VoIP Vodka, VoIP HybridAmericans unsure of what VoIP is ( old news - 09:03AM Wednesday Dec 07 2005) tags: VoIP · OdditiesOne in five Americans think VoIP is a European hybrid car, while ten percent of the 1,006 people questioned said they thought VoIP was a low-carb vodka, reports Newsfactor. While companies are shifting to terms like "digital phone" to reach out to consumers, analysts aren't sure that's going to make much difference. "Digital has lost its panache because everything is digital these days," says one analyst. "Eventually, it's all just going to be called voice, and I am looking forward to the day when we are all just talking about voice services." People just want it to work.
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 |  | kurcz
join:2005-07-15
Windsor, ON | Re: What VoIP really stands for im really not surprised, you wouldnt really know much about it unless you were on this site, or other sites. You'd really have to know you stuff. | |
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zcd
Condom Sense
join:2001-10-03
Grand Prairie, TX
clubs: | How could people be so clueless, they have commercials all the time here on the TV. People just don't pay attention (which doesn't surprise me one bit).
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-Zach | |
| | | | | fiberguy
My views are my own.
Premium
join:2005-05-20
| I don't see why anyone really needs to know what VoIP is.
They spend WAY far too much energy on calling it VoIP service. Call it Internet Based Telephone? or as in the cable companies, they call it Digital Phone. Comcast went as far as to call it Digital Voice. Why? Because it doesn't matter to the average person. I'd guess that 95% of the people out there just want to pick up the phone, get a dial tone, press a few buttons and get connected. How that happens? They don't care, so long as it works.
Besides, when was the last time you heard the cable company call their cable modems QAM4/QPSK service, or DSL call it G.Lite, CAP, or DMT?
So, bottom line, who cares that it's Voice over Internet Protocol... to the consumer, it's just phone service. | |
| dogo88
join:2001-09-24
Old Bridge, NJ
| It's not really suprising. VOIP is "not ready for prime time". It has it's share of problems, is inconsistent, unavailable and unreliable as compared to POTS. Yeah, it's cheap. But you get what you pay for.
I know I'll get a bunch of happy VOIP users comment that it works wonderfully for them. But for most of the non daring, regular folks it's a gamble with little informative information available without digging and comes with a lot of strings.
And I'm not convinced that when you add up ALL the costs and look at your specific call pattern, it's as big a savings as people believe. | |
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loster
join:1999-12-26
Chicago, IL
 ·Comcast Formerly ..
| Re: It's not really suprising. Yep I'm one of those happy VOIP customers, Vonage works great for me. However I originally got Vonage as a backup to my cell phone, not to replace POTS. One thing these articles always leave out is that most people aren't getting rid of their POTS for VOIP, they are going strictly going with their cellphones. In my circle of friends I know only one guy who has POTS, but I'm the only one with VOIP, everyone else just uses their cellphones. I got rid of my POTS line long before I got Vonage, and I'll never go back.
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"There is no reason anyone would want a computer in their home." Ken Olson , President, Chairman and founder of Digital Equipment Corp.,1977 | |
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insomniac84
join:2002-01-03
Schererville, IN
1 edit | Why does this matter. If you don't know what VoIP is, then it's clearly not right for you. VoIP is not meant for the average person and it would be a challenge to make it easy enough to set up, use, and troubleshoot for the average consumer. Then trying to label it in a way to confuse it with regular phone is only going to bring more 911 lawsuits and telco outcries about how the government needs to tax it and regulate it into nothingness. | |
| | dibbb
join:2003-09-19
 ·Time Warner VOIP
| Re: Why does this matter. Just because you don't know what VoIP is, doesn't mean it's not right for you.
Time Warner Cable sent out flyers to all it's customers advertising "Digital Phone". I knew what it was already and signed up for it.
My parents though, don't know what "VoIP" is, but saw that TWC's digital phone was a lot cheaper than their POTS line with the free long distance TW offers, so they got it too. | |
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phugit
Premium
join:2002-07-26
Olney, MD | Re: Why does this matter. Good point on price, that's what a lot of people who don't know VoIP, POTS, etc will see ... $35/$40/$50 for unlimited calling in the US via POTS vs $14.99/$19.99 for "digital" phone | |
| | gh4456
Premium,VIP
join:2004-04-07
Beverly Hills, CA | I would say the same # of people wouldn't know what POTS is either. So does that mean, that being on the PSTN is not for them either? | |
| | | rradina
join:2000-08-08
Chesterfield, MO
·Charter Pipeline
| Re: Why does this matter. It's senseless to argue with those that base their opinion of technology on one provider's implementation of said technology. In other words, because VOIP is not 99.999% reliable from Vonage or Packet8 does not mean VOIP is not a reliable technology and ready for anyone, regardless of their technical prowess.
VOIP technology is an EXTREMELY reliable technology and has been in use by businesses for years on their private backbones. I would guess that if implemented by the last-mile provider, VOIP would be as reliable as that last-mile network. If an ILEC implemented VOIP on the same pair of copper as POTS, VOIP would be just as reliable as POTS depending on the power source of the VOIP ATA on the customer's premises. If powered from the CO, no problem. If powered by the customer's local electrical utility, then it's subject to the power company's reliability. But this has NOTHING TO DO WITH THE RELIABILITY OF VOIP.
