Common sense re "Cheap VoIP"

[Dave Farber <dave () farber net>]

I srongly agree with Dave

Dave
\

> Date: Wed, 27 Aug 2003 19:20:34 -0400
> From: Dave Burstein <dave () dslprime com>
> Subject: Common sense re "Cheap VoIP"
> X-Sender: dvb () mail panix com
> To: dave () farber net
>
>
> Dave
>
>     The problem with regulating VOIP is that there's no good definition 
> that doesn't include AOL Instant Messenger, Windows XP (which has a built 
> in SIP phone), any cheap video conferencing system, and even the voice 
> enabled multiplayer games coming on PlayStations and XBox.
> All enable cheap voice calls between people with computers, or a 
> connection via a voice gateway anywhere in the world to actual phones. 
> It's working great. Does Minnesota, as you just reported, really expect 
> Microsoft, AOL, and Creative Labs in Singapore (videoconference) to 
> register as a phone company?
>
> 3,000,000 people in Japan are making free calls to each other two cent per 
> minute calls to telephones in the United States. Yahoo BB is growing so 
> fast incumbent NTT is now offering a similar service. In France, the large 
> ISP Free.fr includes unlimited free calls to any wireline telephone in 
> France if you buy their 30 euro DSL service. This is really exciting 
> stuff, working so well it is changing the phone business around the 
> world.  I spent an hour on the phone recently with a senior tech at Bell 
> Canada, then asked him if I was on my Verizon landline or my Vonage phone 
> plugged into my broadband router. He guessed landline - I was on Voice 
> over IP. I carried that unit with me to Germany last year, and called all 
> over the states.
>
>      So how can Minnesota effectively regulate an IP lookup service, 
> perhaps based in Rio de Janeiro but telling my computer in New York or 
> Saint Paul the current dynamic IP of Dave Farber's computer in Pittsburgh 
> or Minneapolis? That's all Free World Dialup, Jeff Pulver's service 
> really is. I pick up a SIP phone, it queries over the net to FWD for the 
> current location of Dave Farber's SIP phone, and lets us connect 
> directly. Like a domain name service, it takes very few resources and 
> 50,000 people connect for free already. Simple gateways, located 
> anywhere, can also connect you right to the regular phone network. (For 
> the record, I do a conference in the Spring with Jeff.)
>
>     I strongly support universal phone service and the internet for 
> schools and libraries. But there is enormous waste in the current system, 
> including a multi million dollar contract in Florida to Jeb Bush's 
> campaign manager to "privatize" the school network in the state. Most USF 
> dollars go to a handful of states where the subsidy makes the local phone 
> service so profitable investment bankers rush in to fund line buyouts. 
> There are FCC and Congressional proceedings ongoing to locate the 
> ripoffs, and they're only scraping the surface.
>
>    Before we cripple a key internet service, let's go after that waste 
> first. Anyone who thinks the real USF problem is a few percent of calls 
> over the net is either informed or a lying hypocrite trying to kill 
> competition. Let's get real here.
>
> Dave Burstein
>
>
>
> Editor, DSL Prime & Telecom Insider
> Co-author DSL: A Wiley Tech Brief (February 2002), Journalism in the 
> Internet Age (forthcoming)
> Special correspondent, The Personal Computer Show, WBAI-99.5FM, Three time 
> winner of Best Radio Show ,Computer Press Association

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