Re: [tlug] skype alternatives

[Godwin Stewart <godwin.stewart@example.com>]

On Thu, 19 Jan 2006 07:37:11 -0800 (PST), sjs@example.com wrote:

> Is an ISP offering VOIP just something that doesn't happen here in the US
> or is it just something I haven't heard about?

VoIP is the latest buzzword. Over here at least (.fr), most, if not all,
ISPs who do broadband DSL also include VoIP in the package they provide.
What usually happens is they supply you with a gizmo that plugs into your
phone line and acts as a DSL modem and/or router/NAT that can connect to
your machine by USB or ethernet. More than often they have a PCMCIA socket
on them for you to stuff a WiFi card into it and turn the thing into a
wireless router too (*shudder*).

They usually also have an RJ45 outlet on the back for you to connect a POTS
phone to them and, after jumping through a couple of hoops on the ISP's
site, you get yourself the ability to make VoIP calls using the gizmo.

ISPs who have access to the local loop (which is happening far too slowly
over here[0]) are also able to provide TVoIP to their subscribers and most
of these boxen provided to the clients also come with a remote control and
a SCART socket on the back.

Now, consider that France is in the boondocks as far as the Internet is
concerned. The French simply do not grok the Internet. Its development was
severely throttled in the '90s while France Telecom was trying to get people
to use the minitel[1] instead, which was far more profitable to them.

Today, lawmakers are kowtowing to media giants and there is a real risk
that one of the most severely brain-damaged bills ever to grace this planet
will become law and basically outlaw Open Source Software and therefore the
Internet in France[2][3].

Now ask yourself whether the country *you* live in is trying to cripple the
Internet as much as France is. It probably isn't, meaning that VoIP must be
as developed where you are as it is here, if not more so.





[0] - http://www.theregister.co.uk/2005/11/09/france_telecom/
[1] - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Minitel
[2] - http://arstechnica.com/news.ars/post/20051209-5729.html
[3] - http://www.fsffrance.org/news/article2005-11-25.en.html

-- 
G. Stewart - godwin.stewart@example.com

"Politics is supposed to be the second oldest profession. I have come to 
realize that it bears a very close resemblance to the first."

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