VoIP and the Future of Phone Tariffs
September 10th, 2004 • Technology
Fred Wilson has a post about VoIP and phone tariffs which mentions an interesting post by Ronald Gruia about the new area code in England for VoIP phone numbers. This whole VoIP thing (along with cell phones that will seamlessly support WiFi to GSM switching) is something I’ve been thinking about lately. With the increased deployment and partnering that folks like AT&T are doing with CallVantage (see here) there are some interesting things that could be done. For example, is there anything preventing me from buying a CallVantage box in the U.S., taking it with me overseas, and then making “local” calls to the U.S. (long distance within the U.S. is free on CallVantage too). People in the U.S. could call me overseas for the price of a local or domestic long distance phone call. All that I need overseas is a faster than dialup connection to the Internet. Obviously, this is easier in some countries than in others but I still don’t see why people don’t do this all the time now. $50/month for CallVantage could be very easily recouped by the savings on international long distance costs.
One Response (Add Your Comment)
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Luis Cortes November 23, 2004at 10:48 pm
Hey Stranger.
Sheesh. You’ve come a long way since I used to hear your crazy laugh from the other side of the aisle at lakefield. Any yoohoo, I came across your blog and of course I had to read it. I’m happy that things have been going so well at DE. Do I smell a takeout by google? hmmmm.
The voip stuff is going gangbusters. Talk about disruptive The phone companies as they exist today will not be around in 5 years. voip is going to be more than just about price, its just so much more. There are still some bugs to work out, but the opportunities are huge if you ask me. The next generation coming behind us will make sure of it.
You mentioned cheap overseas calls, people all over the place are doing it. I was down in Mexico and some of the guys there were telling me about a company in Mexico that would sell you phone numbers with New York area codes. So you can run your business from Mexico, but make ppl think you are in NY. Thats globalism for ya. These days, you can even set up a PBX from your home and have your own phone network set up around the world as long as there’s broadband to whoever you want to call on your network, who needs the PSTN?
Anyhow, good to see your blog.
Take care!
-lc