Re: What vexes VoIP users?

[Owen DeLong <owen () delong com>]

On Feb 28, 2011, at 1:33 PM, Cutler James R wrote:

> On Feb 28, 2011, at 1:29 PM, Bret Clark wrote:
>
> > On 02/28/2011 01:17 PM, Leigh Porter wrote:
> > > VoIP at the last mile is just too niche at the moment. It's for people on this list, not my mother.
> > >
> > > --
> > > Leigh
> > Baloney...if that was the case, then all these ILEC's wouldn't be whining about POT's lines decreasing exponentially 
> > year over year!
>
> I would suggest that the exponential decrease in POTS is driven by cell phones, not VOIP - I just get my cell phone 
> from the store, any store, and use it, almost anywhere. It's just like my land line but without the wire tether. I 
> get wireless without VOIP complications.
>
> Of course, we could discuss Long Distance rates for land lines vs cell or Skype (VOIP for almost free). But that is 
> really another discussion.
>
> James R. Cutler
> james.cutler () consultant com
Pretty soon, cell phones will, essentially, be VOIP devices. In fact, some already are.

In fact, one could argue that LTE cell phones are in essence what VOIP will be when
it grows up.

It is clear that eventually voice will simply be an application on a packet switched
data network.

I believe that the frontier after that will be to replace HDMI with high-speed ethernet
and media will go from being a source->selector/sound->display solution to a
packet-switched source->network->destination solution where the destination
will be either a time/place shifting device (recorder) or an output (audio/video).

This frontier can't be crossed until multi-gigabit household networking becomes
commonplace, so, it will be a few years, but, I believe it will eventually occur.
I also believe that the RIAA/MPAA/etc. will do everything the can to prevent it
which will likely delay it for several more years.

Owen