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AOL to Enter the VoIP Ring
FiveDollarYoBet writes "Looks like AOL is entering the VOIP racket. The service is free but it's really a Skype clone with a copper local number. They're also going to offer an unlimited version for $14.95 a month but you have to make the calls from your computer. It'll be interesting to see if it's more of a IM live chat or a true VoIP. The article also outlines their plans to take on MySpace in the near future."
news for nerds?
"It's really a Skype clone on copper" really shouldn't have been included.
Of course, then again, I'm a Wikipedia Editor.
And, of course, I need more negative karma.
You've got Phone Call!!
When I tell an object to delete this, am I killing it or telling it to kill me?
And once again AOL offers us another paid service any person can spend 15 minutes learning to get absolutely free and legal! Pity time and warner.
Ginga no Rekshiya Mata Each page.
Pi Ran Out
I bet if you want to use this, you're going to have to DL AIM's new "Triton" client (maybe they'll make it work with the older 5.x versions) and the ViewPoint advertising that comes with it.
I can't imagine that AOL would make this a standalone product.
So it will be ad supported, one way or another, if for no other reason than AIM already has ads built in.
TANSTAAFL, unless you block the ads, which the vast majority of the user base has no clue how to do.
[Fuck Beta]
o0t!
kan u here me know?!? LOLZ!! :::hugs:::
"I would say that 99 per cent of what my father has written about his own life is false." - L. Ron Hubbard Jr.
AOL has always had a pretty family-oriented image, which was probably to their disadvantage in certain demographics but maybe not entirely in this case. At a time when there's a lot of concern about the so-called dangers of MySpace (child predators, etc), AOL could leverage their family-friendly image to tout a MySpace-like service that is also "family friendly": more safety features to protect children, parental controls for parents, and a number of other features that would score points with concerned parents.
Whether a service like that will get them anywhere near as big as MySpace is anyone's guess, but it would definately take advantage of both the current concern over MySpace's complete openness and AOL's current image. Plus, if the government really does require sites like MySpace to raise their minimum age to 18 and enforce age verification, there will be an entirely new market (12-17 year olds) for a kid-friendly MySpace, one that AOL could fill quite well for the reasons stated above.
What makes it a "Skype clone"? The user interface? The protocol? The marketing?
$x='S24;r)>63/* h@<5+oZ)32"5cz';$me='phroggy'x$];
$x=~y+ -xz+\0-Tx+;print$_^chop$me for split'',$x;
AOL Phone = plenty of incoming calls that are mysteriously lost, a staggering number of incoming telemarketing calls that get through to sell you replica watches and internet porn (despite your number being on the national "do not call" list), having to listen to ads before you get to your voicemail, you eventually paying way too much, and intelligent people nolonger taking you seriously.
This is a hacked account, for which the owner can not be held responsible.
The service is free but it's really a Skype clone
You could say that about more or less ANY VoIP-system.
Skype does VoIP, so any VoIP-system is bound to be more or less a clone of it.
duh
You're going to need that unlimited plan to get in touch with tech support
You've got stalker
We'll all wish we were deaf.
I mean, will it really attract any new users? People who dislike AOL will not change their minds, and people who like AOL will start to use this, but I can't really see it affecting the market.
Why does the submitter think VOIP is it a racket? Being able to phone a US landline from Europe for 2 US cents a minute with Skype doesn't sound like a racket. It sounds like a positive bargain.
What's with the overuse of fighting metaphors? Seems every third article or so is titled using a metaphor related to fighting. Most commonly it's "X to be the next Y killer?" Maybe some people need spend more time playing competitive video games.
There's nothing about protocol. Is it going to be a proprietary protocol? That is the real question here ! Let this VOIP software compete on the same market. Make a common standard after things evolve enogh. There should be someone watching over this. In the early days there was just copper and some modulation around this question NOW we have greed that regulats this companys.I can just hope people are enough aware of this problem.
