IP: wireless voice over IP via GSM

[David Farber <farber () cis upenn edu>]

> From: "the terminal of Geoff Goodfellow" <geoff () iconia com>
> To: "Dave e-mail pamphleteer Farber" <farber () cis upenn edu>
> Subject: wireless voice over IP via GSM
> Date: Tue, 7 Sep 1999 06:42:40 -0700
>
>
> A brief report from the field on voice over IP successfully operating
> wirelessly via GSM:
>
> Here in the Czech Republic both of the two country wide GSM network operators
> (http://www.eurotel.cz & http://www.paegas.cz) offer competing voice over IP
> (VOIP) services to their wireless subscribers (both regular monthly customers
> and pre-paid).  Speaking from my own experience and from others that I know
> here in CZ land who frequently make international long distance calls, these
> services are all the rage and work quite well at substantial cost savings.
>
> I am a user of the Paegas GSM network which was the first to offer these VOIP
> services in July of last year much to the consternation of the national
> wireline carrier SPT Telecom (http://www.telecom.cz).  SPT has a "monopoly" on
> voice services and long distance until Jan 2001 in the Czech Republic.  Data
> services have been de-monopolized.  However, soon after Paegas announced their
> VOIP long distance bypass calling service, SPT complained to the Czech
> telecommunications office, which looks after telecommunications on behalf of
> the Transportation and Communications Ministry.  This caused the
> telecommunications office to order the Paegas VOIP service to be shutdown on
> the grounds that it violated SPT's "monopoly" status on voice 
> services and long
> distance.  Recently, the shutdown order was rescinded and, surprise surprise,
> Eurotel GSM (which SPT is a partner/owner) came out with its own VOIP wireless
> offering!  As a result, both GSM operators are offering competing 
> VOIP services
> to their wireless customer base.
>
> To use VOIP on GSM you dial a special access code prefixing your 
> number (42 for
> Paegas, 55 for Eurotel) followed by the country code, city code, 
> number and the
> call is routed over IP to its destination country where the PSTN interconnect
> is completed.  To give you an example of how popular this is and how great the
> delta on cost is: a call via SPT wireline to the US costs 23 CZK (68 cents US)
> per minute.  The same call on Paegas GSM using standard wireline via SPT
> routing would cost 31 CZK (91 cents US) per minute.  Placing a call to the US
> on the Paegas GSM network using the VOIP routing method costs 9.50 CZK (28
> cents US) per minute!  In a country where the average income is a 
> bit over $300
> USD per month, this is a big big savings.
>
> Prior to the reemergence of the Paegas wireless VOIP offering i had been using
> a US based call-back service that cost 39 cents per minute to connect with
> numbers in the US.  I was a bit skeptical at first regarding the 
> quality that a
> wireless based VOIP service would offer, but after placing several personal
> calls and being happy with the quality i have now graduated to using it for
> business purposes as well.
>
> Both Paegas and Eurotel have said they intend to invest the 
> necessary resources
> to keep up the quality to make the service viable.
>
> Geoff Goodfellow
>
> =-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-
> Geoff_Goodfellow () iconia com, Prague CZ * tel/mobil +420 (0)603 706 558
> "Success is getting what you want & happiness is wanting what you get"
> http://www.nytimes.com/library/tech/99/01/biztech/articles/17drop.html