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BT Plans Move To IP Telephony, Starting Next Year
pure_equanimity writes "The BBC have published an article saying that BT are planning to migrate from a PSTN to an IP network, a move to cost 3bn. They say that broadband will become ubiquitous, with customers having the ability to plug any device in to get access. They also say that current cheap broadband products will more than likely not be viable in five years time. They plan to start rolling out in 2006, and cover the vast majority of customers by 2009."
"They also say that current cheap broadband products will more than likely not be viable in five years time. They plan to start rolling out in 2006, and cover the vast majority of customers by 2009."
So they are gonna hook customers up right before the prices go up? I thought prices would go down as time marches on? What about all that "dark fiber"?
do people in britain (and other countries) suffer from the RIM syndrome? ie being on a remote integrated multiplexor? or even being pairgained? If its common over there, does that mean BT will be ugprading all their exchanges?
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You can bet their charging scheme will change to p/minute to p/MB of data. That way they can cash in on all the "free" telephony.
Well, everyone will just register a .phone domain for themselves, so you can just call them by name.
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From what I understand, currently phones work when there's a power outage because the current copper line network always has a mild voltage in it.. Just wondering if that will change if the phones are connected via a fibre network..
When Skype come out with their telephone kit that plugs straight into the new BT network will BT cut off people trying to use another handset? They might, but they wont get away with it.
This is going to be the biggest revolution in telephony the UK has ever seen. Whilst a Skype handset might not connect you to phones that are not on their network, if enough people use it, it could supplant the BT network and destroy their business.
I wonder how they are going to charge for the service, obviously line rental, which will be the minimum they will be able to collect from each user, but taking into consideration the ease with which people will be able to switch providers, their churn rate will be very high indeed.
Basically, they are going to spend 3 billion to put themselvs out of business. Great!
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I imagine that the majority of phone call traffic will never leave BT's network, since the uptake of IP telephony in the rest of the world is still quite small.
Even if similar moves are made in other countries, I'm sure BT have some connections that could keep it local until it hits the remote exchange.
The backend is going to be IP based you fool. So we'll still have telephone numbers etc, but BT will route all of the call data via IP. So, basically, they'll reduce the already tiny operating costs even more, whilst attempting to bump up the cost of xDSL even further. They'll probably argue along the lines of "Mr X uses much more bandwidth now so we have to charge more". The excess bandwidth being Mr X's telephone calls, which he is already paying for.
consider the expense to (and outcry from!) local businesses if they all had to change their signs, business cards, advertisments, ...
Hah! You'd be shocked at how often the numbers do change here. Nearly fifteen years ago the area codes for London were split into two. Then about ten years ago all of the area codes changed, and some areas got brand new area codes. The London codes changed again. Then a couple of years ago the codes changed again for some areas, and instead of every U.K area code starting with 01, they added 02xx codes as well. London changed again.
Area codes in the U.K are a fucking pain in the ass, and doubly so if you live in London. I thought the old system of 01xxx was fine, and made a lot of sense, but then they decided that 999 possible area codes in the 01xxx range wasn't enough and they needed an extra 999 codes in the 02xxx range, and just in case the 03xxx range is reserved for yet more area codes. Should the United Kingdom ever require 2,997 area codes I guess we'll be glad, but I can't see it happening somehow.
The Internet Protocol was originally designed for non realtime applications. In the last few decades it has been shoehorned into various realtime applications , IP telephony being one, online games being another. And it sort of works. But not very well without a HELL of a lot of high end hardware to help it along. Some things are best left to propriatary protocols , they do one thing and they do it well. Speech is one of these things that would be better served with one of these (and in fact a lot are used). I simply don't understand this headlong rush into using IP for everything , its a general purpose protocol for sure but this means its a jack of all trades master of none. Isn't it time that companies who should know what they are doing ignore all the hype and bandwagons with fairly flat tyres from the startups desperate to flog VOIP to stay afloat and use their expertese to design something for the 21st century , not use an overworked protocol from the 1970s?
To be fair this is also the company that wanted to roll out fibre connections to every home in the UK, but were stopped by Thatcher.
It's worth pointing out that this may not be a done deal.
In the UK the telecoms industry has until recently been regulated by an organisation called Oftel. They have recently been replaced by a much broader regulator called Ofcom (http://www.ofcom.org.uk/).
Their job is to try and ensure that the communications industry as a whole remains competitive. Which generally involves keeping BT on a short leash.
This is the first major announcement from BT since Ofcom came into existence, so they may want attempt to use this as an opportunity to stamp their authority on BT. Though if Oftel is anything to go by they'll probably be BT's lapdogs..
No way there are enough IPv4 adresses for this. Perhaps BT can get enough addresses, meybe even the next telco who tries to do this, but globally this is not a solution.
Now if they used IPv6... perhaps this will be the "killer app" for IPv6?
BT have done it before. They moved from a mostly mechanically switched local exchange network (all the old Strowgers) and old-school electronic exchanges to System X/System Y digital exchanges for the entire country in approximately ten years. This was a phenomenal amount of work.
The reason broadband has taken so long is that it doesn't make them much money. The reason they managed to switch the entire network, trunk routes and all, from analogue and mechanical switching to an all digital network is this: it took 25 engineers to keep a single 10,000 line Strowger exchange operating, and six System X echanges can be kept running by a single engineer. If it makes economic sense, BT can move fast enough. If changing their infrastructure to IP will make them/save them enough money, they will do it.
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Definitely, considering how expensive ADSL and broadband in general is in the UK, and the stranglehold BT has on providing wholesale ASDL in the market.
The only reason they are doing this most likely to tap into the mobile and other new markets, and it looks like a risky investment. No-one knows what the market would be like 2 years down the road, let alone 5 years.
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25/mth is quite good in the UK actually, but 25 pounds = 45 USD. You could probably get 1.5mbs with a good provider in the US for $35, and in Canada for less than $25 ($20 USD). In Japan and HK, you get 10+mbs for around $20 USD.
Telewest has just increase it's bandwidth by 50% though (no change in the plan price though). 512->768k, 1.0->1.5m etc. It's great and probably a good deal if you want 1mbs and don't have bulldog in your area.
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Right now, phones pay for broadband.
Once the public gets seriously into VOIP, which they will, phones are going byebye. So broadband will have to pay for itself.
Only sensible, really.