Is VoIP Google's Next Frontier? 175
WindBourne writes "Apparently, Google is looking to some degree at VoIP. Of course, the question is whether they will support such items as Asterisk and FreeWorld or will they simply buy another company and tinker from that end."
Comment removed (Score:3, Insightful)
Hype? (Score:5, Insightful)
Re:Quality? (Score:5, Insightful)
having my parents and a sister on Vonage, I would say its at least as good as my cell.
I would give a comparison compared to a land line but i never use one. sorry.
Re:Quality? (Score:5, Insightful)
It is all in the codec [google.com] (and configuration thereof) that your provider uses. Most of the cheapie services will optimize for bandwidth rather than quality for the sake of saving money but Vonage does the opposite, in my experience. Their quality is better than that of a traditional landline.
The thing is, you can get CD-quality out of VoIP if conditions allow (and they eventually will). So don't let this FUD up your view of the technology.
It would be interesting.... (Score:1, Insightful)
I don't think Google is going to develop its own implementation of SIP / H.323 or something like that. It would probably use available ones like Asterix so that it immediately strikes a good note with people. Also, in case microsoft decides to go ahead and do something in VOIP just because Google is doing it (for competition sake) it will definitely not use Asterix will it :)
Unless Google provides something new other than the existing services which are already provided by companies like Skype, it is just like using its 'monopoly' to an advantage.
Of course, this is all speculation depending on whether Google is really interested in VOIP.
VOIP is as the future... just like dial-up (Score:4, Insightful)
People who operate like me are growing and land-line use is shrinking. We don't care about long distance charges. VOIP is a niche and will always be a niche and Google suddenly "getting into it" will mean nothing more than a modest new revenue stream until VOIP moves from mostly irrelevant to totally irrelevant.
Sorry, I just calls 'em as I sees 'em.
TW
Speculation (Score:4, Insightful)
My point : Google != Microsoft. They haven't got a history of "leaking" stuff prior to product launch, and I doubt they'd do it this time.
Re:VOIP is as the future... just like dial-up (Score:5, Insightful)
I use my cell phone for emergencies or when I'm in the car; smallest plan I can get. When i'm out doing something, I'm out doing something, not talking on the #%*!ing phone. And I'll be damned if I wait until 9pm just to hold a relatively decent conversation with someone.
I know there are a lot of people out there like me. I disagree with your "niche" assessment; it will never take over the whole market, no, but it will have more than 1 or 2% of the market share.
Just once. (Score:3, Insightful)
Re:VOIP is as the future... just like dial-up (Score:3, Insightful)
ER
Re:Quality? (Score:3, Insightful)
You will generally* get the most out of it if you know a little bit about firewalls, networking, and traffic shaping. After some tweaking with my Avaya set-up and my FreeBSD firewall I now have just about perfect quality.
* The commercial voip providers I've been looking at are now offering the hardware to handle the traffic shaping, etc.
Comment removed (Score:1, Insightful)
Re:VOIP is as the future... just like dial-up (Score:5, Insightful)
For now. But this article [gwhatchet.com] speaks of the future. A whole generation of college students is now seeing the landline as mostly irrelevant. They'll continue to see it that way as they enter the workforce, have kids, and buy those kids their own cell phones.
Landlines, as you point out, are not irrelevant _now_. But their the trend is definately moving in that direction.
Put another way, would you have invested much money in a buggy whip company if you could go back in time to 1900? Or typwriters if you stepped in the time machine to 1980? Or consumer landlines if you stepped in the time machine to.. well, no need to step. You'd take your short term profit, not invest for the long haul.
TW
Re:VOIP is as the future... just like dial-up (Score:3, Insightful)
Back in the 80's, when PCs went from being separate little boxes to being part of the global network, we found all sorts of new uses for computers. Computers became an order of magnitude more useful.
When cell phones have really responsive, always-on data network connections, there will similarly be a profusion of new ways to use your cell phone. At that point, you're essentially carrying a miniature extension of the internet in your pocket, which allows the internet to reach out and touch even more things in your life. Yes, geeks will take this way too far, but there are extremely practical things that NTT DoCoMo [wikipedia.org] are considering, for instance. Examples are point-of-sale interactions (e-cash, mediated by your own personal connetion to the network, allowing additional possibilities), barcode scanning (barcodes are everywhere... allowing you to search for reviews on a product, or easily create a shopping list, etc), physical entry authentication (eg. at work). Yes, some of these require some small amount of additional hardware, but the fact that DoCoMo is considering these now, means that there's a good chance that some of this additional local-internet-interaction hardware WILL be added by many cell phone manufacturers in the future.
In the far-off future, we WILL have little star-trek devices that have very fast and snapppy GPS readers, fast network data connections, etc. They'll be like current desktops, miniaturized to fit in our pockets. The cell phones that will be available in a few years will be intermediate devices that start the process of removing all limitations of our current cell phones, allowing people to implement many of the applications that they wish they could now.
Here's the answer... (Score:2, Insightful)
MCI, Verizon, The Bells, Google. Why dosen't that sound right?
Re:VOIP is as the future... just like dial-up (Score:3, Insightful)
In any large enough WiFi area (say, the proposal in Philadelphia), VOIP becomes cellular. Cellular still has problems of dropped calls, bad signals, bad quality, high expense, and many other things. If you live anywhere outside of the Eastern corridor or major metropolitan areas you find out that no service is 100% reliable nationwide.
If I was in college now, I would see more value from a $25 VOIP box than from a $50 cellphone. Or I might not.
The answer is going to be the company that puts both of those together into one product, hardware and software wise. When you're home, you talk on your wireless phone over VOIP. In the middle of a call you realize you have to pick up some milk and drive away. You begin to be out of range for VOIP, cellular kicks in. On the way back to the store, you get another call on the same phone. Cellular minutes start counting. Once you park, VOIP is in range and kicks in.
A very similar system to this already existed in Germany five years ago. Don't ask me why it's not been in the U.S. since then.
Remember, it's not about VOIP vs. Telephone. It's just plain communications. Smart companies will build based on that, not specific technologies.