It's all in the implementation. | |
| | MADcyborge
join:2002-05-31
Salt Lake City, UT
| I have vonage for my 65 YR. Old father,even he can use it. K first off, My dad was a scientist at atomics international,worked for the space program and knows incredible amounts of math. He know ZILCH about computers,TCP/IP networks, he can not use a computer period. I have Vonage setup on a fax line that he connected the router,followed instructions straigh from the vonage setup guide and got his VoIP line going. (I did wire cat 6 to his office in his house though.) Voip saves people oodles of money when the call travels larg spans of area. I call russia,UK and spend 5-10 cents compared to 40-80 cents Qwest used to charge us. Nationwide Long distance is awesome when you pay zip additionally. Neighbors,friends, people I dont know all come to my dads house on the weekends to get free calls. Embrace the VoIP wave like we did the net in the 90s and it too can have an awesome sweeping change. | |
| | | rradina
join:2000-08-08
Chesterfield, MO
·Charter Pipeline
| Re: Why does this matter. The Internet-based VOIP providers (Vonage, Packet8, AT&T) save money unless you only pay for life-line/metered service. In STL SBC country, I can get close to my Vonage $24.99/month price if I subscribe to a local area calling plan where almost everything that isn't within a few miles is long distance. Of course this doesn't include any extras (voice mail, call waiting, long distance, etc.) If I subscribe to an SBC metro plan, it's nearly $50/month. Again, no extras are included in this cost. With Vonage I get it all for half that price.
Of course the cost (not features) between a metro plan and Vonage is the same if you include the cost of broadband. However, I want broadband anyway and the fact that I can use it to half my phone costs is simply icing on the cake I'm already eating. | |
| | Kearnstd
Elf Wizard
Premium
join:2002-01-22
Mullica Hill, NJ | its the name that is the problem, VOIP is just stupid from a marketing standpoint it has no roll to it. Digital Phone sounds good to a consumer and has more selling power.
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[65 Arcanist]Filan(High Elf) Zone: Broadband Reports | |
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insomniac84
join:2002-01-03
Schererville, IN
| Re: Why does this matter. Yes, but by labeling it in a way to confuse it with a real phone service, people are going to expect 911 to work. They are going to expect that it's not going to go out all the time due to technical problems. Its just stupid to market it as the same thing as pots. And last time I checked digital phone was what cable companies offered when they provided local phone service. | |
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Gwailo
join:2000-07-16
Richardson, TX
clubs: | What about the rest of the world? Wonder what kind of answer you would get if you asked the Britt's, Germans, French or other Europeans?
I'd bet a buck the highest % that would know would be Taiwan, Hong Kong, Japan, etc. | |
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cableties
Premium
join:2005-01-27
 ·Verizon FIOS
| VoiceOverEyePee So you say that everyone that doesn't know what this is should have it? And if they have it, some zombie-VoIP-spam-bot will fill their voicemail boxes with prerecorded spam on how to send money to Nigeria for cheap deals on Canadian \/i4gr4 ??
What I do enjoy is that Verizon has dropped their calling plan prices on POTS (local/long Distance/unlimited) to a price that is as good as Voip (and I fear, more reliable).
Positives about VoIP: you are not listed. Cheap.
Negatives about VoIP: you are still paying for the ISP rates plus VoIP. You can still get solicitations by progressive dialers. Net down, your down. You or family member is downloading (movies, games demos, ...gasp p2p!) and you phone quality is horrible. People don't hear you but you hear them....I wonder if a Ping of Death to your VoIP modem will cause a disconnect? QoS is important. Oh and I still have no 911 (I registered with Vonage and they continue to email me that I am registered and then another email that I don't exist! Ha Ha. Thank you.
Yep. VoIP is not end of means but still...I saved money. Or did I (all the frustration and cell calls to Vonage...):p | |
| compufixaz
join:2005-06-16
Scottsdale, AZ
| voip is dead I would like to deploy VOIP to more of my clients, but I see the day when telco's and cable companies charge so much to run VOIP over their network it becomes cost prohibitive. POTS will always be the choice in the states and I bet even fewer people know what POTS stands for. | |
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Kompressor
Premium
join:2002-02-12
Huntington Beach, CA | Re: voip is dead True. Everyone has or have had POTS, but if they asked people what POTS stands for, 99.999% of the people would say POTS & PANS. | |
| | | | | | MADcyborge
join:2002-05-31
Salt Lake City, UT | Plain Old Telephone System. That is why we are in this discussion. Cuz w3 4r3 l337, We have the mostential to impact the future in a positive way | |
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winky
Turn Left At The Moon
join:2001-02-11
Saint Louis, MO
| huh, huhu, hu You said mostential, huh. Is that a word? Even if it isn't, I like it. But I digress, instead of Voip, they should call it "Cheap Phone Service" and ditch the acronym. Money is the bottom line and that's what they understand.
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From this point forward Hoedown, from the ballet RODEO, by Aaron Copeland will not be reffered to as "The Beef Song". Thank You | |
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winky
Turn Left At The Moon
join:2001-02-11
Saint Louis, MO
| You did it! If you Google "mostential" you get absolutely nothing. I hereby declare MADcyborge as creator of the word MOSTENTIAL! Please feel free to mention my name when bragging to your friends about your new word. You have gained the wink of winky. Congratulations
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From this point forward Hoedown, from the ballet RODEO, by Aaron Copeland will not be reffered to as "The Beef Song". Thank You | |
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What VoIP really stands for
Re: voip is dead