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Internet Phones Replacing POTS In Japan
prostoalex writes: "CNN reports on growth of Internet phone services in Japan. The high cost of telephone calls, which many saw as an impediment to spread of the Internet is right now actually a menace to plain old phone companies, as more and more people are switching to VoIP services."
But dial-up access costs a fortune. (Score:1)
by stef0x77 on Tuesday August 20, @05:37PM (#4107654)
(User #529972 Info | http://slashdot.org/)
OTOH, because of the high phone costs, dial up access to the internet in Japan is insanely expensive. An impediment to getting online for many people.
(it's posts like this that made/make me worry)
You don't think you'll see the same taxes moved to the other communications methods?
sure, some people may enjoy a 'tax relief' but it is only a temporary one.
I know somebody who had his phone line shut off, went completly VoIP and cell. He had to pay about 2 bucks a month NOT to be connected.
The Kruger Dunning explains most post on
Many of the international calls that you make are already routed through VoIP systems. Eventually all systems will make their way to VoIP. The cable company I work for offers unlimited (and long distances is included) VoIP use for $19.95 a month and includes all the features my landline does and ends up costing me nearly $40.00.
that is true - however there is a major problem with people adopting things like this. *Lazyness* seriously. the ability to make good quality voip calls has been around now for a few years - and there were businesses that started up around this; quicknet, net2phone, dialpad etc...
but the problem is that the telephone is something that has been around for eons when compared to the age of the internet. and people have a certain level of psychological loyalty to the institution of the phone company - desired or not... and its this state of mind (the phone bill is like the dial tone - its always there) which thwarts the efforts of businesses to capitalize on VOIP.
even though everyone likes to bitch about their phone bills and the prices per minute that they are paying, its going to take the mob mentality to really cause a difference here in the states.
it boils down to simplicty conquering lazyness of american consumers i.e. the phone is as simple as it can get. go buy one for ten bux - plug it into the wall. the phone company does the rest. the only thing you have to remember is your phone number. and for some, that can be hard enough.
so until we can get close to that with VOIP capable devices... it will be an uphill battle to get them fully adopted.
when you compare a shopping list of items that most of the consumer market associate with real VOIP (if they even know what it is) calls (computer (obviously not in this article... but the mindset of voip is voip==computer required) internet connection (==$50/month), *knowledge* ("but I dont know enough"), etc...) - to the phone, its a no brainer for people who want the lazy way out. even if they are paying "evil mci" etc too much.
besides - people like hating the companies they pay their bills to.
so whats really important at this point is to get people to see that VOIP is not just available, as good or cheaper - but JUST AS EASY as the phone. then we will get the ball rolling. and thats where these companies need to spend their marketing *and* development dollars.
VOIP is a great idea and all, but what about latency? When I'm on a cell phone, the latency (and echo) is really annoying and noticeable. International calls are even worse.
How bad have you found it?
Using your sig line to advertise for friends is lame.
Lots of people use email and IM to keep intouch with friends/relatives and avoid phone bills, especially students :) Most windows installations come with Netmeeting which is an audio/video phone and there are probably free/open alternatives. People need normal phones because they are.. simpler. They have an easy interface, they dont need to load up software, they dont crash, or need re-installing and they are cheap. Also, people like to have a handset that they can slam down, and it feels stupid leaning over your desk to talk to someone with a crappy little microphone. If your willing to pay a fee for the priveledge of having a line then they are fine. Also, i wouldn't trust my computer if i needed to phone in an emergency, infact i dont even trust my mobile, it crashes plenty.
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Customers aren't ready for quantum leaps.
Besides, I'm not holding my breath for next generation wireless. Actually, I believe slow pickup will be its savior, because I just don't believe the bandwidth is there even with 3G to support the beautiful things the telcos had been promising consumers (128 kilobit/sec of data to your handheld? Either the per-byte charges will be insane, or the bandwidth will run out as fast as you can say "porn").
Telephone poles will be there for a long time in locations where burying the cable is not an option. And as long as a cable pair will bring a fast consumer connection to the Internet equivalent of a CO more reliably and cheaply than wireless, I think "fixed wireless" is a lost proposition. Until the next quantum leap in wireless comes around. With wireless, the bottleneck is measured in gigabits per square mile. With wires, it's measured in megabits per cable pair. It just doesn't add up, per square mile.
Wireless is nice as a supplement to wired. That's why i-mode is so popular: it fills an important low bandwidth niche.
Bert Driehuis -- All I asked was a friggin' rotatin' chair. Throw me a bone here, people.
"Have you rebooted your computer?" and "Let's check your dial-up networking settings..."
No, it won't make any difference.
Had I some equivilent of a way to do a traceroute, I could simply say, 'the link between switch-5.verizon.net and switch-32.verizon.net is dropping packets, please put that in the trouble ticket so the techs can fix it'.
-- If god wanted me to have a sig, he'd have given me a sense of humor.
Cringely is not much a visioneer, most slashdotters know it well. In fact it's difficult to replace traditional PBX system with VOIP gateway due to
:)
lantency in VOIP
It wouldn't look bad when you are just chitchating with your friends with 1-2 seconds lagging in between, but it'd look awkward when your peer is an extremely short-temper but important client.
If you don't believe me try calling your mother-in-law over VOIP.