Re: psi instead of Skype [OT]
On 14/06/11 04:58, Camaleón wrote:
> On Mon, 13 Jun 2011 17:33:41 +0100, Brian wrote:
>
>> On Mon 13 Jun 2011 at 14:24:54 +0000, Camaleón wrote:
>>
>>> For those -friends, family, skype-friendly, etc...- I just simply use
>>> the low land-line/mobile rates my SIP provider has and place them a
>>> standard call.
>>
>> There some good deals in the SIP --> PSTN world but, depending on your
>> country of residence and the regulatory telecom regime, PSTN --> PSTN
>> can be very competitive with it.
>
> Here (Spain) rates for mobile phone calls are still very expensive.
> There are some bonuses for free calling when you sign-up for some offers
> but I find that options very limited and restrictive (calls must have
> place between X and Y hour of the day, cannot last more that Z minutes,
> they don't apply when you call to the competing carrier...). A complete
> and inconvenient mess.
>
> Spanish telecommunications market is (still!) a "game" that takes place
> between 3 main carriers in mobile telephony (Telefonica, Vodafone and
> Orange) but Telefonica is the "king of the hill" when it comes to land
> line.
>
>>> I never liked Sykpe, it's all the opposite I think a good SIP software
>>> should be: open and standards compliant.
>>
>> One area in which Skype (the network, not the software) scores is that
>> any Skype (the network) user can connect to any other Skype user. It is
>> not unlikely for sip: user@sipnetwork.com to fail because sipnetwork.com
>> does not allow this rather basic usage of the SIP protocol.
>
> I think we are still in an early stage of the SIP/VoIP telephony. I'd say
> most of the Skype success has been to be the first company to offer what
> users wanted at a very low rates (or free for their internal traffic)
> when nobody else provided such services. And beeing the first -while not
> being the best- has its reward: a legion of users that are now stuck with
> them because their buddies are also using it.
>
> This has to change when ENUM numbers become a reality and all the SIP
> traffic is transparently routed regardless of the network.
>
> Greetings,
>
One of the advantages of Skype is that it's not based on a standard, so
it can and does whatever is necessary to connect across networks and
through firewalls. Being relatively easy to install and available for
the main platforms are the are two ingredients in it's current success.
I'm interested in seeing how the VP8 codec Google has just open sourced,
and ogg will impact on VOIP. It's going to be interesting how this plays
out as telcos try and stop VOIP eating into their bottom line - and ISPs
start rolling out VOIP products of their own. Both Virgin and Vodaphone
have portable wireless products being tested that will compete directly
with the telcos. I heard of one that is basically a wireless PSTN
equivalent - no line rental, a landline number, data rates, and analogue
connection plugs. Essentially portable, about the size of a lunchbox and
very cheap.
Cheers
--
We all pay for life with death, so everything in between should be free.
~ Bill Hicks
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