It feels like old news, maybe just an extension of really old news.
Think's there's any possibility that they'll use the SIP protocol?
HD Trailers
So Time Warner which owns Road Runner offers Digital Phone for 49.95 a month.
Time Warner owns AOL and AOL offers VOIP for $14.95.
As if we couldn't already figure out why the AOL Time Warner marrage didn't work out, the are apparently under cutting their own product.
An article about AOL in USA Today.
God bless low the quality that the average American demands and respects.
Considering the content an OT mod for the post would be quite humourous, "troll" is a wee bit too harsh in my book.
And did you exchange a walk on part in the war for a lead role in a cage? - Pink Floyd.
It saddens me that VoIP is going the way that IM went. I want something that will interoperate with everything else --including the traditional telephone network -- transparently. I don't want to have to care whether the person I'm calling uses Skype, or AOL, or Google Talk, or whatever. I just want to pick up my phone (software or hardware) and call them, like I can on the traditional phone network. Why does every new technology seem to degenerate into a mess of competing and deliberately un-interoperable implementations? How long will it be before the hacks of the IM world are repeated, and we end up patching up this mess with complicated multi-protocol client software?
If AOL are starting in on voip, then someone's going to start thinking about the potential of cold calling revenue. the only person I know still using aol is cancelling soon because they are bombarded with non blockable adverts within the aol client whenever the log in. I can see it now, coding late into the night, or playing games, and getting constantly interrupted by people trying to sell me insurance/double glazing/marital aids, whatever. If anyone starts it, it'll be aol, and as soon as someone does, everyone will. I imagine there will be an attempt to get voip users to accept that cold calling on voip is benificial to them, in much the same way that 'trusted computing' is useful (yeah, right).
I know it's been said before, but it's still shocking that it isn't seen as the main issue. Seriously, I don't give a shit about the quality of the service compared to Skype. If Toyota started selling petrol, the issue wouldn't be the quality of the petrol, it'd be "OMG TOYOTA IS SELLING PETROL". This is little different. Similarly, if Hitachi created its own TV channel, I wouldn't be asking how good the programs were, I'd be mentally noting not to buy any Hitachi equipment.
This is a huge conflict of interests for AOL (as is their coming MySpace competitor), and this sort of thing is exactly what's fuelling the "tiered internet" bullshit. Start calling these things as they appear or you'll never catch them in time.
"The article also outlines their plans to take on MySpace in the near future."
My bet is that "taking on MySpace" means a huge marketing campaign to 'warn' parents of the supposed 'dangers' of MySpace and how their expensive & restrictive system will be so much safer. Thereby getting the parents to force teenagers and such to switch.
If AOL are lucky they may even be able to get the parents to pay a monthly fee to switch and 'ensure' their childs safety. Such is the paranoia spread by the mainstream media these days.
Also this month, it will roll out AIM Pages -- a direct broadside on MySpace. If someone on your AIM Buddy List has an AIM Page you'll get an alert whenever that person adds something to it. One click takes you to it.
So basically they're offering VOIP (like MSN/WLM) and linking blog updates to your IM profile (like MSN/WLM). IT'S MAGIC!
"Bother," said Pooh, as lightning knocked out hi%#&(F*@NO CARRIER
I've been playing Oblivion a lot lately. When I saw the headline about VoIP Ring I thought of this:
You've equipped the Ring of VoIP.
What kind of stats would it have? Mind Reading?
When travelling, it's ok if the airlines lose your emotional baggage.
I see people bashing it either because it's not free for long distance or just because it's AOL. Let's wait until we can evaluate the service before bashing it. I don't expect too much out of it, but I'm holding off my wrath until I try it at least.
