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VoIP Regulation, SIP Insurrection
Chris Holland writes "As voice communications are evolving beyond traditional phone systems and making better use of the Internet, Aswath Rao is offering regulation-advocating counterpoints to Dr. Daniel Ryan's original analysis of various VoIP industry players' arguments for deregulation. Many of the above discussions revolve around closed, regulatory-scrutiny-fostering voice communications ecosystems reserved to a small, resourceful elite. Meanwhile, an open Internet protocol which provides support for all forms of real-time communications including Text, Voice and Video, with a few open-sourced server implementations and free client solutions is starting to gain serious ground: The Session Initiation Protocol enables just about anybody with little resources to become their own Real-Time Communications Giant."
Okay, here's the rules.
;)
Every time someone mentions the word "Asterisk" in this page, you have to take a shot.
(Note that I'm building 2 of the 'A' Boxes right now. One for my home, and one at the office, a third will go at the ISP.)
Karma: Chameleon (mostly due to the fact that you come and go).
I want to get started with free VoIP. What clients are best for windows and for linux?
The ability to circumvent NAT is why programs like Skype have such popularity and why Linux users looking for more control have been quick to investigate Asterisk and it's IAX2 protocol.
Open standards are all very well, but for the time being at least, SIP is going to be a good technology so we can connect our computers to big carrriers and interoperate with the POTS. Other technologies have the potential to completely circumnavigate POTS and the big carriers - you cna bet your life they'll do everything they can to make sure they're not adopted.
The whole VoIP technology has the ability to revolutionize communications. We just need to make sure that the industry is kept open enough, so everyone has a chance to innovate. Open source and open protocols are an excellent way to help do that. If the government steps in and starts regulating everything like they did with POTS, then we'll end up with a few huge monopolies that offer horrible service and horrible prices again.
I store my recipes online (the way nature intended)
I am at this moment sitting in a class covering my company's SIP enabled devices (fortunately running on Linux), but I have yet to see the big deal. :)
Honest question, what does SIP, an all in one protocal, offer you that traditional implementations don't?
Note: I'm not referring to home users, so please no replies about calling porn services in Rumania for free
If thou see a fair woman pay court to her, for thus thou wilt obtain love
After reading the blog entry, VOIP looks like it is very susceptible to spam. Some of the limits of telemarketers today are paying to make the calls, and accountability. New spammer/telemarketers could use a semi-anonymous SIP address.... or use a virus to control someone else's and send out millions of bulk recorded messages. Also, spam detection software to prevent something like this would be infinately more difficult to create than email filtering software.
I've used a lot of VoIP services
Skype just works
I can take my laptop to work and it just works and figures out appropriate proxy settings.
My cisco hardware seems a lot harder to get working and keep working.
This may be a silly question, but can you do data for VOIP? I guess what I mean is in relation to a call originating with VOIP and ending at a modem on a POTS. Granted, it would be stupid to go from a high speed digital network to a slow analog telephone system, but is there any way to do this? It would be similar to a VPN type network connection with a virtual VOIP modem.
Because everyone is sitting in front of their computer with their IM client of choice.
Friend of mine called me from his Asterisk box last nite -- I picked up the call on my cell phone. His voice was clear, crisp, unjittered, no echo -- sounded like he was on a landline handset.
So, I'm now experimenting with Asterisk...
Zhrodague.net - I do projects and stuff too.
These guys are upgrading a $50 Linksys router with a full SIP server and SIP NAT. Add a wireless Wifi phone you have your own wireless PBX for the house including Wifi, QoS, a killer firewall, and tons more to boot.
And it's based on Linux and open source - whoopee!The Session Initiation Protocol enables just about anybody with little resources to become their own Real-Time Communications Giant.
/sarcasm
What if I have modest resources? Can I still become my own real-time communications giant?
More
I worked for a Cable company doing a VoIP rollout and I can assure you they do not as he says in #3: "Note that these players not only do not object, but they want regulatory parity with ILECs, because that is their competition." We very cleary wanted parity or to have a regulatory advantage. With the regulatory advantage being much preferred.
