Re: What vexes VoIP users?

[Jay Ashworth <jra () baylink com>]

----- Original Message -----
> From: "William Pitcock" <nenolod () systeminplace net>

> That is the same market Vonage is now targeting in the US, basically.
> National calling in the US is basically bundled with most calling plans
> now. I'm not convinced that many people use Vonage in the US - my
> experience with it was that it was not as reliable as the VOIP
> products offered through the various broadband providers I have had.

Let us be clear: if you're getting "digital telephone" service from a
cable television provider, it is *not* "VoIP", in the usage in which 
most speakers mean that term -- "Voice Over Internet" is what they should
be saying, and cable-phone isn't that; the voice traffic rides over a
separate DOCSiS channel, protected from both the Internet and CATV 
traffic on the link.

So of course Vonage and other VoN products will be less rugged.

As I recall, this questionably fair competitive advantage has been 
looked into by ... someone.  (Cablecos won't permit competing VoIP 
services to utilize this protected channel, somewhere between "generally"
and "ever".)

Cheers,
-- jra