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http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20050615/tc_nm/telecoms_voip_pulver_dc

What do you think of this person's comments about VOiP? Will you see that ever happening in your lifetime? Has anyone ever used it? What would be its advantages and disadvantages?

VOIP is coming, whether you want it or not. And it is happening now. Traditional phone service may go shrink up and go away. But telcos and cable companies will still have to provide some type of backbone (wired or wireless) network to access the Internet for VOIP to work.

Eventually, high speed wireless internet access will be a utility just like water, natural gas, electricity, etc. for both residential and business customers across the country.

Its happening now Brent. You can already run a headset to a handheld PC and make a call from your local coffee shop/wireless internet hub, all for free using Skype or other VoIP providers. I actually had a net meeting over Ventrilo once, and I was amazed at the quality of sound, even with a crappy $20 headset I bought. I think the internet is paving the way for more and more free communication, just like it is doing with the movie and music industry. The demand for highly mobile communications in this day and age is growing rapidly. If you look around next time you are stopped at a light, waiting in a doctors office, or waiting for your table at a restaurant everyone is on a cell phone. Cell phones have that appeal because they are mobile and much cheaper than a long distance service over a land line. People are hooked on portable communiations. Look at the growth of wireless access across the country, even in McDonalds. It is crazy.

I just dont think people realize the potential of VoIP. If you take Skype for example, you can call direct to another computer and talk just like on the phone, or you can call a phone number anywhere in the world at local calling rates, and then you have people who use them for meetings and games. Why even have a phone when computers are so commonplace now? I bet in the next 5 years you see a reliable, user friendly, portable VoIP device that will be able to take advantage of the massive wireless infrastructure we are creating.

TSULacrosse wrote:Its happening now Brent. You can already run a headset to a handheld PC and make a call from your local coffee shop/wireless internet hub, all for free using Skype or other VoIP providers. I actually had a net meeting over Ventrilo once, and I was amazed at the quality of sound, even with a crappy $20 headset I bought. I think the internet is paving the way for more and more free communication, just like it is doing with the movie and music industry. The demand for highly mobile communications in this day and age is growing rapidly. If you look around next time you are stopped at a light, waiting in a doctors office, or waiting for your table at a restaurant everyone is on a cell phone. Cell phones have that appeal because they are mobile and much cheaper than a long distance service over a land line. People are hooked on portable communiations. Look at the growth of wireless access across the country, even in McDonalds. It is crazy.

I just dont think people realize the potential of VoIP. If you take Skype for example, you can call direct to another computer and talk just like on the phone, or you can call a phone number anywhere in the world at local calling rates, and then you have people who use them for meetings and games. Why even have a phone when computers are so commonplace now? I bet in the next 5 years you see a reliable, user friendly, portable VoIP device that will be able to take advantage of the massive wireless infrastructure we are creating.

Skype rules...I talk all over the place (Switzerland, NY, Bahamas) all for free. Skype outgoing calls are 1.9 euros per minute. If you are in a hotel in Mexico, for example, that's the best deal on the planet. The quality is pretty good, but could be better.

DG

VOIP is old news. It will become more and more prevalent and Sonny is right Telco's and Cable will still be needed to be the access points for data, voice and those things in-between. The new things on the horizon are:

1. WiMax…One tower that covers 30 sq miles (non-line-of-site) and delivers speeds of 70 Mbs.
2. Cell phones that operate on wifi or wimax networks free via VOIP. They would also work on traditional cellular networks as well when those networks aren’t available.
3. IPTV…streaming video over robust broadband (20Mbs+). It offers: fast loading video-on-demand, numerous HD channels sent at the same time (good for recording one or more HDTV shows on your DVR), etc…
4. Cell phones that download music and video. (already in production)

And with the introduction of these wide-band technologies, things such as CDs, DVDs, etc. will disappear. Your cell phone, walkman, car stereo, etc. will be able to hook up to your movie, music, or data collection at home and play anything you own on demand, at any time, or pretty much any form of entertainment in existance on a pay-per-play or subscription basis. Things will be becoming a lot more streamlined and integrated in terms of accessing your stuff remotely.

Brent Burns wrote:http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20050615/tc_nm/telecoms_voip_pulver_dc

What do you think of this person's comments about VOiP? Will you see that ever happening in your lifetime? Has anyone ever used it? What would be its advantages and disadvantages?

I have been using voip for a few years now. We connect my home office to our office phone switch via voip. It works great. Vonage is doing it all over the place, and my company (CoreComm/Voyager.net) is just relasing our offering of it.

The advantages: cheaper than traditional phone

Disadvantages: often times you don't get 911 service, or it's not local 911 service.
If your broadband connection is saturated then you can get jittery voice quality.



Other than this phone, I don't even have a land line at my house. I just use my cell only.

How long until the sorority girls have them surgically implanted into their heads? Not that there aren't plenty of cheesy dudes at FSU with their phones glued to their heads like someone might think they have no friends if they aren't talking at all times.

Skype rules...I talk all over the place (Switzerland, NY, Bahamas) all for free. Skype outgoing calls are 1.9 euros per minute. If you are in a hotel in Mexico, for example, that's the best deal on the planet. The quality is pretty good, but could be better.

DG

If you haven't tried Skype for Pocket PC, it is truely an amazing technology - http://www.skype.com/products/skype/pocketpc[/url]