Home
>
VOIP
>
Why VoIP is not Going to Fail

Why VoIP is not Going to Fail

VoIP is an almost constant topic in our daily dose of business and tech-related news. VoIP, or Voice over Internet/IP is really an old technology re-emerging with a new face and marketing spin. In reality, we've been using VoiP for years, just as the Internet community used email for years before it was embraced by the business and consumer communities in the nid-1990s. Whether you want to reference Voice over Internet or Voice over IP protocol, at the most simple level it is merely a matter of interfacing voice or audio input with a microphone device, digitizing the input, slicing it into packets, sending it over an Internet network to a destination address, reassembling packets at the other end - voila! you have Voice over Internet or IP.

Sound too simple? This is precisely what the telephone industry does not want you to know. It is simple, so simple a loosely knit group of people can slap together a bit of code, call it Skype, and within 18 months sign up nearly 80 million people around the world. And guess what? IT WORKS! Bet Time Warner or Verizon Hawaii wishes they had that market clout!

Now, much like the Internet itself, the user community is defining and writing the future of global voice communications in the privacy of their own homes. Not in Palo Alto, not in Bangalore - in simple bedrooms and informal hobby shops scattered around the world. Hard to believe your next personal or business communication system may be written and published by a high school student in Uruguay.

Get this... Whatever lobbying telephone companies may attempt in trying to prevent VoIP applications through use of tactics such as E911 non-compliance, taxation, regulations, etc., there may actually be no way for governments to ultimately regulate VoIP. The only way for the phone companies and government to ultimately control voice applications may be to simply shut down the Internet. Otherwise there will be a new application born every day which is designed to go around temporary blocks established by companies wishing to filter VoIP from their networks. Why do I say that?

Consider email. Many Post and Telecommunication Administrations (PTAs) around the world initially attempted to control use of email within their countries. Many reasons were given, such as national security, infringing on the rights of the state-owned monopoly post office, and a thousand other reasons why email was not acceptable within the "special" situation within an individual country.

The result? The community got creative and bypassed their governments. Instead of accessing email from local ISPs and email hosting providers - they simply got accounts on Yahoo, Hotmail, or other freemail service and accessed email through a public web browser located in a different country. The email debate is no longer an issue. This will soon be the case with VoIP.

Here is another interesting idea to consider. In the case of email, now nearly any desktop computer can be configured to serve as an email host - simple stuff, even for a relative beginner. With public domain VoIP servers now on the street such as "Asterisk" your next door neighbor high school student could potentially be the next telephone company. So as soon as the regulators start going after Vonage and the rest of the public VoIP companies, another hundred free phone services ala Skype, compatible and interoperable with a thousand other free phone services will emerge.

A full understanding of the concept of presence will further enlighten the masses on this approach. Just think of the potential impact on traditional voice services if Yahoo, AOL, MSN, and other instant messaging or presence service providers with VoIP aspirations actually meet the growth expectation telecommunications analysts! MSN's instant messenger claims to add nearly 30,000 users each day!

So what can the average telephone company do to defend themselves from VoIP? Probably nothing. The Voice over Internet/IP "train has left the station." The best chance they have is to concentrate on building physical networks, partner with one or more VoIP and presence management companies, and resign themselves to the position of a telecom infrastructure provider. A bit of concentrated lobbying may delay VoIP diffusion within a geographic location, but VoIP is a truly disruptive technology which will have a major impact on the way we communicate in a global network and society.

VoIP is in our future

John Savageau is the Senior Vice President, Operations, at CRG-West. CRG-West operates major telecommunication facilities such as the One Wilshire Building in Los Angeles and Market Post Tower in San Jose. Contact John Savageau at savageau@pacific-tier.com

on demand house cleaning Mundelein .!

In The News:

Safari's Notify Me feature and Google's price-tracking tools can monitor products and send alerts when prices drop on your iPhone or Android.

George Weiner built PACspam.org to trace who sends nonstop political fundraising texts after blocking numbers repeatedly failed to stop the messages.

A dedicated VPN IP address may reduce frustrating CAPTCHAs and bank login security checks by giving websites a consistent connection to recognize.

Apple Wallet in iOS 27 lets you create digital passes from physical cards using a photo or screenshot, but not every card in your wallet qualifies.

Anthropic's Claude AI submitted a fabricated eyewitness tip about an unsolved murder to a Philadelphia police website during automated testing.

P7 DarkSword iPhone spyware can steal saved passwords, photos, Apple Notes and cryptocurrency wallet data by checking for commands every 15 seconds.

Cybersecurity experts told Fox News Digital that a cyberattack on French supermarket freezers should warn the U.S. about critical infrastructure gaps.

The Oracle Health breach exposed medical records, Social Security numbers and diagnoses of nearly 20 million patients across multiple states.

The new Tesla Roadster drove upside down and launched into the air at SpaceX's Texas facility, but a 2028 production target remains unconfirmed.

Apple's iOS 27 lets you add keywords to iPhone photos, while Samsung Gallery tags and Google Photos search offer similar organization tools.

A fake Claude AI download scam uses Google ads, and Bing redirects to trick Mac users into pasting a hidden malicious command in their Terminal.

Ahold Delhaize's cybersecurity incident knocked online ordering and digital coupons offline at Stop & Shop, Food Lion, Hannaford and Giant Food stores.

The Fox News AI Newsletter covers the latest artificial intelligence technology advancements, including the challenges and opportunities AI presents now and for the future.

Amazon's About You feature includes personality details from your shopping history, and some shoppers are finding hilariously awkward results.

Identity theft recovery starts with securing bank accounts, freezing credit and enabling two-factor authentication within the first 24 hours.

Apple's $299 HomeView smart display uses facial recognition to personalize screens for up to six household members and show live security camera feeds.

Domonique DuBose spotted red flags when a man on Hinge with 85,000 followers and a blue checkmark claimed to be a San Francisco 49ers player.

Your phone's location data can expose visits to doctors, pharmacies and places of worship. The FTC took action against data brokers selling this data.

Hackers targeted Danfoss refrigerator controls across French supermarkets, forcing chains like Carrefour and Monoprix to discard massive food stocks.

iOS 27 finally lets iPhone Shared Albums store photos and videos at full resolution in iCloud, but new items count toward the owner's storage.

A fake Facebook Marketplace text scam uses your real name as the seller to trick you into replying, and Malwarebytes warns even one response helps.

The Pentagon data breach exposed 2.76 million Social Security numbers and military records, raising long-term identity theft concerns for veterans.

Kodiak AI plans to haul IKEA freight on Texas highways with no one in the cab, raising urgent cybersecurity and safety questions for drivers.

Apple Intelligence in iOS 27 adds Extend and Reframe tools to Photos, letting iPhones generate new background areas beyond your original borders.

Microsoft's X account was hijacked to promote a crypto pump-and-dump scheme, exposing its more than 13 million followers to a scam campaign.

Why VoIP is not Going to Fail

VOIP