| [Other] VoCable - Internet Cable Telephone - Not VoIP Hello all. This is my first post on this board and I have a question for all of you pros out there.
My local cable company where I have both TV and Internet services is now offering what they describe as VoCable (VoC) or Cable Telephony. This is NOT VOIP, but a connection to regular telephone service via their cable network.
I know I can call them and get some answers to my questions, but I thought I would ask some of you who might have used this new type of service and your experience with it.
Now my questions. I already have a cable modem for my Internet connection; will I need a different type of modem for this new voice service. And, will it work with both the VoC service and the Internet service, or will I wind up with two modems. The diagram in the announcement letter they sent shows the telephone plugged directly into the voice-cable modem.
My second question is whether I need a special type of phone to work with this service. In the diagram mentioned above they show an analog phone plugged into the modem and they make a point of saying that ISDN service is not compatible with this VoC service. Not a big deal since I don't have ISDN.
Another issue is that we have a 3 story house and my office with the existing cable modem is on the 3rd floor. How will extension phones on the 1st and 2nd floors connect to this modem? We currently use a wireless phones and a base station. Do you think that these wireless phones and base stations will work with this service.
I've googled till I'm blue in the face trying to find answers to these questions but mostly I find references to VOIP not VoC.
Any help greatly appreciated, and if any of you have this type of service installed, I would like to know your experience with it so far.
Paul |
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 csbadboyzCsbadboyzPremium
join:2003-11-14
Sanford, FL | Re: [Other] VoCable - Internet Cable Telephone - N »www.iec.org/online/tutorials/vocable/
»www.iec.org/online/tutorials/vocable/
»www.techonline.com/community/rel···nt/20451
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VoIP on FWD & Lingo |
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| Many thanks for the reply. I did read the two articles that you provided links to, but they are mainly technical treatises aimed at industry and engineering types who are involved in making decisions about this technology. One article is over three years old which we know is a lifetime in this field.
I was hoping for some information about how this technology actually gets deployed in the home and users' experience with voice quality, reliability, modem and phone installation, etc. But, I do appreciate you taking the time to respond.
Maybe this type of service is just too new. It's interesting to speculate that maybe Switzerland where I live might be in the forefront of implementing this technology, at least for home use.
Paul |
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| reply to paulbasel0
Re: [Other] VoCable - Internet Cable Telephone - Not VoIP Normally I'd recommending posting which cable company you're inquiring about; however, according to your profile, you're in Switzerland. Thus, that likely rules out any domestic (USA based) cable companies.
I know of two people who have Optimum Voice cable modem phone service (from Cablevision). I always thought this was VoIP, but in actuality it's probably VoC.
The cable modem supplied by Cablevision is a combination cable modem and anlog telephone adapter (ATA). Therefor, a standard analog phone can plug directly into the cable modem's analog phone port. This includes plugging in the base of an expandable cordless phone system.
To wire up the entire house w/ the VoC service:
1) Disconnect the telephone company's phone wiring from the junction box coming into your house
2) Plug a phone line from the cable modem's analog port to any standard phone jack in your 3 story house
3) Now every jack in your house is wired to use the VoC service.
Hope this helps.
Rizzo |
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| Hi Rizzo
Thanks for the info. about the Cablevision installation. That answers some technical questions I had about how this type of installation really works.
Sorry about not including my cable company - it's interGGA.ch which is actually a consortium of 12 small villages here that have banded together to provide cable service to its residents at a very low cost. It is supported by ImproWare AG, a very technically advanced internet and telephony company.
Like your Cablevision example, I suspect that our cable company will provide a cable modem with an analog phone port into which I can plug a cordless phone system. Our cable connections in the house are a bit different than the ones in the States, I suspect. Attached is a picture of that wall connector. One outlet is for cable TV, one for Cable Radio, and the third I suspect is for the new VoC telephone service.
Since we are in the process of remodeling our entire house and the electricians are now installing new wiring, plugs, etc., I'll have to talk to them about the installation of these new 3 plug wall connectors. I think it is basically the same process as the Cablevision home wiring system that they describe on their website.
You have been a great help in providing the specific information I was looking for. Many thanks,
Paul |
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| reply to paulbasel0
Re: [Other] VoCable - Internet Cable Telephone - N Voice over cable is voip. Voip is telephone service that originates through your network and then the call goes through to a normal phone number...eventually, though it may also be terminated to another network address through his computer. An example of the latter is skype.
