VoIP quality -- 911 reliability

[gaf at blu.org (Jerry Feldman)]

On Monday 23 May 2005 3:32 pm, John Chambers wrote:
> It would have been a "drop ?dead" ?requirement, ?and ?would ?have ?in
> effect ?outlawed the sale of cell-phone service. ?Very nice if you're
> one of their competitors. ?Most companies, especially ?those ?holding
> legal ?monopolies, ?would ?love ?to ?see ?the government outlaw a new
> technology that introduces competition into their pseudo-market. ?The
> best ?way ?to ?do this would be to legally require something that the
> new technology can't do.
10 years ago you and I talked about people using cell phones as their only 
phone to replace POTS. Today this is a reality although cell phones were 
not marketed as replacements for POTS. Why???
First, the network was not set up for the volume.
Second, the POTS phone companies (NYNEX, SW BELL, ...) were the cell phone 
companies. This is not 100% true today, but both Verizon wireless and 
Cingular are still tightly tied to their POTS counterpart. Some of the more 
recent advertising by both Sprint and by T-Mobile are strongly implying the 
use of cell phones at home.

The FCC is being pushed pretty hard by the POTS people to regulate VOIP. 
But, also remember that cell phones must all contain GPS technology at the 
insistence of the FCC. Putting GPS technology in the cell phone makes sense 
since on a cell, when dialing a number, it may be physically dialed from 
miles away. 
-- 
Jerry Feldman <gaf at blu.org>
Boston Linux and Unix user group
http://www.blu.org PGP key id:C5061EA9
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