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Qwest & Cablevision Launch VoIP Service
securitas writes "Qwest announced that it will be the first RBOC to offer VoIP service to its customers, starting with Minnesota. Not to be outdone, Cablevision launched VoIP service for its '1 million high-speed Internet customers in the lucrative New York market.' Cablevision's Tom Rutledge said the company plans to take advantage of last Monday's FCC local-number portability ruling that lets customers keep their phone numbers when switching service providers. Qwest plans to challenge the local-number portability ruling. It looks like the disruptive technology hype that surrounded VoIP in the late-1990s is about to see its first real litmus test."
What a suprise..When will companies learn that lawsuits are not the best way to deal with new technology...
Adaptation is the best way to deal with new technology. Lawsuits are just a way for companies to try to cover their behind until they either understand or are ready for the need to adapt.
Anybody know how VoIP 911 access works?
Does it link your number (ip?) with your address?
I think 911-protection is keeping a lot of us from switching...
Maybe now that we can transfer our phone number... we'll soon be able to transfer our 911 protection as well.
Davak
If you can't beat them, sue them!
Seriously thought, VoIP isn't a new thing. I myself use it frequently to talk to my fiancee in the US - as I've have broadband I don't pay any extra to call her, and as she don't pay for local calls* she don't have to pay anything either. The option - picking up my phone and dial her number - would cost me a staggering 9 cents a minute, as well as gobbling up her 'long distance minutes'** (I would have to use her mobile phone; as much as I like my motehr in law, I don't want her to be able to listen in, and as the phone is in the kitchen...). I'm happy to see that the US is taking up numberportability thought - somethign we've enjoyed for years now. The next step they are introdusing here seems to be the ability to take your number along even if you move from one end of the nation to the other.
_*) This is the one issue which I think the US telecomsystem is better than the norwegian one.
**) What kind of idiot decided that _you_ should pay when someone calls you? As long as y'all accepts that, you'll be getting screwed bigtime by your telcos.
Everything in the world is controlled by a small, evil group to which, unfortunately, no one you know belongs.
Really? What provider? I'd wager your "unlimited long distance" just means it doesn't cost you anything except your normal local minute charge. That's where the phone companies are raping us these days. Gone are the days of the unlimited local calling plans apparently unless you want to stick with a crappy local-only cell carrier that has no long distance capability. When are cell companies going to offer $20/month unmetered calling 24/7? Keep your free long distance, I just want to use my phone for local calls.
Your research is WRONG. pop up ads don't work on the web, the certainly will not work on a voice call. Maybe I should patent 'voice pop unders' so x10 can't use them.....
I would rather pay $0.02/minute for my LD voice instead of listening to a 30 second ad everytime I wanted to make a call. My time is worth MUCH more that $0.02/minute
If your business plan is truly based on advertising, I recommend you learn how to say 'Would you like fries with that?'
Comment removed based on user account deletion
...are required by law to open/sell/lease thier networks to foster competition and choice. In theory, the Mom and Pop's could purchase access to this technology and resell it ala DSL.
The cable companies however don't have to open anything on thier networks, and locally, they have just as much a monopoly as your RBOC's. They get to sell cable, data and now telecom without ever having to allow competition onto thier networks-what a bargain.
The revenue for these TelCos from Mr. and Mrs Smith is pocket change compared to the revenues from corporate entities. No matter what, companies still need to have telephones. By offering companies this VOIP service, these companies may be able to win over some business from the baby bells, et al.
I just had a thought.. A large company usually buys a lot bigger bandwidth than it actually uses for the "just in case" periods. I wonder if there's a technology out there that will switch between VOIP to POTS and/or back again when the available bandwidth crosses a threshold. This would eliminate a lot of cost and maximize the use of currently available resources.
_______________________________
"I'm not Conceited...I'm just a realist..."
While the second half of your post is just a troll, the first half actually makes an attempt to be credible, even though you're misinformed:
Your research is WRONG. pop up ads don't work on the web, the certainly will not work on a voice call. Maybe I should patent 'voice pop unders' so x10 can't use them.....
How would pre-call advertising be labeled as a pop-up ad? It's not an advertisement IN THE MIDDLE OF THE CALL.
What he describes is like Moviefone, people call in and listen to ads before they can get their movie listings.
And guess what? It works.
I would rather pay $0.02/minute for my LD voice instead of listening to a 30 second ad everytime I wanted to make a call.
The post you replied to said "Our initial research showed that people were willing to tolerate commercials of certain amount of length in return for crystal-clear free (or very inexpensive) long-distance calls.".
See, his company did some research to see if their business plan would work. You didn't, you're just assuming that YOUR opinion is the BEST opinion, and the only one that matters.
Which obviously isn't the case.
evil adrian
Does anyone know if VOIP will allow ADT and other home security systems to still function properly, ie., calling out in an emergency and calling out for routine system checks?
Anyone have Vonage and ADT together?
The electric yellow has got me by the brain banana
Having number portability would be a *huge* boon to VoIP. I was signed on with Vonage for a year, and intended to make it my primary phone when I signed up...but the fact that at the time I couldn't get a number with a local area code (and this in the Washington, DC area, too, not some tiny town in South Dakota) killed that in a hurry.
Of course, a larger part of the problem for VoIP solutions is that most of them are now being sold as an add-on to your existing telco service, something that's great for free long distance. With long distance costs falling like they are, though, unless VoIP providers can start acting as CLECs -- in other words, you buy their service, your phone needs are taken care of completely -- I doubt if many VoIP companies will survive. Though I'm not sure how this will happen as long as you have to provide a phone number before you can get broadband hooked up...
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