VoIP Questioned 375
87C751 writes "C|Net is carrying a very FUDdy story on the downside of VoIP telephony. Alongside the reasonable point of 911 dialing being unavailable during service and power outages, the writeup mentions broadband over power lines as a possible solution to the power failure problem. (talk about your cognitive dissonance!) It also notes that VoIP customers may not be listed in the local phone book, causing problems with "major fast food companies" (do they mean pizza deliveries?), and that Tivo requires a POTS line for initial setup (which sounds like Tivo's problem, not VoIP's)."
Series2 Tivo (Score:2, Informative)
Re:Series2 Tivo (Score:5, Informative)
Re:Series2 Tivo (Score:3, Informative)
Re:Series2 Tivo (Score:4, Informative)
I'm not convinced of VoIP yet... (Score:5, Insightful)
I'll be waiting for it to move out of Gen-1 status to the Gen-2 or Gen-3 devices.
What amazes me is the lack of talk regarding the security of these devices...
Re:I'm not convinced of VoIP yet... (Score:5, Insightful)
Yeah, because the security of cell phones and cordless phones is so rock solid.
Almost nobody cares that anyone can eavesdrop on their cell and cordless conversations. Why should they care any different about their VOIP ones?
- Tony
Re:I'm not convinced of VoIP yet... (Score:2, Interesting)
Who will pay for the 10,000 calls ya phone racks up from 2am-6am every morning when you sleep due to the trojan/worm it's infected with.
Sure it ain't gunna be ya VoIP provider!
Re: Cell phone / Remote phone privacy (Score:4, Insightful)
Re: Cell phone / Remote phone privacy (Score:2, Interesting)
Yesterday, my daughter told me that she was having trouble hearing me because her next door neighbor's phone conversation was too loud. She even recognized the voice! Don't think for a minute that no one can hear. Even if you are on a wire connection, the other end may not be.
The ramifications go far. Lawyers can't legally demand attorney-client privilege for any information discussed over cell or cordless phones. I wonder what, if any, further legal statutes are needed?
Re: (Score:2)
Re:I'm not convinced of VoIP yet... (Score:5, Insightful)
sure. right after you let me know how you're planning on intercepting my SRTP-protected VoIP calls...
True, VoIP security is just beginning to see the light of day, but since we're building on a good base of existing network-security tools it will ramp up fast.
SRTP rfc: http://zvon.org/tmRFC/RFC3711/Output/index.html
Re:I'm not convinced of VoIP yet... (Score:3, Interesting)
Cordless phones and analog cell phones sure -- care to tell me how to eavesdrop on a digital (CDMA/TDMA/iDEN/GSM/etc) conversation using John Q. Public equipment?
There have been reports (for ages) of $10K suitcases that can eavesdrop on GSM conversations. I imagine the price would have gone down considerably. After all, all you need is a hacked-up phone that ca
Re:I'm not convinced of VoIP yet... (Score:2)
Other DVRs work (Score:5, Informative)
With that said, I love using Vonage, and hope I never have to deal with Verizon or SBC again.
Re:Other DVRs work (Score:4, Informative)
Re:Other DVRs work (Score:3, Funny)
Dave: I'm trying to order pizza.
TiVo: I can't let you do that, Dave.
Dave: Why not?
*knock knock knock*
Delivery guy: Pizza delivery for Dave!
Tivo: (red LED glows menacingly) Dave's not here, man.
Dave: ???
What a crock of... (Score:4, Insightful)
All the problems he mentions would certainly be valid points, but only if you're dumb enough to completely replace your phone system with VoIP!
I have VoIP, but I kept one of my POTS lines when I switched. Without long distance service, it costs me a miniscule amount per month, and I can still use it for my TiVo, alarm system, 911, and so on. Everything he brings up is such a non-issue, it's almost funny.
The only valid point he has is that it's difficult to get yourself listed in the phone book, but that's not a technical issue and should be resolved shortly.
Re:What a crock of... (Score:5, Insightful)
I don't even see that as a problem. I don't want my phone to be listed. My Vonage phone never rings unless it's someone I have given my number to!
