Thread:
I often regard the admonitions, even outright nay-saying about VoIP and other future time-dependent 'net-based offerings, with due deference and respect. I've had ample opportunities to view the best and the worst of conditions that the state of the art has to offer in this regard.
The ultimate proof of what is possible to achieve (especially in the switched public voice realm) does not lie with any single platform, irrespective of how superior it may be, or even with any single service provider. Instead, it will depend on both superior platforms [relative to today's norms] and the orchestration of many different platforms and providers. Each will need to abide by a larger, least-common denominator set of rules, when they venture into the space occupied by world-class switched-telephony provisioning. (One may wish to substitute "switched" with "routed" here if they choose, since that is only incidental to my point, and not the ultimate determinant.)
In this space, where playing to the score is crucial, mavericks and renegades will get shot in the head when the house dealer shows his hand. That's not to say that there aren't some suitable niches in these early stages, rather that they must be able to adapt to the "common" set of rules, as well, when they decide it's time to go "off net," which in this case refers to handing calls off from their proprietary nets to others (including the PSTN).
Public voice communications requires that each provider's platform works in tandem with many different providers. The actual number of providers worldwide ranges into the tens of thousands. It should stand to reason, then, that the end-to-end quality of any voice call can only be as good as the worst carrier's or ISP's provisions that lies the proverbial chain.
This goes for any form of voice (or other isochronous) communications which is either over the PSTN's direct distance dialing (DDD) plan, or its heir apparent, whatever that turns out to be as a result of convergence.
The larger players have a vested interest in preserving the status quo of their high quality delivery, and they know these facts only too well. Therefore, their deferring over time is more than a wait and see tactic, rather it is a valid strategy for them to take until suitable standards are implemented that will continue to support (if not enhance) their delivery. This, despite the heat that they take for dragging their feet.
[Begin rant.] Users wouldn't have it any other way, given the state of the art and the choice of the real alternatives as they currently exist. Yet, such a strategy remains the fodder of many a sophomoric dig by the gurus du jour, stupidists, journos and bandwaggonists alike, who proclaim to be among the newly enlightened, and would have you believe that they are nothing short of brilliant. No one knows how easy it is to get bit by the IP bug better than I. I've found it helpful at times to use an ointment, until the itching subsides. [End rant.]
Startups, on the other hand, have other priorities to contend with, including the proprietary needs of shareholders and gaining an early foothold in what they perceive to be the next generation environment. Again, whatever that may prove to be. I'm solidly convinced that the great majority of those ITSPs who have already deployed their gateways haven't a clue as to what that me be, as well.
Are there ways to achieve savings through VoIP at this time? Sure, but these are not of the variety that can be implemented as a means of substituting today's POTS in a universal and painless way.
VoIP is at this time a carrier's tool to play the arbitrage game for the most part, where international pre-paids and other forms of calling plans are used... and it is used as a means to optimize bandwidth on enterprise networks.
In other instances, many of today's ITSPs are simply following through with business plans that were conceived in the 97-98 time frame, proving that the laws of inertia hold true in business as well as in physics. They are hoping that the downward spiral of per minute rates wont do them in, despite their being among the primary causes of the phenomenon to take place, in the first place.
Slowly, VoIP will work its way into the PSTN by the majors, as well. When it does, it will be only marginally less expensive to use, and it will initially have the smooth look and feel of today's services, and not that of a roller coaster ride. Albeit, it may not arrive fast enough for some, but that's sometimes the price one pays for quality in a game that is at the mercy of evolutionary processes.
Regards, Frank Coluccio |
