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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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