Re:What a crock of... (Score:4, Insightful)
Exactly. People pay good money to have their phone number unlisted. This isn't a bug with voip, this is a feature, and an excellent one at that.
Re:What a crock of... (Score:5, Insightful)
But that's exactly what VoIP SHOULD be -- a replacement for standard land-line telephony. Why should we settle (and adopt!) a system that requires you to keep, even at small cost, another phone system that goes through the traditional switching network in order to be able to use alarms, 911, etc.? Instead, VoIP should be improved where it can do everything the telephone system can do, and then we can do away with that antiquated network and use broadband everywhere.
Re:What a crock of... (Score:2)
Re:What a crock of... (Score:2)
Re:What a crock of... (Score:2, Insightful)
Re:What a crock of... (Score:3, Interesting)
Related issue: there really ought to be a way to test 911.
I agree there should be an automated way to test 911, as you described.. That said, I work for a large multi-city real estate company and we are deploying Cisco IP phones to every new office we complete.. We always test 911 service, because there was one time when we first deployed IP phones in our corporate office we had not tested it and found out the hard way it wasn't working (luckily we were still migrating from a legacy PBX, so there were
Re:What a crock of... (Score:2)
Re:What a crock of... (Score:3, Insightful)
This is just poor journalism. Of the complaints raised the 911 issue is the most legitimate due to the lack of location specifics when you dial 911 from a cell p
Re:What a crock of... (Score:3, Interesting)
I have almost completely replaced my phone system with VoIP. I say almost as I have DSL for my broadband and therefore need an actual line. All my voice is over the Vonage system even 911.
I register my location with Vonage for 911 service
I plug my equipment into a UPS. For last resort I can use the van and inverters as a crude generator
Well since I'm using DSL I do have to pay for an actual phone line. Tivo gets its own line for whatever it wants to do.
I was un
Tivo does not require a phone line (Score:5, Informative)
Re:Tivo does not require a phone line (Score:2)
I bought a 40hr Series 2 refurb (only 100 bucks) probably 4 or 5 months ago from Tivo.com. I paid the extra 30 bucks for the Linksys USB ethernet adapter. I get the unit, set it up, and it says to plug in the phone line. Like many people, I don't have a phone line, which is why I bought the network adapter. I call Tivo support and they told me that units were still shipping with old software on them. They didn't really see a problem in selling me a network adapter and a T
Or, you use someone else's phone line. (Score:2)
Just because it needs a phone line, doesn't mean it needs your phone line -- as well as I know, these things aren't tied to your phone like satellite dishes are (if you want to order pay-per-view on 'em)
Re: VoIP Questioned (Score:5, Funny)
That's horrible! Are you implying that some telemarketers won't be capable of easily obtaining my telephone number, and the local telephone company won't be capable of charging me to opt-out of the directory?
What a shame!
Re: VoIP Questioned (Score:2, Insightful)
I've always gotten around the charge for an unlisted number by simply giving them a bogus name to publish in the book.
Broadband over power lines? (Score:4, Insightful)
Re:Broadband over power lines? (Score:2)
How?
Depending on the cause of the outage (like a line cut) you'd lose power *and* ISP anyway.
Re:Broadband over power lines? (Score:2)
Any New Technology... (Score:5, Insightful)
Social Change (Score:5, Insightful)
There is also what I have been told many times. "We've always done it that way, why change." Most people don't like change and that is a big change.
Ben Charny is my b1tch (Score:3, Interesting)
Broadband over power is dead due to FCC restriction...
TiVos can use an ethernet link and DHCP to get their updates... And besides, they make VoIP phone adapters...
And who wants their home number in a book anyway? I've forgone the "unlisted number" charge, and as a result received more phone spam than god ever knew...
Kinda makes me wonder who's pushing them to get this published on the website. Apparently noone interested in facts, or logic...
Re:Ben Charny is my b1tch (Score:2)
911 (Score:5, Interesting)
Re:911 (Score:3, Insightful)
Very wrong. Your VOIP can easily fail because of so many domestic conditions, while the telco easily continues to send you 48v + current in the local loop.
