The Other VoIP

JamesB writes "Voxilla reports that two major Voice-over-IP providers, VoicePulse and Vonage have announced plans for Video-over-IP. Their competitor Packet8 has already been offering this service for several months."

Comments

Is THIS the future of TV?

[essreenim]

select what channel you want to watch over TCP!!

Re:Is THIS the future of TV?

[stephenbooth]

In all seriousness I'd love to be able to download the TV schedules to my PC, locate the shows I want to see (and be prompted about shows featuring actors I like or written/directed by writers/directors I like) then be able to have my TV change channel or my video (or PVR if I had one) start recording at the appropriate time. I don't watch much TV (tend to read or surf the web) but the shows I do watch I like to keep up with. It's really frustrating to find that a new series of a show I like has started (or the previous series is being rerun), an actor I like has a guest spot in an episode of a show I don't normally watch or a film I want to see has been on but I miss it it because I happened to not see any trailers.

For that I'd buy a PVR (alhough it would have to interface to my cable box as well).

Stephen

It's the future I guess

[Nijika]

Using iChatAV for some time now, the only trouble is sometimes you don't want to SEE who you're talking to, and you don't want them to see you (if you're sick, or too lazy to put on a shirt). A funny thing I've found is a question of etiquette; when is it polite to cover the cam?

Isn't that what a "video"phone is?

[winkydink]

Pricing is another matter that Citron refused to discuss. VoIP provider Packet8 offers a video phone for $499, with no additional charge for video services. Citron called the Packet8 device "a phone with a camera slapped on it."

And theirs will be what, A Ferrari with a naked woman lying on it? No, probably a phone with a camera slapped on it.

Re:VOIP Spam?

[Gadzinka]

I've got VoIP phone from my cable provider. Nothing special, it's Europe/Poland, so nothing as fancy as unlimited national etc, but cheaper and more reliable that monopolistic national telco. If I got spams on it I'd welcome them with "could you wait just a sec" and happily counted 0.03pln (about $0.01) per minute I get for incoming calls off my bill ;)

Robert

Packet 8 rules

[freelunch]

I had Voice Pulse for 6 months and the drop outs just became too much. They also have an extremely loud high pitched noise that blows your ear out once in a while.

I switched to packet8 about 2 months ago and it has been great. Big improvement. And my plan costs $20/month instead of $35+.

Earlier in the year, VP wasn't so bad. My guess is they are badly oversubscribed.

Re:down for maintenance

[moniker]

If you look at DSL Reports over time, Packet 8 has experienced a lot of growing pains. If you go far enough back though, you actually see some of the Packet 8 staff responding to reviews, which was pretty cool.

http://www.dslreports.com/comment/2413/47493

Packet8 doesn't have the features of Vonage (like I would love to have email notification of voicemail), but at 20$ a month, it felt great to tell Verizon off one last time.

Funny thing though, you start to develop a paranoia regarding the quality. A lot of my friends have called me from their cell phones, and I think my phone is freaking when they are actually walking under a bridge or going down to their basement.

H.264

[Tibor the Hun]

does that mean that they'll have to pay Apple's licensing fees for every phone they sell?

Re:down for maintenance

[Anonymous Coward]

Packet8 is very cool. I've been using it since Feb this year. I tried Vonage and SipPhone as well, but gave up on those. I'm using Packet8 to call the USA for free when I'm outside the country... since its IP based and I'm clling a US number, anywhere I go in the world, just plug in and call home. ET call home!

the deaf community has been using videophones

[hansoloaf]

for a long time now. first we used netmeeting types on the pc but the size are real small and the motion is jerky. so now we are using either D-Link I-2-Eye (www.i-2-eye.com) or Sorenson, a pioneer in this field, (www.sorensonvrs.com). It has spread around the community like wildfire - I would estimate between 5,000 to 10,000 have one already. Basically its set on top of a tv but the quality is great as we get around 25 to 30 fps, we can call relay services (real interpreters) to call hearing individuals using sign language. And we can call point to point to chat up with old friends or keep in touch with new friends. I am sure in the future this technology will be built in tv sets and connected wirelessly to the router and thus to the internet. I think this has better future than these tiny screens on phones because you can see bigger sizes - as big as the tv allows. just my take. han solo

Re:Um, Bandwidth anyone...?

[NardofDoom]

Just wait until the government steps in, kicks broadband providers in their asses, and forces FTTP rollout for 98% of the American public with static IP, along with VoIP 911 regulations. Just like they did with electrification and telephone in the early part of last century.

In fifty years it'll seem strange that we used to pay so much for such crappy broadband, and that not everyone had it. Just like telephones and electricity.