You are here: Home / Archives for Timo

Global Internet Phenomena

September 16, 2019 By
Sandvine produces the Global Internet Phenomena Report

It seems that each year that I went to the Canadian Telecom Summit, one of the highlights was Dave Caputo, the former CEO of Sandvine, giving a presentation with pearls of wisdom from their Global Internet Phenomena Report. That annual report was also then quoted in many other presentations as the authoritative source for what was happening on broadband networks around the world.

For example, back in 2012, Sandvine focussed on Social Networking and reported that Facebook was one of the top 4 applications on the Web and that over 50% of mobile devices communicated with Facebook each hour !

The 2019 Global Internet Phenomena Report was just released by Sandvine on Sept 10. Sandvine, a Waterloo company (forgive me some local cheerleading) has unparalleled visibility into the Internet industry with an installed base of over 2.5 billion subscribers worldwide across over 160 Tier 1 and Tier 2 fixed, mobile, WiFi and satellite operators. (note that China and India are not included in this data set)

So what is changing in how the world uses the Internet ? A lot !

Video is obviously king, but in ways that keep changing and evolving. Netflix led the way with streaming but now we are seeing more and more competitive streaming services; Amazon Prime, Hulu, YouTube and new ones coming from Disney, Apple, CBS and others. The big traditional cable and telco companies have been fighting back, trying to stop cord cutting with their own streaming offerings and video on demand.

How many different services will a consumer buy to replace their cable ? What do they do if the content they want is not on the services they are buying ? Well, the answer may be in this report as Sandvine is seeing a resurgence in BitTorrent traffic. The release of the final season of Game of Thrones on HBO , or the blockbuster movie Avengers:Endgame could be seen in the increase in BitTorrent traffic.

The big players in Web 2.0, the ones whose shares currently dominate the global stock markets are the FAANG ; Facebook, Apple, Amazon, Netflix and Google. Would it really be a surprise to find out that they also dominate the traffic on the Internet ?

Some other highlights from this edition of the report include:

  • Video is over 60% of the total downstream volume of traffic on the internet.
  • Netflix is 12.60% of the total downstream volume of traffic across the entire internet
  • Google is 12% of overall internet traffic, driven by YouTube, search, and the Android ecosystem.
  • Gaming traffic and gaming-related bandwidth consumption is increasing as gaming downloads, Twitch streaming, and eSports go mainstream.
  • BitTorrent is over 27% of total upstream volume of traffic
  • Facebook applications make up over 15% of the total internet traffic in APAC.

The report includes spotlights on the traffic share leaders for video, social networking, messaging, audio streaming, and gaming.

If you are interested, you can get a download of the report here

Filed Under: Cloud, Mobile, MPLS, OTT Apps, Quality, Regulatory

Pumpkin Spice Telecom

September 9, 2019 By

Are you ready ? It’s here ! Pumpkin Spice Telecom

Nothing says home like the delicious aroma of pumpkin spice. So we have introduced Pumpkin Spice telecom !

Call your family; call your mom; call your friends from school. Surprise them all with pumpkin spice over the phone !