"If I needed to dial 911, I'd use my mobile phone rather than the POTS/VoIP one, because it's in my pocket all the time, I'd be able to get the call made faster. I don't see this being an issue for most people."
Wrong again: the penetration of mobile phones is woefully low, and a
Re:911 (Score:2)
Re:911 (Score:2)
Unless you need to dial 911 due to a general local emergency (earthquake, flooding, etc), becuase the cells rapidly get overwhelmed by the number of calls. The attacks on NYC and the Pentagon brought that out in sharp relief: The cell phone system in Manhattan basically shut down from the flood of calls and so on.
It's not
Re:911 (Score:5, Funny)
Fire in the cell tower?
Re:911 (Score:2)
And you're saying this blazing fire would somehow go completely unnoticed?
Re:911 (Score:3, Insightful)
You could be dead wrong (Score:3, Insightful)
Tivo can use a network connection (Score:5, Interesting)
Which is anyway beside the point, as a lot of the VoIP services have boxes available that you can plug a POTS phone into, some of which can handle modem traffic just fine.
Tivo still requires a phone? (Score:2)
I considered voip earlier this year, for an outbound connection for an alarm system dialer. There don't seem to be any "per-minute" type voip plans though where you only pay for use. Nor do there seem to be "outbound o
Re:Tivo still requires a phone? (Score:2)
Dominos pizza insisted I have a land line (Score:5, Interesting)
Other pizza places dont have a problem with placing an order through a cell phone.
Of course this ignorant policy cost them a customer.
I imagine a VOIP line would cause even more problems.
Re:Dominos pizza insisted I have a land line (Score:5, Insightful)
Re:Dominos pizza insisted I have a land line (Score:2, Insightful)
Even places with such policies wont care if you've dealt with them before. The lil pizza shop down the road from me has such a policy, but I order from my cell all the time, and they pull my name on the computer, see I've bought hundreds of pizzas and never dicked them around, and have no problem with it.
Re:Dominos pizza insisted I have a land line (Score:2)
land line vs other (Score:3, Informative)
This has changed over the last couple years as cell phones saturated the population. They are now too common to refuse the business.
As long as the store adheres to security policy, there really shouldn't be a problem. Just leave your phone on so they can make a security call-back befor
Re:Dominos pizza insisted I have a land line (Score:4, Funny)
> Coincidentally, this Pizza Hut is out of business
"Coincidentally"?
I do not think that word means what you think it means.
VoIP (Score:3, Informative)
I realized what happened and whipped out the cell phone.
As for the other points -
1. I'd rather not be listed.
2. I've had no problems with fast food delivery.
3. ReplayTV uses a broadband connection.
4. I have a UPS for the VoIP box, cable modem, router, cordless phone base-station. As long as the power outtage doesn't effect the cable company, I'm all set.
5. 911 - Between what Vonage DOES offer for 911 service, 2 cell phones (mine and my wife's), and close proximity to neighbors (townhouse)... I feel safe enough.
Never been a fan of the VoIP (Score:2, Insightful)
Tivo (Score:3, Insightful)
What it seems to come down to is packet loss I've been told that Packet loss is what kills modem connections over VoIP and that Vonage can alter your packet size to help compensate. I was trying late afternoon and had issues my Tivo has since automaticaly dialed up and is fine on Vonage probably due to the low packet loss in the early morning. I didnt even have to call vonage. It dosent work well but it does work.
Why wouldn't TIVO work? (Score:2)
Is this really a problem or simply conjecture?
Re:Why wouldn't TIVO work? (Score:2)
Possibly the VOIP codec would make the modem signals unusable?
The Tivo info is wrong. (Score:3, Informative)
emergencies (Score:5, Insightful)
Your 48v (?) POTS line continues to provide current during emergency because the telco has backup power supply: there's virtually no complexity on the user side (the phone is powered from the line, and analogue phones are dead simple and largely robust electromechanical device).
