VoIP vs POTS (was Re: Operation Ghost Click)

Wed May 2 20:15:26 UTC 2012

On May 2, 2012, at 3:52 PM, Eric Wieling wrote:

> 
> I doubt the g729 or GSM codecs used by VoIP and Cell phones can compare to a POTS line.

This is why many people use g711ulaw or other codec.

Personally I would not work with anyone that doesn't do g711ulaw (88.2kbit when IP packet overhead added in).

There are other codecs such as G.722.1 & G.722.2 but the support isn't as broad as g711ulaw/alaw.

Regarding landline service, this can fail for many of the common reasons it does are the same reasons that IP service may fail.  The failure modes can depend on a variety of circumstances from the physical layer (e.g.: audible static on the line) that cause your ear to retrain, which may cause a DSL device to comparably retrain.  The same is true for shared medium such as CATV but this has other problems as well, if not well isolated, somebody can short out the segment or send garbage at the wrong channel, etc.

Personally, I'm thinking of ditching my ISDN (gives clear dial tone at a long-distance from the CO) for something like the Verizon Home Connect box.  Gives a few hours of built-in battery backup, but would fail once the tower loses power (usually 8-12 hours).

I also am concerned about 911 service.  When dialing 911 recently from my mobile, I should have dialed it from my home phone as I was routed a few times to get to the right fire dispatch team.

Oh well.

- Jared