Looks like aol turns yet another ring into a dope ring
As far as Marketing being the reason that AOL is still around, I would disagree. Compuserve was an old company that was started out of an even older company (H&R Block). CS had been around quite a bit longer than many of us have been alive. In fact, I remember celebrating some employees' 30-year anniversaries at CompuServe. IMO, CompuServe eventually lost in the marketplace because they didn't move quick enough to make a fun/happy/colorful service. Being matured and experienced, CompuServe spent their resources making their products and services reliable and trustworthy. Then, the 90s came around and every soccer-mom and junior high student wanted to get Online. And, both AOL and CompuServe had CDs and rebates everywhere you looked. In those days there was a third competitor some of you may remember called Prodigy. Just about everyone with a computer tried all three. As far as glitz, colors, and the rest of the hoo-haa was concerned, AOL won. CompuServe made a last ditch effort called CompuServe WOW! which was too much money spent way too late in the game. It was shortly thereafter that MCI/WorldComm took over and sold the CS client and customers to AOL.
I'm sure I'll be modded down, but even though the
This is a perfect excuse to add more boot-time background processes to provide users with an even slower, more popup-and-reminder-filled computing experience!
Bring on the asteroid
"Dubbed AIM Phoneline, the free number would only allow for incoming calls from any phone." ONLY from ANY?
In the software VoIP area there have been a lot of big announcements recently, including Yahoo, Lycos, AOL. I guess I wouldn't touch AOL and Lycos because they sound too good to be true, and sure enough they are (ads). But none of them, nor Skype, support Canada: their inbound services don't have Canada numbers.
What software VoIP services do offer Canadian phone numbers?
As much as AOL US would love to have something like the AOL Box, the Box isn't sold in the US because the services are very different. AOL France is an ISP, selling broadband connections directly. AOL US is primarily a content/services business and provides broadband by linking buyers and sellers (telcos/cable cos). Once the deal is made AOL is out of the broadband part of the customer's experience.
The AOL Box is a key part of the service in France. The broadband market in France is sufficiently different that AOL US can't get into the market in the same way - France's telephone & DSL network is very open and companies compete on an equal basis. In the US the existing telcos have killed that freedom. In the US, the DSL provider supplies the modem so AOL US doesn't get that locked-in position with the customer that AOL FR has.
Technically there is little reason that the AOL Box couldn't be used in the US although it is fairly Eurocentric as built now: DECT wireless phones aren't available in the US and like many French services uses MGCP-based VoIP.
The Box is a nice piece of gear, not everything that Free offers but close (WiFi, USB, RJ-45 ethernet, TV uplink, RJ-11 phone, etc). I'm certain that TV will come very soon.
AOL France does have a decent reputation for customer service, which may be a reason that people subscribe over Free. Free is a very fast leader, though, and a tough act to follow. AOL FR has its work cut out for it, but then so do the rest of Free's competitors.
Of course I don't speak for my employer. My employer doesn't speak for me, either.
More software that AOL provides to make your computer run even slower.
You constantly struggle for self improvement - and it shows.
Hooray for bad Engrish on fortune cookies
The ADSL providers target private individuals who don't need a fax, not businesses
O rly? I've seen advertisements for "business DSL" service with service levels for home offices and small businesses.
And e-mail is a lot better than fax anyway <geek smirking>
Unless you need to interoperate with businesses that use the legacy fax system. Then you have to pay extra for a fax-email gateway. I was hoping that VOIP phone companies would offer such a gateway at a discount to their subscribers.
The closed protocol approach is really annoying, the closed source means you can't really trust their security, and SIP also has lots of cool things that it does, but the combination of user-centric technology and good marketing gave them a really big jump. On the other hand, the major IM players are starting to come out with their own competing services; I think Yahoo and MSN are going with SIP and Google is going with Jabber. The main difference between VOIP and IM is jus tthe media channel - both services have some kind of presense server that keeps track of users and tells them the options for the media channel, so it's natural that the markets would take advantage of this.
Bill Stewart
New Fast-Compression-only CPR http://preview.tinyurl.com/dy575ks
Will AOL's VoIP service say "Goodbye!" when it disconnects me?