VOIP etc > Voice Over IP - VOIP > VOIP Tech Chat > VoIP vs. POTS debate

VoIP vs. POTS debate

Looks like a good debate, but I shall not join in because what I would have said has already been said: basically that the right answer depends on the situation.

As for my personal, biased opinion - for me, VoIP is better in every way - cost, reliability, audio quality, and of course features. But then, the landlines here are crap, and the quality of internet bandwidth is great. So, my opinion is atypical.

m.
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reply to PX Eliezer
It will be debated for years to come. No best answer. Just as dsl internet vs cable internet, satellite tv vs cable tv, ford vs chev, etc..
If it breaks down, some may consider the alternative and believe it is better.

reply to PX Eliezer
The battle is getting bloody. I and a couple others are arguing that POTS is old and needs to be replaced by a digital service, such as VoIP, which provides the flexibility we will need to take us into the future. I'm being countered by people who think VoIP will never be as reliable as POTS.

reply to PX Eliezer
Are those of us who get internet via dsl still pots users or quasi-pots users? As pots deteriorates, should we expect our internet service to deteriorate also?

In the long run, DSL (what Verizon now calls HSI) is not the future, unless there are unexpected breakthroughs.

Keep in mind that DSL is limited by the need to be within about 15,000 feet from the central office.

That excludes a lot of potential customers.

I myself live near the traditional business center of a prosperous suburban town of 40,000 people (in a county with 650,000 people). I live right near the post office and town hall. Yet Verizon DSL is not available because we're over that 15,000 feet.

NOW, Verizon is introducing an enhanced DSL---but for THAT the limit is just 7,000 feet from the CO. So this will be available to a very small audience.

»blog.connectedplanetonline.com/u···-copper/

Because of the recession (and in Verizon's case, greed) expansion of Verizon FiOS, ATT U-Verse, and similar, has slowed. But that will be the solution in most urban and suburban areas eventually, along with improved cable company offerings.

reply to Mango
In my street VOIP is MORE reliable than POTS.
Put simply Verzon has OLD OLD copper (underground) and they have absolutely no desire to spend the money to pull more copper. Inevitably the debate POTS versus VOIP is gradually and irrevocably morphing in gfavor of the latter as copper lines age and are seldom replaced.

reply to PX Eliezer
A hardwired system with battery backup(POTS) versus a kluge of
hardware/software relying on a computer and an ISP, riding on an
internet of unspeakable garbage. No contest! Hmmm, wait, I don't have
POTS lines to my house. Never mind!

reply to PX Eliezer
I vote for voip because of its cheapness and all the features that would cost a fortune with pots. And it sounds about as good as pots.

In the 15 years I have lived in this house, in a good-sized city, we have probably twice lost electricity for more than 30 minutes.

In one case, it was lost for 4 hours or so - that was the time when some Ohio provider had a problem which cascaded to take out a number of other electrical distribution systems.

The other time was probably for an hour or so.

So for me at least, losing electricity is not a problem.

Our main voip provider, voip.ms, almost never goes out, and if it does, I have it failover to callcentric.

We still have a pots line, more a legacy of our dsl connection than anything else, so we can use it for 911 if that should be needed; if we did not have the pots line, I would probably spring for the $1.50/month or whatever it is, to get 911 over voip. Or I might use a deactivated cell phone - a penny saved is a penny earned.

reply to PX Eliezer
VoIP on the Internet is on average inferior to POTS due to the routed network's delays and varying routes, etc. It is what it is: a packet network with no end to end QoS. It cannot be like the TDMA long lines network.

VoIP on a private or Frame Relay network is POTS-equivalent.

POTS itself is most vunlerable to the near term day when the ILECs convince the Government that they must abandon the class 5 switches because they are losing too much money. Then a democrat controlled government will tax us more and more to keep it going for the benefit of the rural and low income people, citizens or not. This new telco will be like the USPS.

interesting thread, thanks

reply to PX Eliezer
I agree with Mango, me and my girlfriend's Pots experience was terrible for years. VOIP will be the only way for me and her. I had to keep two POTS coming in from different centers so I would have a line working most of the time. She would have calls just cut off every night and then not get a dial for another 20 minutes. Bell South could never solve it. This went on for years as a nightly event as she made her calls.

VOIP solved our problems. Maybe a few times a year my RR goes down for a couple hours but with POTS a line would go down for a week and more often. When they worked they always had a slight hiss. Every few years I'd have them sink new lines but eventually the hiss came back.

Free at last.