Incoming Calls, NOT!

[christcorp]

VoIP already is a product for the masses, but most people don't know that's actually what their phone is using. Just look at all the cable companies that offer phone service, in addition to ATT U-Verse and Verizon FiOS Voice. All of those products are delivered using the same IP protocols that providers like VOIPo use, the only difference is they get to connect their ATA widget directly to their network as it enters the customer home so that any equipment that a customer has installed won't be a factor.

Internet-based providers are at the mercy of whatever the customer has on their home network, which is why you have reports of everything from "it works perfectly" to "it never works right" even from neighbors who both use the same VoIP service.

So true. Couple other things. Ma'Bell has been sending your phone calls basically voip for over 30 years. You don't think one call on one pair of wires goes cross country to talk to grandma; do you? But again; it's an internal network. Also; one of the reasons the cable company's "Digital Voice" costs more than voip like vonage and voipo, is because they aren't traversing the country over the internet. They use IP basically from your house to their head end or possibly regional, but it's handed off to the PTSN system much sooner. Hence, why you pay $35 for digital voice over the cable company. But you are correct; people have been using some form of "VOIP" for a long time. Especially their long distance through ma'bell for 30+ years.

[burris]

So true. Couple other things. Ma'Bell has been sending your phone calls basically voip for over 30 years. You don't think one call on one pair of wires goes cross country to talk to grandma; do you? But again; it's an internal network. Also; one of the reasons the cable company's "Digital Voice" costs more than voip like vonage and voipo, is because they aren't traversing the country over the internet. They use IP basically from your house to their head end or possibly regional, but it's handed off to the PTSN system much sooner. Hence, why you pay $35 for digital voice over the cable company. But you are correct; people have been using some form of "VOIP" for a long time. Especially their long distance through ma'bell for 30+ years.

You are correct....going back to my roots with my telephone company, I remember that we had to use MCI and their microwave network (UGH!) to service a customer in Phila, as that was the only way we could get there at the time. The service was primitive and even though the towers up the coast had self-healing loops, every time there was a storm or lightning, the service went down and had to be reset manually and there weren't too many ways to contact TCG (remember them?) at the time.