On the other hand, even if your telco can keep PPP up during an emergency, and even if the telco pulled out 911 VOIP at the exchange and routed it on high availability circuits to operators to minimise internetworking failures, you still have the horrendous problem at the user side: i.e. complex customer home equipment that runs off domestic power that has large number of failure modes.
Even mobiles are better in an emergency (i.e. handsets have portable power, and the basestation and infrastructure has emergency power + failover features).
So even if you get QoS and all other other things in place to make VOIP really work: how the hell are you going to ensure high availability?
Otherwise, VOIP is going to great for multimedia conferencing and everything else.
Also (Score:2, Insightful)
Your VoIP phone is sitting right there for any spammer to call. Now, there is no cost "barrier" for them to call you from outside the country. Now, most slashdotters will respond that they are l33t enough to create a whitelist-only calling system but the average Joe generally isn't offered this luxury and wouldn't be technical enough to understand how to implement it.
VoIP will become a new conduit for spam.
Re: (Score:2)
Comment removed (Score:3, Informative)
If the phone companies (Score:2)
Cell Phones (Score:2)
Politically Charged (Score:2)
Given the local telephone monopolies.
As regulated monopolies, they're quick to point out any of the restrictions under which they must operate and want to insure that any newcomers to the market be equally or more burdened.
Roads are publicly owned and maintained; why not public information corridors, too?
INDUCE Act Threatens VoIP Innovation (Score:3, Insightful)
Not that FUD-dy. (Score:5, Interesting)
Here in Maryland, hurricane Isabel knocked out our power for a week last summer. Land line phones still worked, so we could call around to our friends and family, find someone who still has juice, head over and ride out the storm. With VOIP, our options would be drive around the state aimlessly, or hunt down a payphone, etc.. Forget that. And if the storm had of hit us hard, knocked a tree into our kitchen or something, I'm sorry, but 911 service is not a small, inconsequential feature that VOIP-zealots make it out to be.
The fast food delivery problem is less severe, but still there. Many pizza joints wouldnt even send a car out if they couldnt verify the address. They've been jerked around by cranks too many times. I've had friends with unlisted numbers or who were blocking caller-id have pizza joints hang up on 'em.
It's a nice idea, but one whos time hasn't come yet. At least not as the primary phone for my residence. Not until my connection to the 'net has the same level of reliability as my land-line.
Re:Not that FUD-dy. (Score:3, Interesting)
But you apparently didn't call 911 during the hurricane. When was the last time you called 911 for a true emergency: "endangered life or crime in progress"? If you're like the majority of people... never or a long time ago.
Calling 911 doesn't stop a person from dying and it doesn't stop a crime in progress and it doesn't bring help any faster: it will still take 5 to 15 minutes for responders to arrive
Re:Not that FUD-dy. (Score:5, Interesting)
In many communities, there is no non-emergency number for police/fire dispatch. If you call the local station, they will tell you to call 911, because they have centralized all of their assets in the 911 operations center.
Some communities have added a three digit number (311) for non-emergencies. See here [911dispatch.com] for more information.
Re:Not that FUD-dy. (Score:3, Interesting)
I think the 911 people had a clue the hurricane was in the area already. If something had happened to his house, then he could have called 911.
Calling 911 doesn't stop a person from dying
Doesn't it, though? If there is an accident and you are losing blood, a transfusion within 5-15 m
I'm not in school anymore... (Score:3, Insightful)
I'd imagine that the bulk of kids these days would probably research the subject matter slightly better.
This writer clearly has NO IDEA on what he is talking about. Lets see if we can refute everything he says:
"TiVo, the digital video recording service, for example, requires a standard home phone line to complete the initial setup. Otherwise, you "can't get TiVo,"
I'm sure TiVo would be absolutely thrilled to use broadband for completing the setup. Just think of all the money they spend on 1800 calls for people to finish the setup. I'm sure they'd also be pretty happy to get viewer stats more or less in real time.
"That could lead to trouble dealing with businesses such as banks and major fast food companies that often check local phone listings to verify addresses."
How is this different from not being listed ? Why not raise the point that AT&T / Vonage need to provide a reliable database rather than spreading this line of "Fear".
