Slashdot Mirror
Is VoIP the Way to Go?
Howpostsgetratedsuck asks: "My cable operator now offers VoIP local and long distance for one flat rate. Does anyone have any experience with or use a VoIP service provider? What are the pros and cons? What do you give up? Do they provide more than one number for my dedicated fax line? Is it better to just use wireless services for everything and dump the landline pots service altogether? Should I stay "status quo" for a while longer? I use the telephone in my business office for about 90% of my telco anyway."
If you get the option to use some sort of standard like SIP for your
phone, you can set up your own software call distribution system where
some calls ring your phone, some go to voicemail, some get forwarded to
your mobile etc.
When I was at cisco, these sorts of services were the "bet the company
on it products of the future"
The funny thing is, some of the most interesting implementations of
this sort of thing are open source, one of which is vovidia which got bought by cisco
, but is still operating as an open source operation. The guy who
started has been aquired by cisco twice.
We have VOIP Cisco phones at work. I'm sure that there are cost advantages and it's kinda handy to be able to just pick up your phone, go to any Ethernet port, plug it in, and get all of your calls like normal.
But, the sound quality isn't quite as good as our old phones used to have. There are times when it's a bit like a walkie talkie: there's a bit of static before/after the other person starts or finishes talking. The sound quality while talking is generally pretty good though (but not as good as the old phones).
I don't know if your setup requires having new VOIP phones or not, but when I got my new VOIP phone, I needed to also get a new corded headset since my old one doesn't work with the Cisco phone.
Ron
I use Skype's peer-to-peer VoIP service, to talk to my girlfriend, (*Gasp* A slashdotter with a girlfriend! And now, seven angels will play seven trumpets...) and I have to say, if VoIP can reach a broad enough audience to hit critical mass, POTS services are headed the way of the dodo. I mean, why not? You pay for broadband service, and voila, no more long distance bill. All it really needs is a cheap, dedicated box, with a handset, a small keyboard for entering usernames to call, a little LCD screen, and a cheap Nic. If they could sell something like that, I know I'd buy it, and so would pretty much everyone on my friends list. But, what do I know?
Despite millions of years of evolution, human beings, taken as a group, are still stupid, panicky animals.
In the age of cell phones, this may not be an issue for some, but if you plan on replacing your land line with voip over your broadband, what happens when you need to call someone during a power outage? You could setup a UPS, but you probably need to power more than your voip phone. You will need to power your cable modem/dsl modem and possibly some sort of firewall/nat device. A UPS will only buy you 15 minutes to an hour unless you get an expensive unit. I have yet to year a real great solution to this problem. Also, if your power is out, will your dsl/cable even work? Just because your equipment has backup power doesn't mean your cable provider/dsl provider does. Any thoughts?
With all due respect to the author, the question (as it stands) is not worded particularly well, and there is very little chance that a reliable answer will emerge.
One extremely important detail that you are leaving out is who is offering the service. You also fail to mention the specifics of their operation. IP telephony and VoIP are very different, and there's no way to be sure which one you're talking about. (You clearly indicate VoIP, but the term is so misused that I'm taking your usage of the term with a grain of salt. Pardon me if I have done so erroneously).
Because your cable operator maintains control over your lines, they are able to offer service guarantees that other services (like Vonage) cannot. I cannot say whether or not your operator does take advantage of this, however. Think of it this way: Typically, when you choose an IP telephony solution, you're getting a leased line to your IP telephony provider's data center. They control everything along the way -- and can use routing protocols like QoS and ToS reliably, ensuring that your packets make it to where they need to go, when they need to get there. With a VoIP solution (again, like Vonage), your service is running over public Internet lines. The VoIP provider has no way of guarantying that the packets will get to them in a timely fashion. In the short time I've spent hacking around my Vonage service, I've found some ToS packets -- but since Vonage has no control over this, your ISP (or any other router along the way) can just ignore these ToS (and/or QoS) packets. In short, your packets get there when they get there. Sometimes it will work great, others it just doesn't work at all.
If you can provide a link to some technical information about the service, I'm sure that some of the more saavy folks here can disseminate that information and tell you whether or not the technology should work. It's up you your cable operator to actually follow through with the reliability (again, you left out the detail of who your provider is). This is the first I've heard of cable operators offering such a service (although I have a bit of experience with a number of different types of VoIP and IP telephony services).
However, if you're in the US, I'd suggest that you try it out. I've switched to Vonage. My primary motivation was my unwillingness to do business with Verizon...and even with deregulation, if I use POTS, I'm paying my local monopoly. So I gave up on it. Just remember that YMMV, so don't sign any long-term service contracts.
-Turkey