.
Its actually cheaper to buy voip line from a u.s. company (vonage, broadvoice, etc) because there are no flat-rate long distance plans offered by jap voip - with broadvoice you can even have flat-rate calls INSiDE JAPAN (to landline, not mobile numbers) - for like $30 a month.
What does microsoft have to do with this? Probably nothing, but I thought a good rant on the current situation of Jap voip would be appropriate for this article.