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Cable VoIP Sounds Better Than Some Landlines
A. G. Bell writes "A recent study that looked at the quality of phone calls came up with some surprising results. Ars Technica reports that while 'traditional' VoIP call quality lagged behind landlines, service from cable ISPs was much better because of their use of PacketCable: 'VoIP from the cable companies actually surpassed the traditional phone network in reliability, meaning that the service was more often available and connected calls without dropping them. Cable providers also led the way in audio quality; the top firm in Keynote's study actually turned in an MOS of 4.24, above most real phone networks.'"
I should probably give the obligatory "I work for Comcast, but just as a dispatcher" warning, so I know a bit more about this than most people. :-)
Yes, but until any one cable company has coverage to every home in America, a call from NY to CA will most likly traverse another provider's network
Right, unless both sides have (for example) Comcast's VOIP, there will be a hand off between providers. But all phone companies pay when a call transfers to another provider's systems. The amount per call is next to nothing, but considering the number of phone calls made at any one time, it adds up to enough that I know Comcast has laid cable through areas they don't service just to carry their own VOIP calls. Same for cell phones(ever wonder why your phone always homes in on your provider's towers even if another one is closer?). So if Comcast hands off the last bit of a call to say AT&T's network, Comcast would pay AT&T as they would if the call went to Comcast's network.
As for the lawsuit, isn't that the whole debate about the net neutrality issue? What is different from SBC trying to extort more money from Google for data passing over its lines than AT&T trying to extort more money from Comcast or RoadRunner for the same reason?
Different issue. Over Comcast's packetcable thing, the data of the call only goes over Comcast's backbone(and no other part of the net), then it is handed off as a normal phone call.
"Useless organic meatbag" -HK-47
Just a matter of clarification on some of your points:
DOCSIS is an ackronym for Data Over Cable Service Interface Specification, this has nothing specifically to do with voice or set-top boxes. There are two standards that deal with those
PacketCable is the cablelabs standard for voice.
OpenCable is the cablelabs standard for settop boxes.
There is no synchronized clock with regards to DOCSIS. PacketCable uses VoIP technology and, as the name implies, uses ip data packets for call transmission.