"Some home alarm systems have trouble with broadband connections, or their manufacturers don't yet trust the reliability of the Internet."
The "some" being the companies that are too lazy to use more modern methods for monitoring.
"During a power outage, a VoIP phone is only as good as any battery backups on hand, because delivering power through the broadband connection isn't possible on a wide commercial basis. An emerging alternative broadband-delivery technique, broadband over power line, will solve this problem, but wide deployment is years away."
Where do I begin. Complete rubbish. Author probably read an article about it last month, so feels like he has to include it this month, just to get one back on New Scientist.
From here on in the article, we get a "dump" of interesting facts and other pieces of information that seem to completely go against what the author has just said.
Complete FUD. I wonder who's paying for the article.
Eh? (Score:2)
Really? I haven't had a landline in almost 2 years (wifey and I use cellphones) and I've never had a problem getting any food delivered or banking.
My cellphone number isn't listed. I don't see why this is any different than the situation with VoIP service. The other "drawbacks" seem FUDdy too: my town 911 service uses my cellphones GPS to find me i
We are using VoIP at the company I work for.. (Score:2, Interesting)
These articals are just FUD.
I wonder if C|net has ever tried VoIP service (Score:2)
If you can get a DT you call 911 (Score:2)
Now, we won't go into how you can use a prepaid card to call your friends on this, because this sentence explains it. (BTW, it has a phone number that can be called and rung - or at least mine did in 1998-1999.) But, note I mentioned you can call 911 if you have a dialtone on
Phone number = demographic (Score:2)
There are times when I refuse to be a demographic. Pizza Hut has not had problems when I call in an order and tell them no, they cannot have my phone number. Dominoes, however, refused to take my order even though I was going to pick it up because they don't deliver to my neighborhood. The drone on the phone not only didn't understand why I wasn't going to give him my unlisted phone number, he was surprisingly rude about
FUD? (Score:2)
If one only looks at the benefits with out being aware of potential costs or flaws, one sets themselves up for ultimate failure due to ignorance and blindness.
The Death of the Telegraph (Score:2)
I've seen better forward-looking statements from a Magic 8-ball than from this article. Of course there will be growing pains, but it's not the fault of the technology
I just wanna know... (Score:2)
-
Protokol: (Score:2)
Interogater: Where were you during the night of the 35th to 36th last month?
VoiP: Uuuuuhmmm....
SCNR
Re:Protokol: (Score:2)
The 35th or 36th of *which* month?
Where is this interrogation taking place? Mars?
The real problems wont be predictible (Score:2)
END COMMUNICATION
Been dealing with this for 4 years (Score:3, Interesting)
I used to have problems with some companies not accepting that I did not have a land line (Video Rentals, etc...), but have found in the last couple years as it has become increasingly common for people to drop their land lines, that companies have adjusted. For that matter, I always figure if they can't accept I don't have a land line, they can do without my business, that is capitalism after all. Those compnaies that adjust to the new world of cell phones and VOIP will survive, those that do not, won't. I for one have never had a problem going elsewhere if a video store or pizza parlor is so backwards as to not want my business over a telephone number. I'm usually all too ready to drop a polite note to that companies management explaining why they lost a customer. But again, It has been at least 3 years since I ran into any problem like that. As for not being in the phone book, I find that to be a definite plus. As I am on a "cell" phone, I almost never get telephone solicitations. Those rare times I do, all I have to ask is if they are aware they are calling a cell phone. At that point the solicitor profusely apologizes and asks if there is a better number to reach me at, to which I gladly respond, no.
Ben Charney (Score:2)
God I love the internet - every opinion you've ever had displayed for the world to take out of context forever...
Fiber Optic to the home... not! (Score:2, Insightful)
Uh-huh... we'll all have telepathic brain implants by the time this happens.
911 and VoIP and 99.999% (Score:2)
VoIP doesn't meet this criteria, thus laws may need to be modified to account for this.
