The best and worst of 2008

Quality of Experience Another term that's hanging around, though mostly applied to video these days.

Seamless Mobility This term stuck, as real-world ability to roam between wireless networks increasingly is becoming a reality.

Social Graph This one's done; it didn't live past the initial hype.

Transformation As a term, it's on life support, as transformation projects and ideas still hold sway but are seeing mixed results. If transformation really succeeds, the 2009 buzzword should be “transformed.”

RATE THE RATERS: HOW TELEPHONY'S 2007 PREDICTIONS FARED

THINGS WE THOUGHT WOULD HAPPEN UPDATE

Qwest is acquired

Qwest is still clinging to its independence, which is more than can be said for its fellow telco Embarq, acquired by CenturyTel in October.

Google stock returns to Earth

Even the search-and-ad giant isn't immune from the economy. Google's stock hit below $300 this year, and many investors predict it will stay that way at the close of the year. It's a round trip right back to Earth for Google.

T-Mobile launches 3G services

This was the year T-Mobile joined the rest of the world and went 3G. But even with the Android launch, T-Mobile lags rivals.

Tellabs is acquired

Still living the swinging bachelor life.

AT&T buys Echostar

Pam and Jim on The Office took the plunge, but EchoStar still stands alone. Not only did AT&T not buy the cow, it cancelled the milk contract, preferring to team with DirecTV, rival to EchoStar's dish.

Cisco buys Calix

Calix has shipped more than 5 million ports to customers serving 31 million access lines, and Cisco — still gun shy.

MOST OVERHYPED TECHNOLOGIES UPDATE

Telepresence

This still may be more promise than reality, but it is being deployed and, more importantly, being incorporated by multinational telecom service providers such as AT&T and BT into a hosted service.

IP Multimedia Subsystem

What's that cliché again? Oh, yeah. “IMS is a journey, not a destination.” Unfortunately, this journey has become a road trip with a gaggle of cranky kids and a malfunctioning DVD player.