TELECOM Digest OnLine - Sorted: Re: Internet Calls Untethered From Your PC

Re: Internet Calls Untethered From Your PC

B. Wright (bmwright@xmission.com)
Mon, 17 Apr 2006 13:40:17 +0000 (UTC)

Monty Solomon <monty@roscom.com> wrote:

> David Pogue
> The New York Times
> April 6, 2006

> WHY does Skype get so much hype? Sure, this software lets you make
> free "phone calls," computer to computer, anywhere in the world. But
> it wasn't the first such program, it's not the most feature-laden,
> and it's still a mystery to most people over 25.

that's all Skype is, HYPE. It's a proprietary closed protocol and it
locks you down to one provider where you have zero flexibility to shop
for rates.

> Enter the VoSky Call Center ($60 at actiontec.com), nicknamed the
> Liberator. (All right, I gave it that nickname, but still.) It's a
> tiny black box, about the size of a sandwich, that connects to a
> Windows PC (with a U.S.B. cable), to your phone line and to your
> telephone. An exceptionally clear instruction sheet walks you through
> the installation.

This box is ridiculous, it's like everything Skype, it requires a PC
with an unstable operating system (Windows) to sit in the middle of
everything. I, and several others, have been using devices such as
the Sipura SPA-3000 to do this same thing (bridge to a standard phone
line), WITHOUT a PC involved for some time now. Why does this new
"wonderbox" seem so great to people? Once again Skype=Hype.

The setup with the Sipura SPA-3000 served me well for over six months
of international travel, without intervention. I'm confident that if
there was a Windows PC involved this would not have been the case (not
to mention the cost to power a small SIP device 24/7 is orders of
magnitude below an entire PC).

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