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Even when transmitted in
digital form, not only must the transmission delay be small (so as to be
imperceptible to the listener), but also the time between the arrival of
digital signal samples at the receiving end of a transmission must be at
regular intervals. Any significant form of delay, whether delay of all
samples or one sample relative to the other, can significantly degrade
the quality of the voice signal recreated at the far end of the
transmission.
Besides, IP telephony
during network congestion is subject to the loss of "packets" and with
them part of the words of a conversation.
In the usual telephone
lines, this doesn't occur, because new calls are blocked from entering
the network and there is no network congestion.
Why so much activity
was spent in the last few years to overcome these problems?
Now, we are definitely
able to offer a very good and reliable VOIP , with phones that can be
used also on a Modem or ISDN connection. ( very attractive for the
countries that are mostly penalized with high cost of telephone charges:
India, Africa and rural zones in general.) A high compression and a new
algorithm for it will allow the transmission of voice without any delay,
the priority given to the voice packets will kill the congestion, all
this resulting in a gorgeous quality of voice.
Although voice
communications continues to dominate the market today, this will
ultimately change as data communications grows at 100% per year, ( in
Italy last year we had a 250% growth of DSL lines and they say next year
will even be better) while voice only increases by 8 to 10% per year.
Thus, the doubling of the existing lines ( creation of voice over IP
world ) only makes sense in the case the data customers want to use the
data line for voice communications as well. For example, a
multi-location user that uses a commercial data network service to
connect those customer locations might want to cut down expenses by
using that same network for voice communications, as well. It has been
estimated that companies can lower their communications costs by as much
as 80% by placing their voice traffic through the unused space in their
data networks.
How we plan to compete
with the giant Telecoms of today
Entering the market
against the Telecoms is downright dangerous and potentially fatal in
today's capital environment. The net revenue derived from investment
should be small relatively to the size of the investment. A single large
business may generate many thousands of dollars per month in revenues
for an investor , while a big residential consumers investment would
generate very little revenue compared to the infrastructures required.
That considered, it
should not surprise us if firms try and serve large businesses rather
than residential customers.
If competition is less
likely when the revenue is small relative to the size of the investment,
there are three ways to increase competition in a market:
a) increase revenue
b) reduce the
investment required
c) do both.
What has all this to do
with being a Utopistic dreamer or visionary as many defined me while I
explained my project?
I have an exciting
project, which, if successful, will allow all the people who own a DSL
line to be able to call the world with a portable IP phone. I will try
to explain it as much as possible ( you can also see my web pages at
http://www.worldonip.com/community. )
It is very simple.
Instead of sharing the
bandwidth to download illegal MP3 or movies, we share it to telephone
for free.
You need to connect to
your DSL line an Access Point, to place the antenna on a window. You do
not even need to have the computer on 24 hours a day, just connecting
the access point. You will create a " Hot Spot" that every other member
of the community will be able to use. You will then need a (real)
portable IP phone, you will connect to the Net either through your own
Hot Spot or through the hot spot of any other member, wherever you will
be ( all the continents will have people sharing hot spots. )
A call with our device
consumes maximum 20 k, thanks to high compression of the voice and the
quality is absolutely gorgeous.
Our telephone will have
a price around 200 - 250 US dollars. An access point costs not more than
100 US dollars. The value of the investment highly overcomes the amount.
Imagine, being able to
call for free for the rest of your life!!! And imagine what kind of
doors opens a connection like that!
Going back to the
market competition.
In my particular case
a) Increase the
revenue. Every member would have enormous revenues under the voice" Free
call wherever he wants".
b) Reduce the
investment. Being a shared investment, every member will invest in the
enterprise the cost of an Access point ( around $100 or even less).
Considering that in the beginning we will have members who already have
a DSL line with a flat rate, and already use it for other purposes, also
the cost of running the system and relative bandwidth will amount to
almost zero. The cost of the phone is irrelevant compared to the benefit
of having FREE CALLS.
Not only does the
Community reduce the investment required to provide a competitive
service to almost ZERO, it also significantly reduces the risk involved
in funding a telecom start-up venture. The Community allows an entrant
to begin a new service at minimal sunk capital cost.
Further, once a
critical mass of customers is signed up on the Community, it becomes far
more cost effective for the entrant to build a new " Hot Spot".
To the unskilled eye,
it appears as if the competition envisioned by the authors of the
Telecommunications Act of 1996 for residential and small business
markets was not much more than a dream - an unrealized and unrealizable
nirvana.
The project of the
Community is making that dream a reality and offers the potential for
building a really strong TELECOM able to compete against the World
Telecoms' monopoly.
Our model is easy to
realize ( because the infrastructure already exists), brings enormous
revenues to the members of the Community and the investment is really
minimal.
Without considering the
NON-Polluting system that will be created in competition to a Highly
polluting system existing.
World on IP community
versus Telecoms' monopoly. A real challenge?
Patrizia Demaria
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