AnonShawUser
join:2006-06-17
Calgary, AB
| reply to NewMariner
Re: Evolution of the VoIP market?
I love the idea of VoIP.. I just think what they need to do, is make it something classic phone service can't offer.
Make it cheap and cut down.. or make it more fleshed out. Standard phone service has been limited in what it can do, for a really long time. Now that we're dealing with digital communication over broadband, how about making better use of that, with add-on features that you can't get on regular phone service? |
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PolarBear
The bear formerly known as aaron8301
join:2005-01-03
Riverside, WA
 ·CableOne
| Have you EVER looked at the Vonage web site? It does a dozen things that traditional POTS has never and will never do.
Vonage Features that you can't get with POTS:
Enhanced Call Forwarding with SimulRing, that will ring up to 5 other numbers in addition to your Vonage number
VoicemailPlus that will Email you a .wav attachment of your voicemail.
Click to Call, so you can make phone calls by simply clicking on a number on your computer.
FREE calling to the US, Canada, Puerto Rico, England, Ireland, France, Italy, and Spain.
Call Transfer so you can transfer an incoming call to any other number.
The ability to take your number and service with you anywhere in the world where there is a broadband internet connection without having to do anything to have your service transferred.
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A computer lets you make more mistakes faster than any other invention, with the possible exceptions of handguns and Tequilla. -- Mitch Ratcliffe |
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La Luna
Surviving Ashraful
Premium
join:2001-07-12
Warwick, NY
clubs:
·Optimum Online
 ·Vonage
| said by PolarBear  :....The ability to take your number and service with you anywhere in the world where there is a broadband internet connection without having to do anything to have your service transferred. That is one of the best, if not THE best feature of Vonage. I've moved twice in the last three years since getting Vonage and I just took my adapter, got my cable hooked up, plugged the adapter in, and bingo, up and running with my same phone number.
Try doing that with a "landline".
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~~"As long as America is an infidel enemy, terrorizing it is a duty." Sayed Imam Abdul-Aziz el-Sheriff~~
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PolarBear
The bear formerly known as aaron8301
join:2005-01-03
Riverside, WA | I think transferring your service is by far the biggest pain in the @$$ with POTS. Bundle that with the fact that you can only retain your number if you stay in the same city/local area, and you might as well either never move or switch to VoIP. |
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morbo
Complete Your Transaction
join:2002-01-22
00000
clubs: | yes, telco loves bundling.  |
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AnonShawUser
join:2006-06-17
Calgary, AB
| reply to PolarBear
Alright, you have a point there.
But I was thinking something a touch more.. well, beyond the box. We have all this bandwidth, we have all this near-infinitely cheap computing power, and we're still just yacking on the phone, the same way we always have.
Back when I was in 3rd grade, I went on a field trip and they showed us something I thought was really nifty: a video phone. It was the first time I had ever seen one, and I'll have to admit: it blew me away.
Now, why is it we don't have these as one of the "standard" upgrades, on phone lines today? As it is, a huge number of national-based phone companies are already routing their wide area phone networks through the internet, to cut down on international expenses. So, with VoIP, let's make it a full-on multimedia thing. Cheap, effective teleconferencing. Having a 5-way call with friends or family, but also have a video display from their end, if they have it, without having to be locked exclusively at a computer terminal. |
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morbo
Complete Your Transaction
join:2002-01-22
00000
clubs: | that would be nice. let's do that. |
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Goober
join:2000-12-17
Naperville, IL
·WOW Internet and C..
·Comcast
| reply to PolarBear
said by PolarBear :Have you EVER looked at the Vonage web site? It does a dozen things that traditional POTS has never and will never do. Vonage Features that you can't get with POTS:Enhanced Call Forwarding with SimulRing, that will ring up to 5 other numbers in addition to your Vonage number VoicemailPlus that will Email you a .wav attachment of your voicemail. Click to Call, so you can make phone calls by simply clicking on a number on your computer. FREE calling to the US, Canada, Puerto Rico, England, Ireland, France, Italy, and Spain. Call Transfer so you can transfer an incoming call to any other number. The ability to take your number and service with you anywhere in the world where there is a broadband internet connection without having to do anything to have your service transferred. But, it doesn't have the equivalent of att's Privacy Manager. Heck, Callvantage doesn't even have it and att owns it. |
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AnonShawUser
join:2006-06-17
Calgary, AB | Makes me hope Google does win out and does something like introducing an "open" wireless VoIP network, where you can actually add your own features and make your own plan however you want it.
Too bad that's not too likely to ever happen. |
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