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VoIP Beats Conventional Phone Service In Iraq
andyring writes "According to this article at Wired, without reliable long distance or particularly international telephone service in Iraq, citizens in Baghdad and elsewhere turn to voice chat over programs such as Yahoo Voice Chat or other similar programs. Broadband at Internet cafes in Baghdad runs about $1/hr, whereas an international phone call (if you can even get a connection) is about $1/minute. The service is so popular, it sucks up almost all the available bandwidth from the government-run ISP, State Company for Internet Services (site is Arabic)."
In India, Broadband is 40 cents an hour, much less than $1 that the Iraqi ISP charges. Indian ISPs still make profits.
The dollar is inflated so much, it renders any comparison useless. Going by the article, Iraq could make more money selling bandwidth to the US than oil. But that would never happen, would it?
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If you keep throwing chairs, one day you'll break windows....
In markets like Iraq, India and (especially) China, the "new" technologies are easier to roll out because there isn't a strong legacy technology to displace. Consider cellphones: in Iraq, cellphone networks seem to be automagically re-emerging because network damage is effectively point failure, since there is relatively little wired backbone to maintain. Whereas restoring a badly-damaged POTS network can take serious time and expense. In China, where there is little legacy technology, cellular networks are cost effective because they are not replacing a POTS network: if cellular isn't built, something else has to be. In Iraq, there is probably a substantial military data network infrastructure that can easily be converted to a public backbone. In other words, VOIP & cellular may be the only sensible options in emerging/recovering economies, and POTS is the expensive option.
OK, fair enough, they're willing to embrace this technology. That's a good first step.
If Iraqis were not willing to embrace technology then Iraq would never have existed, nor would all the versions of the religion of Abraham. Indeed the last few thousand years of history might well be very different.
So when will they be able to afford this technology? How many Iraqi citizens even have computers? I know I'm coming from a position of ignorance, but it seems to me that the Iraqi people have bigger problems at the moment than lacking a quality communications infrastructure.
Their "bigger problems" include foreign soldiers running around shooting people and foreign companies working out how best to rip them off.
The best move I ever made was getting rid of verizon and switching to Vonage. I have yet to regret it. VoiP Is SO the way to go...even to the door step!
Iraq actually still HAS an IP infrastructure? They have no electicity or running water but they can still surf porn sites, huh?
IP infrastructure is considerably easier to setup and maintain. Yeah, I can hear a horde of CCIE geeks squealing that routing is so much more complex than simple utilities like power and water. But installing and running a router is childishly simple compared to installing and running a power station or a desalination plant. You can put up a microwave relay for IP in minutes, but it would take weeks to lay water mains and sewers over the same distance. That's why the internet is available while "simple" utilities aren't: because they aren't simple at all.
Whats the price of a coke-can got todo with socialism? It's capitalism at its finest ffs.
You can buy a cokecan for 1 dollar easily, 0.50 at distributing channels, but someone prefered to rip your american ass.
(Yeah, I'm still laughing).
Bush the liar....PLEASE, give me a break, and grind your axe elsewhere. If you'd rather have women being raped, mass graves, children in prison, when admit that someone should have gone in there a long time ago to save those people, then just say that.