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The Voice Over IP Insurrection
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."
After weighing the options, I decided to get rid of my POTS and go with VOIP. My daughter already has a $10 monthly Broadvoice VOIP account which gets us unlimited in-state calling and 3 cents/minute long distance. I am happy with their service. However, neither my wife nor daughter (nor I) were comfortable with the fact that 911 service is significantly different, if it exists at all. That was a deal killer. To quote from an email I received from Broadvoice today: "We are working very diligently to implement BV911. We understand the importance of this feature, and anticipate availability later this autumn." However, their website still says they expect it this summer - so take it with a large grain of salt. In my town, if you dial 911 and say nothing, they'll send a squad car. I would guess that response is nearly universal. Without the 911 connectivity only my local phone company provides, that level of comfort and service disappears.
This prompted me to recently switch to Cablevision (Optimum) for their $90/month package deal of basic digital cable, cable modem service and VOIP (unlimited local/long distance with all the premium calling features).
When I called Verizon to disconnect my phone service, of course the CSR asked me why and I told her because of VOIP. She then proceeded to ask me if Cablevision explained to me about not getting "911" or "0" service, that I couldn't make a call if the power is out, and that since my calls are "going over the internet" it was "less secure" than a regular line. I mockingly replied "Hell yeah!".
I sure hope she does as good a job FUD'ing her own company's VoiceWing service as she did for Cablevision.
On "installation" day, the Cablevision guy couldn't get the VOIP part working. So he calls local support and after being put on hold for 15mins while the tech "looked into it", the tech returns with the brilliant suggestion of trying a new modem. After trying two different Motorola VOIP cable modems with no success and another 10mins on hold the tech transfers him to the national support center. He waits another 15mins on hold to be connected to a "national" tech just to be told by the tech that "field guys" can't talk directly to the national tech guys and that only the local techs can talk to the national techs then *CLICK*. He then calls local support again, where finally a different tech tells him that VOIP has been down for 1hr and doesn't know when it will be back up.
Total time for cable modem and cable TV setup (including running wires, etc.) = 30min. Total VOIP setup time = 90min. (and it still wasn't working when the cable guy left). Finally about an hour later the service came back up.
Tweedle Dee and Tweedle Dum. Take your pick. Either way you lose and it ain't even election day yet...