VOIP is the leading edge of big government/big moneys effort to quell the anarchy that is the Internet.
No folly is more costly than the folly of intolerant idealism. - Winston Churchill
The Session Initiation Protocol enables just about anybody with little resources to become their own Real-Time Communications Giant.
... protocol (sic) does not function as a magic bullet. Just waving the SIP spec at a traditional telcom does not knock them over. (Okay, throwing the entire printed version of all the SIP specs might...) This isn't about anyone with just 'a little resources', this is about people with resources, a lot of technical know-how (SIP is easy only in the sunny day cases), and LOTS OF TIME.
And anyone with a hoe and a little water can become a Real Farming Industry Giant! Or, If You Have A Few Bucks, You Can Buy This Bridge I Can Sell You.
The
boohoo
VoIP (and similar technologies) does not provide any address information when you call 9-1-1 (I know neither do PBX's, but most people do not have one of those in their houses). That is a really big issue if someone reports his or her address wrong to the 9-1-1 Dispatcher (it happens all of the time, all over the country - I call this the grey side of innovation). Deregulation certainly has its pluses, but what are they worth if you or someone you know doesn't get they help they need? There is a public perception that 9-1-1 will come to your aid if you call them, many people were taught this as children. If these VoIP companies choose not to address this issue, then where does that leave the whole EMS system? How can they assist the public if they do not know where they are calling form? Just some thoughts.
When in danger or in doubt, run in circles, scream and shout.
Um, sorry wrong. Packet8 does . It is not a big deal to me but if it was I would have gone with them.
--- Tolerance is the axiomatic "virtue" of those without convictions ---
Or for those who don't feel like logging in, and want a clicky link, clikicky clicky.
I had no idea, I am involed in the EMS industry, which is why I posted this. But I have never heard of Packet8 before. Maybe in time their service model will be followed by others. Thanks for the tip.
When in danger or in doubt, run in circles, scream and shout.
hoisted a few already today have ya?
every day http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Special:Random
I use asterisk at home and work. It works flawless (once you have it setup correctly) Whats great is my home asterisk box communicates with the work asterisk box. At work we have two seperate offices one in LV and one in NY, those two box's communicate to each other.. In the same way for example broadvoice will probally hook up with packet8 to eliminate the middle man and save mula, so those calls to eachother will cost nada. Get a Free mini mac - http://www.freeminimacs.com/?r=14172807
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Why is it necessary to subscribe to any provider to get directory services? Sure, if you want inbound/outbound POTS service you need to subscribe to a gateway. But now that even grandma has the fancy new broadband, why can't we just make direct calls to other VOIP users?
I still think VOIP directories should be available through services like ddns. I don't have to subcribe to any service to do a DNS lookup so I can visit someone's website. Just think how much simpler life would have been if instant messaging had a standard protocol and public directory servers.
It is amazing what you can accomplish if you do not care who gets the credit. -- Harry Truman
I think the biggest thing that the VoIP providers can do to avoid regulation is open up their SIP networks. And the best thing people like AT&T can do to get upstart VoIP players regulated is to open up their SIP networks.
VoIP get's most of the emphasis, but SIP is the killer app that VoIP is riding on, IMHO. The most annoying thing is that the VoIP providers won't allow customers, other VoIP providers or CPE (Customer Premise Equipment) manufactures access to the really cool features of SIP.
What can you do with truly open SIP. For starters it help to understand that SIP is a signaling protocol (like SS7 in the POTS world), not a communication protocol, SIP doesn't bother with encoding, decoding, or routing of the actually bits being communicated. As the name implies Session Initiation Protocol initiates communication session between end-points, once initiated the communication occurs direct between the end-point devices using some other protocol negotiated by SIP when it initiated the connection. However, the word "initiation" is a bit misleading because the SIP server also maintains awareness of the connection once established and can be used to control the connection afterwards and that can include adding/subtracting end-points, add/subtracting layers of communication, re-connecting end-points, etc. Very powerful stuff.
