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The Voice Over IP Insurrection

Posted by timothy on from the heavy-voiceover dept.

Chris Holland writes "Daniel Berninger wrote the most informative article about Voice over IP I've ever read, over at Om Malik's blog. It outlines in great details the history behind the evolution of traditional communication technologies framed within the convergence of various Internet-related technological advances, and the challenges PSTN telcos are facing to hold-on to their shares of this lucrative pie. Beyond mere technological issues, Berninger offers great parallels and insights on past, current, and future governmental regulatory policies. A must read for anyone who's ever talked on the phone."

3 of 168 comments (clear)

  1. Processor Speed by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Informative
    The arrival of VoIP in 1995 corresponded with the arrival of a PC (i.e. Intel 486 processor) capable of managing the encode and decode processing in real-time.
    Er, the 486 arrived in about 1989. By '94, the x86 platform was on the Pentium Pro
  2. Well, by Freston+Youseff · · Score: 5, Informative

    I don't think much else needs to be said about VoIP. It's wonderful technology and saves a lot of money on telephone bills if you're well connected with broadband. I use VoIP quite a bit, so it's worth mentioning a top VoIP reference on the internet, in fact the most comprehensive info directory on the topic I know of. Also of interest is the FCC (keep the boos down please) webpage on it.

    --

  3. The sad reality of regulation by drmerope · · Score: 5, Informative

    From the article: "... For the first two-thirds of the 20th century, AT&T had manned Berlin Wall separating telecommunications and computing, but eventually, these two enormous technology tracks would be unified."

    Sadly, this was not AT&T but the U.S. Justice Department which through a series of Consent Decrees required this harsh distinction.

    The Consent Decree of 1956 forbid AT&T from engaging in any business other than "common carrier communication services"

    Further restrictions appeared in the 1982 agreement.

    These restraints were not removed until congress and the FCC asked them to be removed after the passage the 1996 Telecom Act.