Additionally, I don't understand the 911 hub-bub anyway . . . cell phones didn't have 911 for years . . . even while people were replacing their POTS with a cellphone in the house
Yeah, TiVo sucks so does comcast but I like VoIP (Score:5, Interesting)
The guy came, and my internet and cable were fine. But I forgot to check for a dialtone before he left. It (of course) didn't work. Turns out they don't offer phone service in my area but hadn't informed me of the fact, or the fact they had cancelled my order for it. Anyway, no phone line and I'm sitting here with my TiVo 2.
Ok, no problem, I'll go get a wireless card and hook it up to my network. Done. No problem. Its downloading guides but it still thinks I live in the next town and the guide is the wrong one.
Ok, no problem, I call my friend who work for TiVo. He says I need to do a system reset. A system reset to change my service? A system reset.
Ok, no problem, I do a system reset. It starts asking me for my dialing options. Crap, it was just on the internet. Why is it asking for this now? I can't get it to work. I call up my friend at TiVo and he says they do the initial TiVo setup over the internet all the time with the latest firmware version (and I should have that version). However, they use wired ethernet. It might make a difference. He then told me that he was tired of answering my stupid questions and if I had any more I should read the bloody TiVo forums.
Problem - the forums say I'm screwed. My options are to buy ay wired usb etheret for my TiVo, or go door to with my TiVo under my arm and find a neighbor who will take pity on me. I don't know the neighbors. Crap.
So an hour later I'm in the living room of the 80 year old woman next door. I hook my TiVo into her VCR and spend about half an hour trying to figure out how to get the picture through. Turns out it needs a tape in the VCR. Ok. Picture. Great. Just plug it into the phone and we're good to go. But wait. No jack. Crap. Her phone is 50 years old and hard wired into the house.
An hour later I'm at some other neighbors with my TiVo, and my own VCR trying to fend off their cat, while my TiVo goes through its hour of setup. Whew. Finally.
I get it home and it works with my wireless network. Great.
Still have to get a phone though. Maybe VoIP is right for me? I find 1TouchTone.com and order it. $15 a month. Not bad. It comes, I plug the box into my router, and the phone into the box. It works! I go rip the phone companies wires off the outside of my house, and plug the phone box into a nearby phone jack. All the phones in my house get dial tone. Sweet.
I've really gotten addicted to the voicemail features. I get emails saying that I have a new voicemail. I get SMS saying I have new voicemail. The light on my phone blinks saying I have new voicemail. The email has an attachment with the wav file of my voicemail.
Comcast hasn't complained - yet.
This guy has never had VOIP (Score:2)
1. I hooked my vonage unit into the core wiring of my house (unplugged the qwest line, and plugged vonage in there instead). This makes it so that my phone infrastructure inside my house remains unchanged. My wife wouldn't even know we didn't have a standard POTS line if I hadn't told her. All of the phone jacks in the house work as one would expect them to. (I even take advantage of the multiple phone-line support provided by the Vonage unit -- t
Hmm... (Score:3, Insightful)
Luddite comment (Score:2)
Dissecting the article (Score:5, Insightful)
Sounds condescending to me, or designed to be scary, typical tag line to get you worked up over the topic. Passing judgement before the facts are presented.
2) If you have a home alarm system, need to dial 911, use TiVo or simply want your phone number included in the phone book, you're likely to be out of luck.
Home alarm system's and TiVo can change. TiVo is a simple non-essential piece of hardware which should change to accomodate such customers as VOIP catches on. Alarm systems will figure a way around this. Of course, if you feel you can expend money on an alarm system for your home, you can probably afford the current rates your phone company is charging. I'm not saying an alarm system is elitist... its just expensive.
As for phone listing, well damnit who cares? I'll pick up my next pizza. Besides, you can keep your old listing in the phone book when you switch to Vonage and as VOIP catches on this will be taken care of.
As for 911 dialing during power outages, the article willfully and obviously glosses over the possibility that people might have cell phones. This is what makes me feel this is FUDish, because, while the 911 issue is important, the article failed to cover this very important and obvious point. I believe they were afraid that the original alarmist tone of the article would have been defused because 911 dialing is important to everyone, while all those other points are only important to a select few.