I said eventually above because the phone call may well go across the internet before it is transfered to the pstn, usually a local phone company. However, it also may be transfered to a long distance carrier, which itself may well use voip to carry the call to the destination. In other words, voip is often used for carrying calls long distance between a normal phone (pots) and another normal phone.
Companies like vonage, lingo, etc. all use gateways that are used to control voip calls. Such gateways are located anywhere and they need not be close to the subscriber since their role is to route calls. For example, vonage's gateway is in new jersey. When a subscriber in california calls someone on the pstn in oregon, the call setup will be made in new jersey while the call itself will likely be routed across the internet from california to one of the phone companies serving the callee in oregon. The call will not go through new jersey. The voip company will typically have contractual agreements with one or more tier one internet backbone companies like level3 for the routing of the call.
A cable company or a dsl company may offer voip. However, the gateway is within the company itself. The call may then be be transfered immediately to a local phone company for completion, or to a long distance carrier for calls outside the subscriber's home area. Or, the cable/dsl company may also use an internet backbone company for call routing.
In any case, the cable or dsl company uses ip addressing for call origination. It is also more likely to use mgcp rather than sip for the call handling. If someone calls the subscriber's phone number assigned by the cable or dsl company, it will use ip addressing, too.
Note a significant difference between the use of a voip company and the voip service offered by a cable or adsl company: With the former you may take the ata and plug it in anywhere else that offers broadband to make and receive calls. With cable, you can only use the service at the location where you are subscribed. You will note that you don't have a separate ata. The phone service is made through the "modem" provided by the cable company. There is an rj11 port on the back of it for this purpose.
-er |
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| Hi er
Being very new to this new technology, I carefully read your explanation and generally understand your point about VoC being VoIP with the differences you pointed out between a "voip company and the voip service offered by a cable or adsl company".
I am trying to reconcile why my provider is making an issue of this new service not being VoIP. Here is their explanation:
This service is only available to the 12 villages that make up their subscriber service area. That is, someone from outside of these 12 villages cannot sign up for this service. In that it is different from your examples of Vonage and Lingo which are pure VoIP service companies.
Secondly, the calls that originate from our phones are passed through the cable to their "processing center" and then connected directly to Swisscom (our POTS in Switzerland), i.e., it does not travel over the Internet. From Swisscom all calls travel over the landlines within Switzerland and it is our primary carrier for international calls as well.
If this is indeed true, then a call made through this system setup never uses the Internet.
However, I do understand your point about cable companies using IP addressing for call origination and someone calling my number from outside the subscriber area will also use IP addressing, so in that sense it is "voice over packets". I think what they are trying to do is to say that their service is more reliable that many purely VoIp service providers that use gateways and that all the usual services by POTS are are also included. I know that some purely VoIP service companies provide these additional services, such E911, but not all do.
I have tried some low cost telephone services here in Switzerland (primarily to call my kids in the States) that use VoIP to exclusively route their calls with mixed results. To give you one example, my kids use out of area blocking so if the phone number doesn't display, the call doesn't even connect. This one VoIP carrier didn't have the equipment that displayed the number so the call never went through. Other friends of mine have had bad experiences with other VoIP telephone providers and thus I think my cable company is trying to make a distinction between their service and purely VoIP providers. Additionally, they want us to use their service exclusively and not take the ATA with us to use make calls elsewhere in the world. To me, that is not a big issue.
Let me know you reactions if you have the time to reply.
Paul |
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| Clearly, yours is a simple system, albeit not necessarily the most economical for the users since swisscom is used rather than a 3rd party carrier, unless swisscom was the winner among other bidders.
As for reliability, well there is always the problem of an interruption in the cable service, or an electricity outage in your home or everyone using the cable phone service at the same time. This is no different than the possible problems with any voip service.
What really surprises me is the cabling of villages. That is much more costly than using the phone lines for broadband. Coax cable laying is a costly business, so it is seldom done outside of densely populated areas because amortization would take a very long time.
-er |
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| Thanks for the info on reliability.
You're right about laying coax as being expensive, but I believe the villages wanted to be independent of the major cable company in Switzerland and when the strong-willed people of Swiss villages put their mind (and money) to a project, there is no stopping them. Some of the advertised costs are as follows. I've converted the cost from CHF to $
Monthly basic charge: 9.00
Day rate per minute: .04
Night rate per minute: .02
USA per minute: .05
I believe the cost is reasonable and we don't make a lot of calls. Obviously, if one did then a flat rate monthly plan makes more sense, but those aren't offered here, even with the land line telephone companies.
Thanks again for your input. I'm going to sign up for the service in December and give it a go to see if it is reliable. If not, I can always switch back to the pots service.
Paul |
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