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AT&T Announces VoIP Program
An anonymous reader writes "DeviceForge reports that AT&T has unveiled a program to foster the 'development, delivery, and adoption' of emerging voice over IP (VoIP) applications, capabilities, and devices. The program, based on proprietary AT&T specifications, is intended to enable 'select vendors' to test applications and equipment against AT&T specs and thereby ensure compatibility with AT&T's evolving VoIP communication services. AT&T has invited industry leaders representing application developers, equipment, device manufacturers, and silicon vendors to participate in the program in order to 'shape and scale' the emerging VoIP market."
My home ISP, speakeasy, announced the other day that they are offering VOIP. Considering that they also have a no-telco-service-required DSL package, one can pretty much drop off the grid. http://www.speakeasy.net/press/pr/pr092104.php
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For home users anyway. I still need a phone line for DSL. I still need a phone line for emergency services (VOIP won't work if the rest of the power is out, the regular phone was). I rarely make long distance calls. Maybe it's just not for me?
A - Cable modems or non-phone based "DSL" (wireless broadband, etc.)
B - Business uses - especially intersite PBX bridging and off-site extensions
C - Cheap international
D - A great deal of POTS service network is running or planning to run VOIP behind the scenes instead of analog connection with SS7 control protocol.
HTH
Em
RelevantElephants: A Somatic WebComic...
I've worked as a design engineer in the telecom equipment field for many years. Time after time, I've seen AT&T jerk around telco equipment makers. They always have some special requirements, that are completely different than all the other carriers. They always promise some huge order, if you'll just spend months developing customized equipment just for them. Then later on, they say "Oh, never mind, we've changed our minds. We don't want that anymore". The first time it happened, I thought it was the company I worked for that somehow screwed up the deal. Then it happened again, then again at a different company. Then I talked to engineers at other companies, and they had all had the same experience! This looks like AT&T just wants to jerk that chain again.
By the perception of illusion, we experience reality
This was probably what you were looking for, and it took me all of a few seconds to find it.
bork bork bork!
Videotron (Quebec's cable provider, owns the whole 24.*.*.* IP range with another cable provider) is supposed to LAUNCH a similar VoIP service in the early 2005, article here.
We'll see how it works, and if it does well against Bell's telephone monopoly. I hate Bell, ill be happy to switch away from them.
"...a generation of kids has grown up thinking Trance is the shittiest music since country and western." - Paul van Dyk
AT&T has been working on this for many years now (they started really investigating VoIP back in '98 as part of their plan to use their (then) vast cable network to offer phone service in competition with the baby bells.)
This is not proprietary in the way you likely think it is. All of their work has been based on open standards (of which there is a confusion! of conflicting open standards). VoIP equipment vendors all tend to implement "something" which is sort of like some published standard but rarely works with other vendors equipment.
AT&T through years of work cobbled together guidelines to ensure interoperability. AT&T has made those guidelines public now and is inviting vendors to conform to them.
It is proprietary only in the sense of having been developed at AT&T. It isn't licensed. AT&T is a customer and, as a customer, has published its wish list for vendors... which is why this is intended to foster development...