Disclaimers
This disclaimer does not cover misuse, accident, lightning, flood, tornado, tsunami, volcanic eruption, earthquake, hurricanes and other Acts of God, neglect, damage from improper reading, incorrect line voltage, improper or unauthorized use, broken antenna or marred cabinet, missing or altered serial numbers, removal of tag, electromagnetic radiation from nuclear blasts, sonic boom, crash, ship sinking or taking on water, motor vehicle crashing, dropping the item, falling rocks, leaky roof, broken glass, mud slides, forest fire, or projectile (which can include, but not be limited to, arrows, bullets, shot, BB’s, paintball, shrapnel, lasers, napalm, torpedoes, or emissions of X-rays, Alpha, Beta and Gamma rays, knives, stones, etc.).
No license, express or implied, by estoppel or otherwise, to any Intellectual property rights are granted herein.
Amitel disclaims all liability, including liability for infringement of any proprietary rights, relating to use of information in this specification. Amitel does not warrant or represent that such use will not infringe such rights. In fact, that’s a very strong possibility.
Nothing in this document constitutes a guarantee, warranty, or license, express or implied. Amitel disclaims all liability for all such guaranties, warranties, and licenses, including but not limited to: fitness for a particular purpose; merchantability; non-infringement of intellectual property or other rights of any third party or of Amitel; indemnity; and all others. The reader is advised that third parties may have intellectual property rights that may be relevant to this document and the technologies discussed herein, and is advised to seek the advice of competent legal counsel, without obligation to Amitel. In other words, get your own #$^%#$ lawyer before you hurt yourself.
These materials are provided by Amitel as a service to its friends and/or customers and may be used for informational purposes only. Single copies may be distributed at will since it is unlikely that Amitel created this material independently as he has no creative skill.
TRADEMARK INFORMATION: Amitel and the Amitel logo are registered trademarks of Amitel.
Amitel’s trademarks may be used publicly with permission only from Amitel. Fair use of Amitel’s trademarks in advertising and promotion of Amitel products requires proper acknowledgment. If you use Amitel’s trademarks without Amitel’s express approval, he will get really pissed off.
*All other brands and names are property of their respective owners.
OWNERSHIP OF MATERIALS: Materials are copyrighted and are protected by worldwide copyright laws and treaty provisions. They may not be copied, reproduced, modified, published, uploaded, posted, transmitted, or distributed in any way, without Amitel’s prior written permission, which is freely granted as long as you take Amitel’s name off in some lame attempt to either hide the materials origin or in the hilarious belief that the receiver of this material will think that you created it on your own, or somehow will think you more clever and intelligent that you really are. Except as expressly provided herein, Amitel does not grant any express or implied right to you under any patents, copyrights, trademarks, or trade secret information. Other rights may be granted to you by Amitel in writing or incorporated elsewhere in the Materials.
DISCLAIMER: THE MATERIALS ARE PROVIDED “AS IS” WITHOUT ANY EXPRESS OR IMPLIED WARRANTY OF ANY KIND INCLUDING WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTABILITY, NONINFRINGEMENT OF INTELLECTUAL PROPERTY, OR FITNESS FOR ANY PARTICULAR PURPOSE. IN NO EVENT SHALL AMITEL OR HIS SUPPLIERS BE LIABLE FOR ANY DAMAGES WHATSOEVER (INCLUDING, WITHOUT LIMITATION, DAMAGES FOR LOSS OF PROFITS, BUSINESS INTERRUPTION, LOSS OF INFORMATION) ARISING OUT OF THE USE OF OR INABILITY TO USE THE MATERIALS, EVEN IF AMITEL HAS BEEN ADVISED OF THE POSSIBILITY OF SUCH DAMAGES. BECAUSE SOME JURISDICTIONS PROHIBIT THE EXCLUSION OR LIMITATION OF LIABILITY FOR CONSEQUENTIAL OR INCIDENTAL DAMAGES, THE ABOVE LIMITATION MAY NOT APPLY TO YOU. Amitel further does not warrant the accuracy or completeness of the information, text, graphics, links or other items contained within these materials. Amitel may make changes to these materials, or to the products described therein, at any time without notice. Amitel makes no commitment to update the Materials. In other words, if you screw it up, you’re on your own.
Copyright © 2019 Amitel. All rights reserved.

Filed Under: Humour

Labour Day Caution

August 29, 2019 By

It is an unfortunate fact that the hackers of the world like to plan their attacks on public holidays when network supervision may not be at its highest.

Please remember to be vigilant this Labour Day long weekend and guard access to your switches.

AurorA has to deliver any traffic that is sent to it , so you are responsible for any unauthorized access to your network. AurorA will pass on any alerts that it gets of suspicious traffic patterns. AurorA has also implemented automatic blocking of B numbers once we detect a suspicious fraudulent traffic pattern in an attempt to minimize losses. 

As highlighted on this blog AurorA has taken other steps such as the weekly reports of suspicous blocked call attempts, robust and accurate dial plan and intensified focus on high quality terminating routes.

Have a safe and happy Labour Day long weekend, and good luck to all the students returning back to school next week.

Timo Vainionpaa

Filed Under: Fraud

Eat your own Dogfood

August 28, 2019 By

What is the best way to know your customer’s needs ?

Over the years I have developed very close ties with my customers. I like to say that at AurorA and Amitel I do business with “Friends and Family”. The best way I have found to really know my customers needs is to actually become a customer of theirs.

It is a variation on the concept of “Eating your own Dogfood” where employees are expected to use their own products and services as a way to understand its real world experience. By using my customers services, I have some skin-in-the game and really get to know my customers intimately.

Over the years I have bought SIP Trunks, DID’s, Internet Services, Voice Termination, PRI’s, T-1’s, and more from a wide variety of my customers. I have also been happy to refer prospects to them, looking for the same types of services that I’ve been buying myself. I feel confident in recommending a service if I actually use it myself and can honestly vouch for it.

The best part is that all of these companies are part of the competitive telecom and internet landscape, competing against the oligopoly. We are all in the fight against Big Telecom together.

So the next time you need a telecom service, look to your customers first. If it is something that they don’t provide, contact me ! If it is not something that AurorA and Amitel provide directly, I would be happy to recommend one of MY customers to you as I am probably using their service already myself.