So with open SIP, you could have your cell phone route calls to the ATA in your home when you're home, but directly to your cell phone when away (and visa versa) by having the SIP server of your home ATA tell the SIP server of your cell phone provider that the new end-point device for phone number xxx is here. Also, you could set up complex multi-media connection on the fly. You're chatting over IM with someone and decide you need to up the bandwidth to voice, click, both parties (2 or more actually) phones ring, need to add a data feed to that to send a file, click. Need to add video, click.
The possibilities of what can be done with SIP have just barely been explored because of the limitation imposed by the VoIP providers. If only they understood Metcalf's law: The power of the network increases proportionately with the square of the number of nodes on the network. So by artificially limiting the number of nodes on your VoIP network to only your customers you really do yourself a disservice.
So if AT&T opened up its SIP network first and allowed users to see the power of SIP then the public sentiment could very quickly tilt in favor of regulation on other VoIP providers to do the same. On the other hand, if Vonage opened up its SIP network first then it could maintain the regulatory high-ground that VoIP inherently creates a competitive marketplace without regulations.
Care to give an account to that post, you little AC troll?
The only service from a major VoIP provider that I am aware of is the afore mentioned packet8. I'm sure this change over time.
BTW, Packet8 charges a $10 setup fee and a $1.50 monthly fee for E911 (RBOCs also charge for this service - but you have no choice)
--- Tolerance is the axiomatic "virtue" of those without convictions ---
Are there any simple (relatively speaking) SIP servers that can be pressed into service as a Voice-over-IP conferencing server, the way OpenH323's OpenMCU can? I wouldn't really care that it was SIP, except that SIP seems to be the protocol with the greatest selection of open and/or free clients available at the moment.
I'm not thinking here of a full hook-your-telephone-to-the-internet system (which Asterisk seems to be ideal for), just a simple open-standards server for a few people to point their computer-based voice phones at, running on my OWN server, for a casual conference, using readily-acquired free/open software. I've gotten OpenMCU to work for that before, but H.323 seems like it is slowly being replaced by SIP (and there appear to be more SIP clients available than H.323 ones.)
Hacker Public Radio is our Friend
I haven't read the full spec, but from what I see, it sounds like SIP's main purpose is to be a workaround for NAT. Well, instead of that, how about adding support for IPv6? No NAT traversal required.
1) When your power goes out, the phone still works. Your computers (and VoIP phone) do not.
2) When your Network connection flakes out (as it is known to do periodically), your VoIP phone goes silent.
3) When your ISP starts to block or throttle back VoIP calls which are not routed through their own VoIP service, your VoIP phone is almost useless. You can thank the lack of regulations for this.
The VoIP industry is very much in bubble mode right now. It will burst, and when it does, I think that VoIP will finally have the opportunity to mature into a product which is actually useable for joe average.
Feed the need: Digitaladdiction.net
For the first time in history, those with the time and a bit of know-how can do it. It's possible. And if the government stays out of it, it's a real grass roots threat to the big corporations.
Legislators are scared of this. Successes in ventures like this prove that we don't need legislators and regulators like they think we do. Legislators want to leave their legacy. They want to make themselves important, justify their own existence. They want to pat themselves on the back and say that they made government work!
Legislators and big government like to, with the media's help, paint a big picture of pirates, desparation, big evil corporations that need regulating, rip-offs, and even death at the hands of unregulated technology. Just you wait and see... the first time someone dies waiting for an ambulance and they don't have a landline or wireless line, and if it's discovered that they had a free internet phone connection, you can't imagine the press coverage that will flood this topic. 60 Minutes, the NY Times, the Washington Post, the Reverend Jesse Jackson... they'll ALL step in to talk about the horror, the sorrow that this poor soul faced, and that we need legislation to help prevent this type of accident, to prevent the treachery that resorted to this person turning to a "pirated" type of internet phone. You'll see 20% taxes on your internet connection within WEEKS! ISPs will be forced to put up filters. Trust me. It'll happen.
