The Tuesday, March 14th meeting of the Rocky Mountain
Internet Users Group (RMIUG) will discuss "Voice over
IP (VOIP): Can you Hear it Now?"

Voice Over IP (VOIP), the method of transmitting your
voice calls over the same Internet lines that carry
your email, is exploding. In a speech given by former
Federal Communications Chairman Michael Powell in
2004, he rattled off the following statistics:
* 2 percent of US firms currently use some form of IP
telephony, and this number is expected to grow to 19
percent by 2007
* 73 percent of wire line service providers and 31
percent of wireless operators either have implemented,
or are testing packet telephony in their networks
* 50% of Internet households are interested in
Internet Voice as a way of reducing monthly
long-distance charges

And that was almost 2 years ago!

Why is there so much change? Because if you already
have a broadband Internet connection (and
Nielsen//NetRatings says that over 60% of us do), then
you can save lots of money on your phone bills.
Consumer Reports, a leading independent consumer
publication, found that nearly 80% of the people who
made the switch to VOIP saved $20 or more with 34%
saving $40 or more!

Not to mention that you could also give your local
Bell the boot! (That is if you don't have broadband
through them - in that case, it would be just part of
a boot.)

To help us understand these trends, to explore this
topic, RMIUG will bring in several speakers:

Eric Laughlin (eric@...) is the founder of
VoipReview.org, a leading website that helps people
find the best VoIP plan for their needs. Eric is a
serial Internet entrepreneur and has appeared on Tom
Martino's Troubleshooter and been quoted by The News
Observer in Raleigh, NC in "Voice Over Internet Has
People Talking," the New York Daily News article,
titled "Dialing Up Phone Calls on Internet" and
Boulder's own Boulder County Business Report. Eric
will explain VOIP in layman's terms, help us
understand its benefits and detractions, and take us
through the decisions when deciding to go with VOIP.

June Hu (junehu@...) joined IBM Network Service
Division in 1998 as an IT Specialist, after earning a
master's degree from CU Boulder in 1997. For almost 8
years she has been one of the key persons in the
maintenance of IBM Boulder's internal network. June is
now responsible for the VOIP project at IBM Boulder
site and will talk about her experiences getting one
of the largest information companies in the world
VOIP-enabled.

Links:
VOIP Review: http://www.voipreview.org
IBM: http://www.ibm.com

The meeting is Tuesday, March 14th from 7:00 - 9:00 pm
(with optional 6:30 pm start for refreshments and
informal networking). The meeting will be held at The
National Center for Atmospheric Research (NCAR) at
1850 Table Mesa Drive in Boulder. To get to NCAR from
the Boulder Turnpike (US 36) or Broadway (US 93), take
Table Mesa Drive west towards the mountains for
approximately 2.5 miles into the foothills. NCAR is at
the top of the hill. For door-to-door driving
directions, go to MapQuest (http://www.mapquest.com/),
click on Driving Directions, enter your starting
address, NCAR's address, and voila! Park in the NCAR
lot, go in the main door, and ask the guard to point
you to meeting, which is held in the main auditorium,
right off the lobby. The meeting is free and open to
the public, but we may pass the hat to help defray
expenses.

Our meeting location seats about 120 people. That is
usually enough room to accommodate all attendees, but
it's impossible for us to predict how many people will
show up for any given meeting. Seating is always on a
first-come, first serve basis, and in the event of
more attendees than seats, we won't be able to admit
additional people into the auditorium after all seats
are filled.

Thanks to our three sponsors who help make RMIUG
meetings happen:
---------------------------------------------------------------
MicroStaff (www.microstaff.com) which provides
Creative and Technical talent for Web, Interactive
Media, Marketing Communications and Software
Development projects, is the sponsor of food and
beverages for RMIUG meetings.
ONEWARE (http://www.ONEWARE.com) -- a Colorado-based
software company that provides semi-custom web-based
applications, sponsors the RMIUG meeting minutes.
Copy Diva (http://www.copydiva.com) which provides
marketing project management, marketing communications
consulting, and web content development is the AV
sponsor for RMIUG.

Consultants and companies are invited to bring
Internet-related Product information, brochures, and
business cards which will be displayed on an
information table.

There are email mailing lists set up for this group.
To subscribe or unsubscribe, see
http://www.rmiug.org/maillist.html. You can also reach
the RMIUG "Executive" Committee at
rmiug-comm@.... Our web site is at
http://www.rmiug.org/


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Please note that RMIUG is hosted at NCAR and we are
their guests. NCAR has security regulations in effect
that we must follow in order to use the facility. If
any RMIUG attendee is unwilling to follow these simple
regulations, I would ask that he or she not attend and
instead read the minutes after the meeting.

Here are the NCAR security policies that must be
followed:

1. No weapons.
2. Must sign in at front desk and provide name.
3. Cooperate with security folks including providing
ID if requested.
4. We are guests of NCAR so cooperation and courtesy
are expected when dealing with NCAR staff.

If there are any questions or concerns with this
policy, please contact me directly.
Thanks, Josh Zapin (josh@...).
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