Filed Under: Competition, Humour, Oligopoly, Quality

Payment Processing Success Story : Internet Service Provider

August 13, 2019 By

Amitel offers Payment Processing and Merchant Services in conjunction with our partner Zomaron. We are pleased to share this success story from the ISP industry.
Please see our Offer Sheet here.

Start.ca was founded in 1995 and has grown to 160 employees servicing more than 70,000 customers across Ontario. They service both the residential and business communities, ­supplying fibre, cable and DSL internet, digital phone and TV service to residential consumers, and a full suite of internet and data hosting services for businesses.

Payment processing is a critical component of their business. Most customers pay online, on a recurring month-to-month basis. They have approximately 40,000 charges run at the first of the month. They need to make sure their payment system is secure for the consumer, and payments are processed smoothly and accurately, without any risk to their credit or credit cards.


Prior to making the switch to Zomaron, one of the problems they were having with their previous processor was their ­inability to support new payment technologies, specifically payment through MasterCard debit and Visa debit, which a lot of ­customers wanted. Switching to Zomaron made that possible—and made a lot of their customers very happy.


One of the exciting things about Zomaron’s services is the availability of Apple Pay and Google Pay processing. Start.ca expects more and more clients to use mobile devices for ­payments, and to have that technology piece ready is very reassuring. Ultimately, it boils down to payment diversity, and Zomaron offers that.


As you can imagine, on a monthly basis they have a lot of chargebacks, voids, and payment adjustments that need to be made. With their previous provider, the online portals were cumbersome and confusing. With Zomaron, they have a single portal that is much easier to use, which enables them to solve most of our billing problems on their own. The accounting team loves it.


Start.ca says the customer service they have received from Zomaron has been outstanding. In addition to being able to get support quickly and easily, they regularly receive calls from Zomaron just to see if they need help with anything. This experience has been a refreshing change of pace for them and really shows how important their business is to Zomaron.


Features, functionality and support were our primary ­reasons for making the switch to Zomaron, but they have also been able to realize a significant savings in our payment processing costs, which was a really nice surprise.


At Start.ca, the vision is to always provide customers with quality service and positive experiences. Both Start.ca and Zomaron compete against the major players in our industries—they have a lot in common that way—and both companies know that having a high level of reliability, great customer service and a wide range of product options are the difference-makers. It’s nice to support another local business, and it’s great to work alongside another organization that shares similar values.

This article originally appeared in London Inc. Magazine Feb 5, 2019

Filed Under: Merchant Services

Why do you hate your service provider ?

August 7, 2019 By
Unhappy woman with Thumbs down

Here is a fun experiment; Google industries or companies with the worst customer service. Any guesses at what industry comes out on top ?

Outside of government, telecommunications leads by an overwhelming margin with an Ipsos survey in 2018 having 38% of the US population saying this sector has the worst customer service in the country. (Healthcare was next with 18%… quite the drop)

Leading the top 5 industries most hated by customers according the the American Customer Satisfaction Index ? Cable Providers, Internet Providers and Wireless Phone Service Providers.

“Hated industries. You know the ones—the industries that customers avoid dealing with as much as possible. The places customers go out of their way to avoid talking to or interacting with. These are the companies that have bad reputations of dishonesty and not treating their customers fairly. The sad part is that most of these industries are nearly unavoidable, which means at some point, customers have to take the plunge and interact with them.”

Do you think this only applies to the USA ? Nope, it seems to be just as prevalent in Canada according to the Huffington Post, where telecom had the worst reputation among all industries in Canada. Even worse than oil companies !

So why do people love to hate their telecom service providers ? Could it be a combination of
– High Prices
– Unreliable Service
– Poor Customer Service
– Slow or unreliable products/services
– Time and effort to resolve issues via contact centres
– Unhelpful agents
– Surprise Extra fees, charges, overages
– (add your 2 cents here)

This is not new. I have spent my entire adult life in this industry , I’ve been in telecom for over 36 years since graduating from Engineering at UWaterloo with almost all of it spent on the competitive side. The side challenging the oligopoly , the handful of companies that control over 90% of almost every telecom service market in Canada; TV, Internet, Phone etc In those 36 years it has been a constant refrain I heard from consumers, friends and family.

Since Canadians love to hate their service providers, why don’t they demand better ? Why not support the competitive players that are challenging the oligopoly that are providing better service, at better prices with innovative products ? Why not demand more ?

Or is it just more fun to complain ? What do you think ?

Filed Under: Competition, Oligopoly, Quality
« Previous Page
Next Page »