To Skype or not to Skype
Discussion
When and what are the reprecussions likely to be, for the BT type oldschool telephone companies when in years to come (3,5,10, or longer) internet based telephony increases in popularity.
I envisage a day when all line based telephony will be 100% free, perhaps with advertising.
What will happen to the likes of BT and competitors? Havnt be in years gone by had money problems as it is, with the old tarrif extortionate rates?
I envisage a day when all line based telephony will be 100% free, perhaps with advertising.
What will happen to the likes of BT and competitors? Havnt be in years gone by had money problems as it is, with the old tarrif extortionate rates?
I am using www.VOIPBuster.com for carriage and X-Lite - www.xten.com - for dialing. This is because when I only use VOIP I sound like Norman Collier off of the comedians. Works a treat for me and I can call 20 countries anytime day or night for free but only to landlines. Spoke to a mate in Spain the other day for an hour, all free
HTH
Dave
HTH
Dave
That is the question. All be commodity driven, with your DSL pipe the method for a whole heap of IP based services. Convergence will come along, so single handset for PSTN/IP/GSM services (have a look at BT's blue phone (PSTN/GSM convergence with Vodafone)). You will have one bill. You will have no idea if it is good value or not, you will have no idea what is inclusive, exclusive, tarrif based, flat rated etc (unless you are a total geek). Cable and TV will be thrown in (or out) for good measure, just to add to the percieved value....
As to Skype - issue there is their client (the thing you download) is it proprietary - meaning it will not talk (Peer to Peer) with similar VoIP (Voice over IP) services. There is a standard - SIP (session initiation protocal) which if everyone adopted, would make things a little easy.
The other thing is the acronyms. It just gives people like me a chance to talk a load of twaddle, but because I know more acronyms than you - it makes me feel important (makes up for deficiencies in other areas!!)
Bottom line - it will all get cheaper
As to Skype - issue there is their client (the thing you download) is it proprietary - meaning it will not talk (Peer to Peer) with similar VoIP (Voice over IP) services. There is a standard - SIP (session initiation protocal) which if everyone adopted, would make things a little easy.
The other thing is the acronyms. It just gives people like me a chance to talk a load of twaddle, but because I know more acronyms than you - it makes me feel important (makes up for deficiencies in other areas!!)
Bottom line - it will all get cheaper
minnsy said:Im geeky enough to understand your twaddle
Bottom line - it will all get cheaper
I wonder how much cheaper though. The communications industry is one place I dont want to be. Too much happening and you're right, the bottom line is prices will fall. Id love a sneak peak 20 years ahead though.
5 years ago, if you said "I got an email from ..." people would occassionally say "You have email!??"
I cant remember who it was, or which war... but someone in recent years was asked what they thought the impact of the french revolution was, and replied by saying it was too early to tell.
no doubt a more knowlegable PHer will be along with an accurate version of my story...
Marki said:
I use Skype every day , have a good friend and business contact in LA we talk for hours .
Also call to various friends around the world
Also use Skypeout to call to land lines , as cheap as chips 20 € cents for a 12 minute call from Germany to England
Skype is feckin brilliant.
Skype user here too - quality is fantastic!
Cheap as chips as you say. Love it and very easy to use - even the wife is now using it!
The big companies will find a way of charging for its use. T'internet uses phones lines for the network connection, i'm sure they'll find a way of traffic monitoring that will incur a cost to the end user.... 
Not used it a lot myself, but the few times i've messed about with it its pretty good, as long as both people have broadband.
Not used it a lot myself, but the few times i've messed about with it its pretty good, as long as both people have broadband.
UKBob said:
Bottom line - it will all get cheaper
Im geeky enough to understand your twaddle
Id love a sneak peak 20 years ahead though.
5 years ago, if you said "I got an email from ..." people would occassionally say "You have email!??"
I cant remember who it was, or which war... but someone in recent years was asked what they thought the impact of the french revolution was, and replied by saying it was too early to tell.
no doubt a more knowlegable PHer will be along with an accurate version of my story...
It was China's infamous Chairman Mao (of all people) who said that (about the French revolution.
BT and the other "traditional" telecos will be around for a very long time. We are becoming ever more reliant on the thing they provide; connectivity. They own the backbone of the communication network. That is an enormously valuable asset, and it is almost impossible for a new player to enter the market. (Consider how much it would cost a start-up telco to lay a new fibre-optic network just from London to Edinburgh, fo example).
Their business is not at risk at all. All that will change is their pricing model ... i.e. the way they choose to explain how they arrived at the number on the bottom of your bill.
When their customers primarily used the teleco network for telephone calls, it made perfect sense to charge by the phone call. As far as the customer was concerned, they were buying discreet chunks of analogue communication, so that's what they expected to see on the bill. A bill seems "fair" if it attributes cost directly to the benefit you gain.
At the moment we're in the slightly unusual and transitional period where we use the telcos' networks for two distinct things; analogue phone calls and internet access.
Phone calls are still perceived as "high value" items, whereas internet access is seen as "low value". Thus the telcos charge you lots for phone calls and give you the home internet connection cheaply.
We're still in the very early days of hi-bandwidth home internet access. The services we can access are still in their infancy and are mostly valueless. But as it becomes more useful, and analogue technology finally dies, the perceived value will swing towards the internet access and the pricing policy and the bills will change to reflect this too.
At the moment early adopters of VoIP can take advantage of the current pricing policy; they can get the high-value service at the low-value price. But it won't last forever.
>> Edited by ATG on Friday 17th June 18:22
Their business is not at risk at all. All that will change is their pricing model ... i.e. the way they choose to explain how they arrived at the number on the bottom of your bill.
When their customers primarily used the teleco network for telephone calls, it made perfect sense to charge by the phone call. As far as the customer was concerned, they were buying discreet chunks of analogue communication, so that's what they expected to see on the bill. A bill seems "fair" if it attributes cost directly to the benefit you gain.
At the moment we're in the slightly unusual and transitional period where we use the telcos' networks for two distinct things; analogue phone calls and internet access.
Phone calls are still perceived as "high value" items, whereas internet access is seen as "low value". Thus the telcos charge you lots for phone calls and give you the home internet connection cheaply.
We're still in the very early days of hi-bandwidth home internet access. The services we can access are still in their infancy and are mostly valueless. But as it becomes more useful, and analogue technology finally dies, the perceived value will swing towards the internet access and the pricing policy and the bills will change to reflect this too.
At the moment early adopters of VoIP can take advantage of the current pricing policy; they can get the high-value service at the low-value price. But it won't last forever.
>> Edited by ATG on Friday 17th June 18:22
UKBob said:
I envisage a day when all line based telephony will be 100% free, perhaps with advertising.
I envisage a day when the Internet is locked up good n proper by the EU, US. They will levy taxes on its usage, and the 'old fashioned POT's' of yesterday will become the data-centric providors of tomorrow; providing you with your 'free' VoIP' connection...
...enjoy it while you can.
Gassing Station | The Pie & Piston Archive | Top of Page | What's New | My Stuff