What vexes VoIP users?

Tue Mar 1 14:44:36 UTC 2011

>
> There may be no compelling reason to do so, at least.  However, digital
> gear offers benefits, and some people want them.  Others, like me, live
> in bad RF environments where POTS picks up too much noise unless you
> very carefully select your gear and shield your cables.  Further, the
> digital phones support other features, such as the ability to manage
> multiple calls seamlessly, present Caller-ID reliably (even while you
> are on another call), etc.

If you have issues with your wiring as bad as you describe then your 
problem is with your in home wiring and possibly the wiring in your 
area.  Twisted pair inherently resists the kinds ingress your describing 
if its properly installed and maintained.  Of course this has nothing to 
do with digital communications since any communication over your wiring 
will be problematic.

> I hate to tell *you*, but the LEC's and cable companies like to hand
> off POTS to small businesses too.

Of course they do, but the discussion was specifically about residential 
users.  In the case of enterprise users there are lots of choices 
ranging from "virtual" PBXs to local PBXs with proprietary digital phones.

> Your argument:  "This works fine for most people therefore it will
> work for everyone."  Is that really what you're saying?

No, I asked what will make consumers choose digital connections today 
for residential service rather than re-using their existing hand sets.

>> What's broken for a residential user?
> That depends.  I've got many years of experience with POTS.

That's nice, but your experience doesn't track with what the market has 
done.  You describe specific wiring related problems as if they are 
endemic to in home wiring and that's simply not true nor does a 
"digital" hand set magically fix them if they are there.  If anything 
when a user has that many issues with in home wiring the lowest cost 
solution is usually to install  a wireless set, not because its "better" 
but because its cheaper than fixing the in home wiring in many/most 
cases for operators.
>
> That's a matter of the consumer and their needs and wants.
>

The market has very definitively answered this question so far which is 
what confuses me about your argument.

-- 
Scott Helms
Vice President of Technology
ISP Alliance, Inc. DBA ZCorum
(678) 507-5000
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http://twitter.com/kscotthelms
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