3) VoIP certainly has it's selling points--unlimited local and long-distance dialing plans that are about 30 percent cheaper than standard services, dialing from any broadband connection and being able to choose a phone number regardless of your location--the TiVo situation if just the tip of the drawback iceberg.
First, try 50 percent, maybe more. Vonage has a plan for just $15 for 500 talk minutes, anywhere in the country. For local free calling and no special LD plans, Verizon charges me somewhere between $30 and $40.
Second, what the hell is the last part of that paragraph? It seems so cryptic to me.
4) Protecting your home could get tougher, as well. Some home alarm systems have trouble with broadband connections, or their manufacturers don't yet trust the reliability of the Internet.
Back to this a second, this sentences reeks of FUD, because it says "protecting your home could get harder." Not all of us buy alarm systems... goodness! I can't protect my home without a phone? GASP!
5) 911 calls over VoIP are usually routed through a third party, and there's been the occasional detour to an emergency call center in the wrong part of the country. Because of VoIP's mobility--subscribers can use any broadband connection anywhere--emergency operators won't automatically know where the person's calling from.
Facts please? I've heard of no such "detours." Can we have some proof to back this up please? Even instances from the slashdot community would be nice.
And yes, they do tout VOIP as being mobile, and yet 911 calls could be routed back home while you are on the road. However, this will be a learning point for early adopters, but future versions should handle this better. This is by design for the convenience of the customer.
6) The Bell operating companies, comprised of Verizon, Qwest Communications International, SBC and BellSouth, prefer to wait until they build high-speed fiber-optic connections to homes for their all-out VoIP launches. The so-called fiber-to-the-premises initiatives, however, could take a decade or more to complete.
Translation: They don't have the infrastructure yet and they don't want to kill their current phone business too fast
7) Both Cox and Comcast are promising faster VoIP rollouts.
Translation: they are counting on early adopters so that they can eat the baby bells' lunches.
8) Despite its drawbacks, VoIP is attractin
Drawbacks not in the article... (Score:5, Interesting)
1. Faxing - simply not reliable in general, forget about fax modems.
2. The directory listings issue is definitely just that - I almost couldn't open a bank account for my business because of it, and then was initially rejected for a company credit card.
However, with proper documentation, both of these things were overcome.
3. Online ordering? A _few_, thankfully not most, ecommerce outfits do a 'sanity check' on your phone number to see if it 'matches' your address.
4. Regional info line: can't dial 311 in NYC, which is pretty kick ass. You can, however, put the 10-digit 'out of area' version in your speed-dial.
5. Most of the services don't have in-code-7 digit dialing. Of course, we lost in that in NYC a while ago anyway for POTS.
6. Orphaning. As your VOIP provider starts using the newest, greatest, most bandwidth efficient VOIP adapter for new subs, earlier adopters with older adapters won't get the same features, or even the same level of service. This is definitely an issue with Voicepulse, may they burn in hell.
7. Roach motel portability - or no portability. You can port your phone# to vonage, but not out. You can't port your number to/from voicepulse.
Jonathan
Re:Cognitive dissonance (Score:3, Insightful)
How exactly do they intend to maintain a network over powerlines if the power lines are down, and if the powerlines supply the power to the datacom devices that are transmitting over them?
Re:Cognitive dissonance (Score:2)
Yes its wrong, but it is not cognitive dissonance.
Jeroen
Re:Cognitive dissonance (Score:3, Interesting)
In otherwords:
Point A: VoIP fails if the power is off.
and
Point B: Broadband over powerlines is better.
conflict because the base condition does not change: You can not communicate if your COMMUNICATION DEVICE itself does not have power. Cognitive dissonance is the need to rationalize or otherwise explain away information that contradicts information they already believe. In this case, it actually works both ways: VoIP must have flaws so I'll
Re:Let's see (Score:2, Insightful)
And then what, I have to train everyone who comes into my home "hey if you need to call 911 you have to use the yellow phone in the den. No, not that phone, it wont work. Has to be this phone." What if I forget to tell someone, and I'm choking to death or having a heart attack, and t