# Next hot technology: VoIP?
**URL:** https://boards.straightdope.com/t/next-hot-technology-voip/217018
**Category:** In My Humble Opinion
**Created:** [December 4, 2003, 8:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/next-hot-technology-voip/217018 "2003-12-04T20:54:13Z")
**Posts on this page:** 14
**Page:** 1
### Author:  [@ccwaterback](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ccwaterback)
#### Post date: [December 4, 2003, 8:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/next-hot-technology-voip/217018/1 "2003-12-04T20:54:13Z")
Looks like the Voice-over-IP (VoIP) technology is really taking off. Has anyone here used VoIP?
[http://www.nwfusion.com/research/voip.html](http://www.nwfusion.com/research/voip.html)
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### Author:  [@ccwaterback](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ccwaterback)
#### Post date: [December 5, 2003, 4:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/next-hot-technology-voip/217018/2 "2003-12-05T04:05:35Z")
Apparently not š
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### Author:  [@HeatherPA](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/HeatherPA)
#### Post date: [December 5, 2003, 5:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/next-hot-technology-voip/217018/3 "2003-12-05T05:02:08Z")
Yep, have used it and set it up.
Works well for the most part\*, the company I worked for used it in a few of their call centers. When I left I had deployed at least 750 phones and there were about 1,500+ cross-company, deployed for agents and most of corporate IT had them.
\*Letās just say there were a few bugs to work outā¦ not to mention people resist change and it reflects in their learning curve.
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### Author:  [@ccwaterback](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ccwaterback)
#### Post date: [December 5, 2003, 5:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/next-hot-technology-voip/217018/4 "2003-12-05T05:22:18Z")
> [@](#):
>
> \*Originally posted by ciscochick \*
> \*\*Yep, have used it and set it up. \*\*
If you donāt mind, can you answer a couple questions?
How was the QoS (Quality of Service)?
Any quirks or things different from āregularā phone use?
How about cost? Seems like VoIP would be VERY cheap, especially for overseas calls.
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### Author:  [@Nvme77](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nvme77)
#### Post date: [December 5, 2003, 6:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/next-hot-technology-voip/217018/5 "2003-12-05T06:46:59Z")
One of the callcenters we use as a partner has it and costs are considerably lower, quality of service is indistinguishable from the standard phone lines
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### Author:  [@ccwaterback](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ccwaterback)
#### Post date: [December 6, 2003, 5:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/next-hot-technology-voip/217018/6 "2003-12-06T05:26:29Z")
Just one more note for any stock market speculators we may have:
[http://finance.yahoo.com/q?s=vper.pk&d=t](http://finance.yahoo.com/q?s=vper.pk&d=t)
[http://www.vipernetworks.com/](http://www.vipernetworks.com/)
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### Author:  [@Baraqiyal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Baraqiyal)
#### Post date: [December 6, 2003, 6:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/next-hot-technology-voip/217018/7 "2003-12-06T06:27:54Z")
I use a VoIP company called iconnecthere, and a USB handset I bought on Ebay for $10. It pretty much works, although the main problem is an annoying echo if the volume is set too high.
I pay 8.95 per month for a phone number and .03 per minute for long distance.
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### Author:  [@HolyCow](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/HolyCow)
#### Post date: [December 6, 2003, 7:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/next-hot-technology-voip/217018/8 "2003-12-06T07:07:18Z")
I work for an international wholesale telecom company. The bulk of our traffic is voip. We put a Cisco in the USA and a Cisco in, say Ghana. Both sides are connected to the internet. Point the originating traffic to the terminating ends IP address and it works great. Beats the cost of satellite by miles. Beats leasing T1ās or E1ās by even more. As long as you have enough bandwidth then the QoS is just as good as TDM.
I also use VIOP at home. I went with Vonage. For 25 a month I get my home number, caller ID, voicemail, call waiting, 911 service, call forwarding, 3 way calling and 500 minutes of long distance. Anything over my 500 minutes is .039 a minute. This all works over my cable modem. My old Bell South service was $50 a month for basic service, and my LD was another $20 a month. I am saving like mad now.
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### Author:  [@squeegee](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/squeegee)
#### Post date: [December 6, 2003, 4:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/next-hot-technology-voip/217018/9 "2003-12-06T16:20:43Z")
In [this](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?s=&threadid=227230) thread, **koeeoaddi** had mentioned a bad VoIP experience using the Packet 8 service:
> [@](#):
>
> We have one of those cable internet phones. Itās cheap ($20 flat rate per month with no extra long distance charges in the US), but boy is it awful.
