Get Free World Dial-Up -- With a Few Catches
Posted by
timothy
on Thu Feb 08, 2001 08:47 AM
from the voice-to-voice dept.
from the voice-to-voice dept.
maken writes: "Remember the Free World Dialup project? From their page: "In the Fall of 1995 several of us had been throwing around the idea of "patching" Internet phone to regular telephone lines in order to allow true "patching" of international phone calls over the Internet - not just for people with computers but for anybody with access to a phone... and this is how the Free World Dialup project got started. As commercial VOIP gateways became available, Free World Dialup II in 1997 was the first free network to provide a free phone to phone service to over 15 countries using commercial hardware and software." Well, they're at it again and are looking for members." It costs about a hundred bucks to become part of it (for hardware), as well as broadband access. Rather reminds of me the ambitious Bayonne Project, (about which more later).
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Re:Problems with international calls (Score:3)
What? Insightful? Hmm...how about Score:2, Out of Touch With Reality.
There is no trend of companies having absolute power in the US. All the anecdotal evidence in the world can't change that. You're speaking from pure paranoia.
Yeah, I can see it now..."Hello, FBI? Hi, this is AT&T. Listen, we need you to trot on over to those free VOIP guys and raid them because they have a better idea than we do. Oh, and while you're at it, Microsoft wants you to raid RedHat because they're giving away operating systems, too. You might as well hit Mandrake and SuSE, too. Oh, and whichever flavor of Gnutella is hot today...get them."
I might also add that the "trend" of which you speak was first waltzed out over 150 years ago against Crocker, Stanford and their gang...so if it's a trend, it's about as slow as continental drift!
-h-
No new information (Score:3)
There was one big reason why this project, and a number of similar ones, failed over the last few years. Unmetered access only exists in a few areas of the world, the rest of us have to pay for our local phone calls. When I plug my analog phone line into a SIP gateway and allow people to dial out on it, I end up paying for the local phone call. If I were in a popular place, such as London or Paris, I could end up with a phone bill in the thousands of dollars each month for providing my dialtone to people on the internet.
Does someone have a link to more detailed information on FWD III? It would be interesting to see what they are doing with SIP gateways on broadband connections, just for IP to IP conversations.
the AC
Telecoms firms may not be happy (Score:3)
But: if everyone and their dog actually starts using these services from home, then the telcos may actually try and start throwing their weight about.
Has anyone actually read their DSL (or for that matter standard phone line) Terms and Conditions to see if this sort of thing is covered? I for one don't even know where the T&Cs for my phone line are!
e.g. This phone line is provided
I never though I would say this, but is there a Telco Lawyer in the house?!
Requires generous people (Score:3)
lemme see - so each person who has broad band always on can hook up a phone line that other folks can dial in and out of to get their free long distance phone calls.
This is noble, but I am not that rich yet, to donate both the hardware and the dialup line.
At least they were kind enough to supply this list of other free phone services:
- - - -
Free Telephony Services - 2001 Update
(Note: all "Free" Phone to Phone services have been removed since the services have been discontinued)
As the Free Telephony revolution continues, please visit our friends at the following websites which offer Free Telephony Services:
Re:Telecoms firms may not be happy (Score:3)
Let them. Their competition (read: cable, wireless, satellite) will move in take their business away from them. It's really that simple.
--
All men are great
before declaring war
Re:Economics and legality (Score:4)
True, but circuit-switched copper networks aren't cheap at all. The only reason they're economical vs. fiber is the capital investment needed to replace them. It's inevitable that most of those copper lines/switches are going to need replacement anyway at some point in the near future, and they're not going to be replaced with more circuit-switched copper (if your Telco has any financial sense.)
A check against the proliferation of VOIP services is the unreliability and limited bandwidth of the internet today. Telcos don't have to adjust to everyone using their computers to make phone calls right away, they have time to build the infrastructure and spread the costs over a number of years (it wouldn't do to crank up data costs, thus driving customers away from that growing market.) Most Telcos know that consumer long-distance as a revenue stream is going the way of the dodo, they just want to make the transition a little bit more graceful.
Excellent. (Score:4)
Thanks to the fact that most of the mobile phone companies are now huge multinationals, I can expect my one little device to work in over 100 countries. I am with Vodafone, the British mobile company that is the largest in the world, with the majority of the European, Asian and American market. With the exception of America, all these regions offer a unified mobile system, and the upcoming 3G liscenses will unify things even more.
Presently I am living in Cuba working on a Journalism project, and my phone works perfectly well here. It has also worked in India, Malaysia, Britain and Germany without any reconfiguring or dificulty. The only place I have difficulty is America, but I hardly ever have reason to go there anyway.
3G liscenses will give me 256kbits of modem connectivity in just a few years, with mobile videophone, easy to use all over the world. I can't help but think that this news is the last gasp of the morbid and dying landline industry, which can see the writing on the wall.
I'll be glad to see the back of landline telephones. In fact, I already have.
You know exactly what to do-
Your kiss, your fingers on my thigh-
Infrastructure and Technology (Score:5)
During the very earliest parts of the last two millenia, 'roads' were little more than well beaten paths. Relatively few people used them so that they weren't worth providing. Mostly you stayed in your own village and just occasionally, if you were very rich, you took the path to other villages to sell your goods. You had to worry about highwaymen, and didn't feel safe.
Even during the middle ages, what roads there were were maintained by baronies and kingdoms. There were stiff penalties for travel, and overbearing regulations. You didn't cross a landholder's property or bridge even if the road ran through it without paying the toll if there was one. The barons were responsble for keeping their own roads safe, but frequently did not.
In modern times, so many people use the roads for so many reasons that the local and country governments have become responsible for maintaining them out of tax money, with no profit whatsoever. Their existence buffers the economy by providing an avenue for commerce, shipping, and travel.
Apply this same pattern to the phone system. Before communication became important, only individuals used radio or line communication because of its relative cost and danger. Someone could easily overhear your private conversation. Before the telephone systems became 'accepted', the only real use for remote real-time two-way communication was to radio different parts of a battle for combat instructions.
Fast forward to today. We have the equivalent of 'divine right of kings'-granted baronies on our communication systems. Only a few hand-picked individuals or companies have control over a vast amount of infrastructure. This is true for the U.S. and most of the rest of the world. True, the phone companies are responsble for it's cost and upkeep, but let's get serious here. Just how good is the U.S.'s phone system, even with the modicum of competition we have? Phone companies *could* be laying DSL to every home, building, or apartment but they're not.
In the future, time being the only variable, we'll move into the stage where so many people use the communication infrastructure so much that it will be impossible to make a profit on. At the same time, it will be a necessary commodity for any given country's economy. The government will either rapidly or gradually assume control of the phone system, and like the roads, we'll assume 'free' use of them in exchange for tax dollars.
If you think about this, this is already happening with the power-system in California. The government is paying for juice at taxpayers expense. This isn't likely to change in the near future.
Please remember the time difference! (Score:5)
A 3 am wazzup will not go very far in improving international relations.