VoIP Discussion

I think it is still extremely important to consider file sizes in websites. Working in the telecom/it industry you learn plenty about the direction of the larger corporations. With the new system of 4G, or LTE, or whatever nickname it has now, this will be more important than ever.

While telephone calls will begin moving to Voice Over Internet Protocol or VoIP, and the fact that all mobile phones today support internet, the large carriers, Verizon, ATT, Sprint, etc, are looking for a new revenue model.

In order to fund the move to a massive IP based solution to move all phones off of normal telephone technology to IP based technology they are having a lot of trouble deciding how they will make their money, IP calls are significantly cheaper, and without income, they can not afford the upgrade to this new 4G system (High Speed Internet on a cellular device).

In order to fund this, the model will change to charge based on bandwidth usage, so right now the max you can use without being charged for overage, is 5MBs a month. You will pay in packages for 1-5, 5-10, 10-20, 20+ etc. This i relevant because you want users to visit your website from a mobile device, or a laptop with a mobile card, without using up significant bandwidth. It apears as though regular internet companies will begin switching to this bandwidth based technology.

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Thanks for an interesting and informative post. A couple of classes ago, a fellow classmate used VoIP on both her cell and computer. I started checking it out, and that tech babe that is is definitely catching on. I was unaware that there are programs that you can download, free of charge, to use on cell phones (skype is one).

However, from what I discovered, many have limitations that make them uncompetitive with regular cell/home phone usage. For example, many of them only allow communication between other registered users. I do think it will be a short time before that changes. In fact, I'm surprised that the large phone companies aren't jumping on this now. At least it isn't something I've come across yet.

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Having worked with large telephone companies, they are simply terrified of the future of mobile phones. Telephone companies will no longer be selling minutes once 4G is released, they are all switching to selling you bandwidth. They will no longer charge you for calls, roaming, or long distance, calls will begin to slowly move to an application level broadband using service. This will take a few more years, but this is why they are terrified and changing their revenue models.

As phones have faster and faster internet, skype, vonage, and many other similar applications will provide much cheaper calls than the cellular companies could ever provide. They will simply become dumb pipes which carry traffic to and from various IPs. This will become even more so once IPv6 is released and every phone can connect directly to another over the internet without needing someone to carry the call.

Phone companies are trying to partner with some of these applications but are having a difficult time, these companies will not be willing to share profits, or even provide some features to the likes of ATT and Verizon. Companies like skype are looking to become the future of telephony and both they and the FCC have put these carriers in a difficult position where they will almost become a utility and charge people for usage of the network.