>
> ā¢ about half the calls we make donāt go through and have to be redialed
> ā¢ many times people try to call us and it never rings
> ā¢ calls disconnect all the time mid-conversation, there is usually an echo on the line and often you only hear 8 words out of 10
> ā¢ the connection itself is awkward with a delay so that you often have to repeat yourself and yell down the line-- as if you were talking on an old fashioned walkie talkie
> ā¢ you often get that fast busy signal when calling out and have to redial again and again
> ā¢ the router has to be reinitialized often to get it to work
> ā¢ voicemail almost always takes more than one try to get, often does not recognize our phone number and/or password
> ā¢ you have to explain to everyone you give your number to locally that they have to dial a 1 firstānot a big deal by itself, but still annoying
> ā¢ as someone said, 911 doesnāt work, but there is a 10 digit number that connects you to the same place, so we have it stuck to the phone
> ā¢ when your power goes out (as it did for most of the day today), you have no phone
>
> Maybe all this will improve, but as it is Iād say two tin cans and a string would be preferable.
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### Author:  [@squeegee](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/squeegee)
#### Post date: [December 6, 2003, 4:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/next-hot-technology-voip/217018/10 "2003-12-06T16:23:46Z")
FWIW, the company I work for has switched almost entirely to VoIP. It seems to work pretty well, but thereās a voice delay that seems to be about 1/4 second, and itās really annoying. Every time I talk to someone else inside the company on the phone, we both end up talking over each other all the time as we each start a sentence before hearing the other person talking.
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### Author:  [@LordVor](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LordVor)
#### Post date: [December 6, 2003, 5:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/next-hot-technology-voip/217018/11 "2003-12-06T17:45:24Z")
A new key technology to assist VoIP setups could be power over eithernet. A few companies are coming out with switches that do that now, it would make the phones a bit easier to distribute to wherever you need them, as they can be powered by their network cable.
-lv
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### Author:  [@ftg](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ftg)
#### Post date: [December 7, 2003, 4:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/next-hot-technology-voip/217018/12 "2003-12-07T04:55:20Z")
There are a _lot_ of different forms of VoIP. Itās actually been reasonably available for nearly 10 years, but no one ācaught onā until recently. (I attend networking trade shows and theyāve been hyping it for a looong time.)
The Big Time Stuff, where a corporation moves itās phone system to VoIP is here now and growing very fast. Only a PHB managed company is sticking with POTS. The FCC started hearings a week ago on how to regulate (i.e., tax) this. Next week they will hold hearings on putting the toothpaste back into the tube.
For ordinary folk, there are ways of doing it but it can be a bit quirky. One of the major problems is that the standards didnāt take into account that most people who would use it (broadbanders) would be behind routers/firewalls. Ugh.
I have used Yahoo Messenger for voice/video with knowledgable tech folk across country. Very interesting. Some lag, etc. But **free**.
People with relatives in far off lands are catching on a lot quicker. Free long distance calls across the globe!
The ādime a minuteā rate is a factor of 100 too high. This will kill the long distance telecomsā spreadsheets.
Note that it is just not voice, but the long anticipated videophone.
There is no reason this couldnāt have happened 5+ years ago. But it finally looks like itās here.
Since the costs are low and thereās no big profit to be made, it will in fact not be a major moneymaker ākiller appā. Thatās going to be video (movies etc.).
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### Author:  [@Lamar\_Mundane](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lamar_Mundane)
#### Post date: [December 8, 2003, 5:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/next-hot-technology-voip/217018/13 "2003-12-08T17:40:43Z")
> [@](#):
>
> _Originally posted by ccwaterback_
> Just one more note for any stock market speculators we may have
Thanks for the tip. I got in at .30 first thing this morning. Almost 50% in a few hours. Only 5000 shares, though. Should have gone in large.
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### Author:  [@ccwaterback](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ccwaterback)
#### Post date: [December 8, 2003, 6:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/next-hot-technology-voip/217018/14 "2003-12-08T18:08:20Z")
> [@](#):
>
> \*Originally posted by Lamar Mundane \*
> \*\*Thanks for the tip. I got in at .30 first thing this morning. Almost 50% in a few hours. Only 5000 shares, though. Should have gone in large. \*\*
The best message board for VPER is on [http://ragingbull.lycos.com](http://ragingbull.lycos.com)
The hits just keep on coming for this company. Seems like every day they have a major news announcement.