But if we're fast about it, and if it happens quickly, it'll go too far and reach too many people before the government can react. TIVO was something like this. TIVO changed people's habits. They aren't tied to the broadcast schedules for their shows. They skip thru commercials. Commercials are now served inline. You don't realize it, but TIVO changed a lot more than people think. SIP and VoIP, if it picks up pace, could do far more. Soon, wireless connections won't just be a phone, it'll be IP, and you'll end up with VoIP over a wireless phone. It's already started. We just need to keep the government out. Get the stupid "industry" lobbyists, regulators, press, and party hacks and keep them locked up somewhere. A year, maybe 2, and let it grow unchecked.
-- No sig for you!
I'm not trying to impugn the technology -- I think VoIP is great, but if it's going to replace POTS, it needs oversight and regulation as a public service.
use openwrt.org. People have gotten asterisk to build on it and have even made packages for it. more interesting will be the new linksys with the fxo ports on it. They had some oem in the beginning, but now you have to get it bundled with vonage...
Representatives from several VoIP companies will be discussing the future of open-source, regulation, and VoIP at SCALE 3x next month. Panelists will include Louie Mamakos, (Vonage), Jeff Bonforte (SIPphone), Al Brisard (PingTel), and Darryl Strauss (President - Digital Ordnance). In addition there will be talks about setting up your own VoIP systems with Asterisk.
Out here in the real world beyond the borders of the USA (where citizen means more than "mark"), broadband is getting pretty darn common. Not a rich boys toy at all...
I keep wondering, VOIP is never going to really be very good until ISPs increase the bandwidth on the UPLOAD side. Download is fine, but the uploads speeds are just terrible.
Now this is something I'm really going to consider.
SIP can be implemented with a much lower resource requirement.
If you're familiar with IP and OSI protocols, think CMIP (H.323) vs. SNMP (SIP).
"National Security is the chief cause of national insecurity." - Celine's First Law
i don't suppose anyone on /. will mention it, but Microsoft have adopted SIP in the latest Windows Messenger client.
.NET Messenger client, which is designed for public Internet use. Windows Messenger is designed to work with a Live Communication Server, integrated into Active Directory and Microsoft Exchange. If you have the whole Microsoft suite, it actually works really well...
p pro/maintain/wmsgrfaq.mspx
Note that this is *not* the same as the
More info here... http://www.microsoft.com/technet/prodtechnol/winx
We use this for corporate IM, voice and video conferencing, as well as remote desktop support (using the "remote assistance" feature) and also for desktop application sharing.
It is shame that the ISA server development team didn't get the "We now like SIP" memo, because there is no Microsoft way of passing audio or video SIP calls through their own firewall server (VPN or opening 1000's of ports doesn't count).
I'm a developer on SIP-based PBX software and on proprietary PBX software also (both from a vendor you'd recognize).
SIP has opened up some options, but the implementation has revealed lots of little gotchas along the way.
And I was just (in the middle of this email) speaking to a SIP architect from another vendor. His comment:
"SIP is great in the network, but not so good to the desktop".
My own observation was that SIP puts a lot of brains often into the end device, and the effect of that is to distribute the programming task and the troubleshooting task. That's more of a dev-side issue, but if you are a company looking at doing something with SIP, being aware of these sorts of difficulties/costs can be important.
-- Mal: "Well they tell you: never hit a man with a closed fist. But it is, on occasion, hilarious."
Hey I've just moved cites and I decided that instead of getting a regular line, I would try Vonage. Is this the wrong place to go for VoIP? SIP? Asterisk? If so what hardware is suggested. I'm planning to make this my primary phone so I want something that is rock solid (as long as my internet connection is up). Also, I don't want a computer to be requried. I simply want to plug a regular phone into a router (which I want to purchase, not build) and go! I basically want this to work as a regular phone line. Any suggestions? Thanks!
... of course, I can think of better things to do with a hoe and a little water...
Thank you. Carry on!