Comments on: P2P Telephony

P2P Telephony

davehat — Tue, 23 Sep 2003 06:08:38 -0800

Skype, a new P2P Telephony service from the people who created KaZaA. [more inside]

By: davehat

davehat — Tue, 23 Sep 2003 06:11:26 -0800

It appears to be free for now, but there is a caveat in the end user license 6. Payment. You acknowledge that certain functions in the Skype Software are only available to paid subscribers after a free trial period of the Skype Software and Services (the "Free Trial Period") ends. After the Free Trial Period ends, you will be presented with the option to subscribe to the Subscription Services. If you do not wish to subscribe, you acknowledge that you can not access functions and services only available to paid subscribers. To subscribe to the Subscription Services you must agree to the terms and conditions of the Subscription Services

By: substrate

substrate — Tue, 23 Sep 2003 06:45:04 -0800

This seems like another doomed business plan to me. The P2P buzzword means nothing for a telephony application. Your ordinary run of the mill telephone with 10 digits and maybe a couple of other keys on it's keypad is a peer to peer telephony application. The fatal flaws I see in it's business plan are:

It's a subscription service, it'll have to compete against the low rates available with a cellular plan. If most of the people I speak with weren't outside of the US I'd ditch my landline and go purely cellular in a minute.
It requires special software. Fine, I can talk to my geek friends but I won't be able to speak with my non-geek friends, or especially my parents.
There's no reason for a man-in-the-middle for any peer to peer scheme. Some enterprising (well, I suppose I mean intelligent and non-enterprising) individual will come up with an Open Source VOIP application. This will have an advantage in this case since it can be ported to any platform.

Hmm, for mainstream acceptance you'd have to make it operate over the phone once it reaches the consumer. I can see a market for a small box that works as follows:

Phone line comes into the house and plugs into the magic box.
10-base T or 100-base T line comes in and plugs into the magic box. (There's probably a switch involved that splits the net connection so a computer shares it, but, very important, there doesn't need to be)
The household phone system plugs into the magic box.
If a call comes in via land-line the phone system works as normal. The phone rings, the user picks up.
If a call comes in via the network the phone system is disconnected from the land-line and the phone rings. To the end user on either side of the conversation there is no difference.
If somebody in the household with the magic box makes a phonecall then from their point of view nothing is different. If the person they're calling also has a magic box then the call is routed via the internet however.

By: phylum sinter

phylum sinter — Tue, 23 Sep 2003 07:08:18 -0800

My god, that's a detailed analysis of the faults this thing has, substrate. Forward that post to the maker's themselves :) It's an interesting concept, nonetheless... It'll be great to see how the phone companies respond once they realize the potential impact of it. I forcast mass subpeonas for 'illegal bandwidth and connection piracy' by AT&T for mid 2004. ...it requires special software. fine, i can talk to my geek friends but i won't be able to speak with my non-geek friends, or especially my parents. Oh c'mon, even if they have AOL they'll know how to work this thing. It just might work.

By: TeamBilly

TeamBilly — Tue, 23 Sep 2003 07:16:48 -0800

It's an interesting concept but one thing freaks me out. They don't seem to address issues of 9-1-1. It may seem nitpicky, but right now, the VoIP services have a really difficult time with getting a proper number into the 911 center for purposes of getting your address. Also, I don't buy the idea that the quality of service (QoS - sound quality) is better than my copper landline. QoS is usually only controllable if you own the bandwidth from end to end, unless they're doing something new. Finally, there sort of *IS* an open-source VoIP telephony standard, which Dialogic put out a while back, called CT Media. It covers more than just telephony, but it's been a framework for a few different Soft-PBX and IP companies. The problem there is that it requires the hardware to support the specific CT media components, if I understand it correctly (and I may not - the technology moves AWFULLY fast.) But the 911 thing is an issue, at least in the US, anyway.

By: phylum sinter

phylum sinter — Tue, 23 Sep 2003 07:33:32 -0800

But the 911 thing is an issue, at least in the US, anyway. "Ohmygod... FIRE! Quick, honey, turn the computer on!, call 911 with that program!!" Really, who would use this for emergency phone calls? That's too funny.

By: angry modem

angry modem — Tue, 23 Sep 2003 07:53:04 -0800

This is glorified voice chat. Dialing 911 on this would be like telling a chat room that you're a hermaphrodite with four breasts.

By: ao4047

ao4047 — Tue, 23 Sep 2003 08:03:37 -0800

a hermaphrodite with four breasts Isn't s/he related to Eccentrica Gallumbits?

By: benjh

benjh — Tue, 23 Sep 2003 09:37:53 -0800

My iChat application does the same thing, and it supports video as well as audio.

By: Hackworth

Hackworth — Tue, 23 Sep 2003 09:38:07 -0800

But GPhone actually is free.

By: Hackworth

Hackworth — Tue, 23 Sep 2003 09:40:33 -0800

windows version, too.

By: Tubes

Tubes — Tue, 23 Sep 2003 09:53:21 -0800

Didn't substrate just describe Vonage?

By: mrplab

mrplab — Tue, 23 Sep 2003 10:30:24 -0800

this reminds me of that television thing.. and nothing ever came of that.

By: kavasa

kavasa — Tue, 23 Sep 2003 11:57:50 -0800

"This is glorified voice chat. Dialing 911 on this would be like telling a chat room that you're a hermaphrodite with four breasts." I couldn't be more confused.

By: vincentmeanie

vincentmeanie — Tue, 23 Sep 2003 13:28:07 -0800

no substrate described this

By: TeamBilly

TeamBilly — Tue, 23 Sep 2003 16:39:25 -0800

"Really, who would use this for emergency phone calls? That's too funny." If it's the only phone service you have, it's very possible that you might have to try. Also, keep in mind that in the US, anyway, we're still a few years from locating every cell phone call to 911. If you're incapacitated, or being beaten or killed, a dispatcher sitting in a call center is going to be the final witness to your demise besides the person doing it. But also consider this: the only reason to buy this type of service is if you make tons of intercontinental calls. Otherwise, long-distance calling has become so ridiculously cheap that there wouldn't be a big incentive to replace your landline. To me, it looks like an interesting toy.

By: hairyeyeball

hairyeyeball — Sat, 27 Sep 2003 09:52:45 -0800

I got a call from an Estonian teenaged girl who helped me figure out how to get my microphone working. She, in returned, wanted lessons on how to curse more authentically in English. She learned the confusing rules around the usage of "b**ch" On the other hand, it is going to save me a ton on long-distance to Brazil, where I do make calls, and which is anything but cheap.