Comments on: End of an (Vonage) Affair http://gigaom.com/2005/03/23/end-of-an-vonage-affair/ Trusted Insights and Conversations on the Next Wave of Technology Thu, 26 Nov 2009 01:34:40 +0000 http://wordpress.com/ hourly 1 By: Om Malik http://gigaom.com/2005/03/23/end-of-an-vonage-affair/#comment-9455 Om Malik Thu, 24 Mar 2005 01:20:14 +0000 http://gigaom.wordpress.com/2005/03/23/end-of-an-vonage-affair/#comment-9455 <p>I totally agree - price is never the right indicator and when come down to it the quality should carry a little premium. oh well.</p> I totally agree – price is never the right indicator and when come down to it the quality should carry a little premium. oh well.

]]> By: Steve Shu http://gigaom.com/2005/03/23/end-of-an-vonage-affair/#comment-9454 Steve Shu Thu, 24 Mar 2005 00:59:31 +0000 http://gigaom.wordpress.com/2005/03/23/end-of-an-vonage-affair/#comment-9454 <p>Everyone give a lot of heat to the incumbent PSTN providers, and there's good reason for that because people are looking at Skype, pre-paid international calling cards, and the like and coming to their own conclusions that the PSTN is not a good deal.</p> <p>What people fail to understand is the PSTN was designed to handle a lot of things we take for granted, e.g., - 911 calls being nailed up to the operator position so you can't hang up - can all VoIP providers do that - I don't know - what about power outages? the PSTN was designed to keep your phone powered during outages - what about major disasters, e.g., bombs blowing up things? the PSTN was designed to handle these requirements - what about traffic congestion and call gapping? - what about FBI or authorities being able to wiretap under authorized situations, etc.</p> <p>The list goes on and on, but all people care about is price until things go badly ...</p> Everyone give a lot of heat to the incumbent PSTN providers, and there’s good reason for that because people are looking at Skype, pre-paid international calling cards, and the like and coming to their own conclusions that the PSTN is not a good deal.

What people fail to understand is the PSTN was designed to handle a lot of things we take for granted, e.g., - 911 calls being nailed up to the operator position so you can’t hang up – can all VoIP providers do that – I don’t know - what about power outages? the PSTN was designed to keep your phone powered during outages - what about major disasters, e.g., bombs blowing up things? the PSTN was designed to handle these requirements - what about traffic congestion and call gapping? - what about FBI or authorities being able to wiretap under authorized situations, etc.

The list goes on and on, but all people care about is price until things go badly …

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