[MLB-WIRELESS] Free P2P phones will pressure telcos

[Alan Barrow]

Why not ditch the Computer, ditch the adapters, ditch the telephone and 
just grap one of these

Cisco already make a Wireless VOIP handset.

http://www.cisco.com/en/US/products/hw/phones/ps379/ps5056/index.html

I have already read of one that has Celular functionality in it also - 
Probably the useless US standard...


It costs bretty big $

Alan


Clae wrote:

>> Free P2P phones will pressure telcos
>> http://news.com.au/common/story_page/0,4057,7758460%255E15318,00.html
>> ---
>>
>> Free P2P phones will pressure telcos
>> Karen Dearne
>> November 4, 2003
>>
>> A PEER to peer phone service launched just nine weeks ago is shaping
>> up as a serious threat to conventional telcos. More than 2.2 million
>> users have downloaded the software.
>>
>> Called Skype, the system delivers voice-over-IP telephony over a P2P
>> network, with nodes linking dynamically to handle traffic routing and
>> processing without needing central servers.
>>
>> The system was developed by the people behind KaZaA -- the popular
>> file-sharing software that allows internet users to find and download
>> music held on other people's PCs.
>>
>> KaZaA co-founders Niklas Zennstrom and Janus Friis say Skype
>> will "challenge the outdated business models and rip-off tactics of
>> legacy telcos".
>>
>> They plan to "bring global unmetered communications to people
>> everywhere".
>>
>> "We will achieve this by building a user-driven P2P network".
>>
>> CSC future technologies expert Bill Koff said Skype may "completely
>> disrupt" the traditional telephony market.
>>
>> Like KaZaA or Napster, Skype forms a highly distributed network that
>> runs on millions of private PCs running the free software.
>>
>> "Skype creates a way for people to make telephone calls through VoIP
>> anywhere in the world, from PC to PC," says Koff, who is vice-
>> president of CSC's Leading Edge Forum.
>>
>> "It's an example of a self-organising network that essentially cuts
>> out phone companies as the switching mechanism for connection."
>>
>> Koff says the most "disruptive" technologies that will "hit the
>> marketplace over the next 18 months" use wireless data and 802.11
>> technologies. "These pose an enormous threat to the telcos," he says.
>>
>> "Telcos have a real problem because their billing systems account for
>> 25-35 per cent of the cost of each call. "Just taking that out of the
>> equation for consumers means huge savings. In the US, phone companies
>> are taking this very seriously."
>>
>> KaZaA and Napster struck legal problems because users were exchanging
>> copyrighted material, but Skype faces no such obstacles because no
>> intellectual property is involved.
>>
>> "This is just me connecting to you through a different mechanism than
>> a central monopoly," Koff says.
>>
>> "Companies and individuals can set up their own switching mechanisms,
>> which will completely disintermediate the phone companies."
>>
>> While the telcos are trying to fight the change through regulatory
>> means, "they don't have a leg to stand on", Koff says. "It's just
>> another business entering the sector."
>>
>> Although Skype is providing the software at no cost, Koff says, it
>> will earn revenue from additional products and services that users
>> are prepared to pay for.
>>
>> "This works very much in conjunction with things we've been talking
>> about for years around VoIP," he says.
>>
>> "Cisco, for example, has just released 802.11 wireless telephone
>> handsets for corporations to use within their environments.
>>
>> "If they have 802.11 for their PCs, they can also carry voice traffic
>> for people in those areas.
>>
>> "If you can start imagining 802.11 available for free in the streets
>> of New York, where people can wirelessly connect to the internet, you
>> can imagine VoIP through a Skype-enabled PC that does all the
>> switching for you."
>>
>> ---
>>
>> HOW IT WORKS
>>
>> SKYPE uses peer-to-peer technology to form a highly distributed
>> global network of personal computers that allows users to make free
>> phone calls over the internet.
>>
>> Users simply install the software on their PCs. Users see when people
>> they want to call are available via a menu or phonebook function.
>>
>> Skype says its system offers better sound quality than ordinary
>> phones, but users need an internet handset or PC headset/speaker plus
>> microphone.
>>
>> All phone calls are encrypted end-to-end so they can be securely sent
>> over the public internet.
>>
>> The system intelligently routes phone calls through the network.
>>
>> www.skype.com
>>
>> The Australian
>>
>>
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