| Mixed Feelings There are really two ideas going on here at once. One (which I think Nuvio is talking about) is that broadband providers could detect VoIP packets and actively degrade those connections relative to standard IP connectivity. The other (which many posters have discussed) is that broadband providers will offer enhanced QoS for their own (or affiliated) VoIP services, while independent services can do no better than best efforts IP traffic.
The former is pretty obviously wrong. This is especially clear for applications that aren't VoIP, like, say, search. Technically speaking, a provider with a relationship with MSN could introduce 30 seconds of delay before delivering packets going to/from Google IP addresses...it's their network...but they really shouldn't. And never will (I don't think). But in the case of VoIP a provider could degrade a service very subtly, making it hard even for a very savvy end user to detect/prove.
But the latter doesn't bother me, and indeed, I think it's inevitable. Cablevision already markets Optimum Voice as being better than other VoIP services, because, in part, it doesn't rely on the public Internet. See: their FAQ.
At a minimum, independent guys like Vonage or Nuvio should reasonably expect speed/latency/packet loss stats for packets delivered to their networks on a par with the average for all other IP traffic from a given provider. But that may not be enough to make them as robust as a provider's own VoIP offering. I think that's just life. |
cghh
join:2001-01-15
Milpitas, CA
1 edit | A similar question has come up with respect to the rumor that TiVo wants to join up with NetFlix to allow DVDs to be dowloaded to a NetFlix customer's TiVo over a broadband connection, rather than the current NetFlix policy of sending DVDs via the U.S. Postal system. The point was raised that cable Internet providers could invoke their secret download caps to sabotoge such a product, in order to protect their own Pay-Per-View/VOD products. |
