Re: Difference between digital phone and VOIP

[Matt Ion <soundy106@xxxxxxxxx>]

Robert L Bass wrote:
>> The catch with that, at least in residential, is
>> that they still depend on the reliability of the
>> internet connection.  Extended service outages,
>> customers mucking with cable/DSL modem
>> hookups, etc. are still just as much a concern.
>
> I understand that and you're right to be concerned.
> Unfortunately, this is the way things are going.
> More and more telco's are switching their long
> distance services over to VoIP for the same
> reason homeowners are doing so -- it's less
> expensive.  I'm fairly certain that within a very few
> years the major portion of telephony in this country
> will be VoIP.  Hopefully, QOS will improve as more
> innovative devices are made.

Oh, I would fully expect so.  Enterprise phone systems have been using
VOIP for years, since before the "VOIP" buzzword was coined... often
only internally, between the desk sets and their switching unit, but
it's the same basic technology.

It's like anything else in technology: what you see at the low-cost,
mass-market consumer level pales in comparison to what's really
available in features, functions, scalability, and reliability... it's
only a question of cost.

Consumer devices will certainly improve as the technology filters
down... it's only a question of how quickly.

> The question alarm company owners need to ask
> is not "How do we keep people from switching to
> VoIP," but "What must we do to be able to continue
> providing services to them?"  I believe we're seeing
> the handwriting on the wall concerning phone
> service.  I don't pretend to know what the solution
> will be but I'm certain we need to deal with it more
> effectively than by simply warning customers of
> the pitfalls.  In case there's anyone left who hasn't
> noticed, they don't always listen.  :^)

I don't think we need to worry about VOIP becoming the "de facto" of the
major providers until that technology IS reliable.  The big backbone
providers (Ma Bell and family) can't afford to dump everyone over to a
new technology until it's achieved a certain level of reliability... I
dunno about the US, but up here, if reliability levels aren't
government-mandated, they're certainly government-encouraged.  Telus,
for example, couldn't just start pulling up landlines and pushing
everyone onto VOIP if it weren't 99.99% solid - not only would the CRTC
not allow it, the public outcry would force all levels of government to
intervene.