FORD: The IP in VoIP should be Instant Presence!

By Carl Ford

After Jonathan Christensen declared that VoIP was dead [1], I provided a reply that basically said, if VoIP was only arbitrage, it deserved to die. 

But this is a complex issue, as shown by the last regulatory call [2]. 

To me, the issue is making the difference clear, and we don't presently do enough to demostrate the difference between VoIP and POTS over IP.  Nowhere is that difference more visible than with Presence. POTS has busy signals, while IM has the text "UT?" 

And we must show the possibilities of VoIP and Presence, the more it will lumped into the old technologies. 

BellSouth had patents for POTS presense in 1999, but nothing happened with them. It would be a shame if POTS is all that VoIP was left with. And that is a distinct possibility.  In the call last week it was clear that a totally Internet-based call that was connected via a phone was a cause for confusion and would be likely categorized as traditional service.  Well, if that's the case, where does the line get drawn for softclients?. Today it's clear the point of interconnection where a gateway connects to the PSTN is the answer, but if the Enhanced Service Provider exemption disappears, I would assert that the demarcation no longer is relevant. 

Thanks to the VON Coalition and Jim Kohlenberger's pursuit of innovation on the web, I have been exploring the site, http://www.Freedom2Speak.org [3].

The use of Presence and Instant Messaging is my focus in the column, and I want to ask you all to embrace your communication systems. I fear that, like National Public Radio,   the number of passionate advocates do not indicate the amount of users. 

So evangelize on behalf of the cool apps of VoIP. Embrace their presence experience, and use the voice side of AIM/AOL, GoogleTalk, MediaRing Talk, MSN Messenger, and Yahoo! Messenger. Use Video with Skype, iChat, ooVoo, Sightspeed, and TokBox, the web based solutions from Adobe, Raketu and Yackpac, the wireless connectivity from a Globe7, and Packet8, and the ad-supported services like Adphone, and Jaduka. 

Come back to try Free World Dialup. That client that Jeff Pulver and WebMessenger built is still one of the most innovative. Speaking of innovative, try Say2Go, which is an asynchronous way of speaking - just like IM, or a PalRingo, which is compatible with the rich media (text and pictures) of your cell phone. Use a Peer-to-Peer system like VoIPBuster and the wideband codecs of VoIPWise.  

The point is, don't let VoIP be stuck in your mind.  No one I know wanted to waste their time updating POTS.  Innovation is all around us.  The problem is we need to embrace the innovative VOIP. Talk about it - better yet talk with it.