Bosun
Good points. Currently what I am 'fighting' for is the Skype type of connections. Like I said before I am happy with the lower QoS of this type of connection. I also like the fact that it is internet to internet based (i.e. no connections to other networks, cellphone devices etc...).
What I am saying is that if TMVC decides in the future that people are using their data link, for things they have normally made their money on, that they move to billing them to death.
BUT if they can provide better QoS then, yes, there is a chance that I will be happy using and paying for the ''separate" service.
I could understand years ago that RF/GSM was expensive. Also, I have written about my views why cable is expensive. So point to point connections costs money. If I want to talk to my friend Johnny he must have a physical connection, a number/ID etc... Years ago people made physical connections with cables and connectors when someone called. They were later changed to machines that got faster and smaller. Many times I think we are paying traditional prices for services.
I like telling stories and using examples
One of my friends finished his B.Eng studies in the mid '80s. One day he had a screwup with his punch cards and used up an additional second or two computer time on his program run. He almost got expelled as he used up a large portion of the department's budget. At the same time I was doing computer science at school. It was freaky. We did everything from books. We did write code...on paper. The basic programs were then typed by capturing operators, executed and the results printed out on 132 character column printers. Two weeks later you would get the printout back and be graded on the success on that piece of paper. We were tormented with the words:"Remember, computer time is expensive!!!!!". But in the meanwhile IBM PCs were getting cheaper (about the price of a small car) and those little game machines like Commodore 64, SpectraVideo etc... were suddenly very affordable. So it seemed that after a short while computer time was only expensive on 'their' machine. Mine was cheap. Bought the computer for R300 and wrote many fancy programs on it.
So, using the same mentality, I state from a TMVC perspective:"Remember, voice communication is very expensive!!!". Right? But I can get connected over a Telkom dialup line, jump over the internet and chat to a friend in New York for the cost of a local call and my monthly subs to Mweb. Then they suddenly get tense thinking that this guy is paying only cents per minute when they could have made Rands per minute. Sure the QoS is not there. But many times we are not talking one-on-one. We conference. Then I missed something and ask via text what he said. It is so second nature to type and talk at the same time. So we have absorbed the QoS problem by adapting. How much will Telkom charge me per minute for that?
Chatting over the internet is NOT like talking over the telephone line. In my line of work you learn to listen to the guy speaking. You learn when you speak you don't just talk for 5 seconds. You learn to live with the fact that the stream might be broken and that the voice message will arrive 4 seconds late. So I feel, and many other might agree, that the QoS currently available is liveable.
Again I will repeat what I said earlier about bandwidth.... It will reduce as technology advances. This will mean reasonable quality over GPRS. Maybe TMVC has lost track of this and now realize that a client won't use up his cap in one sitting. We might even reach a point where you can send more data over GPRS than over the normal voice channel, for LESS!
So is VoIP expensive? Will TMVC lose money when each server could potentially be a telephone exchange? Is VoIP already paid for in the monthly subs? Will a group of 10 000 3G users affect someone like Vodacom's income level by doing their own VoIP thing?
So Bosun, as for QoS and exchanges, I understand that very well.... and I also like you response. Those of us who are bitching and moaning should know if we have reason or not to act like this. Keep in mind technology is moving at a steady pace and the decisions we make today and the ground that we win in the process will determine the way you will live in the future. I can paint a very hazy picture but will let your imaginations fill in the blanks.
Where is Vodacom and MTN on this? Please come forward and tell the people what will happen in the future if they dare use 3G/EDGE/GPRS for VoIP.
VMS
Good points. Currently what I am 'fighting' for is the Skype type of connections. Like I said before I am happy with the lower QoS of this type of connection. I also like the fact that it is internet to internet based (i.e. no connections to other networks, cellphone devices etc...).
What I am saying is that if TMVC decides in the future that people are using their data link, for things they have normally made their money on, that they move to billing them to death.
BUT if they can provide better QoS then, yes, there is a chance that I will be happy using and paying for the ''separate" service.
I could understand years ago that RF/GSM was expensive. Also, I have written about my views why cable is expensive. So point to point connections costs money. If I want to talk to my friend Johnny he must have a physical connection, a number/ID etc... Years ago people made physical connections with cables and connectors when someone called. They were later changed to machines that got faster and smaller. Many times I think we are paying traditional prices for services.
I like telling stories and using examples
One of my friends finished his B.Eng studies in the mid '80s. One day he had a screwup with his punch cards and used up an additional second or two computer time on his program run. He almost got expelled as he used up a large portion of the department's budget. At the same time I was doing computer science at school. It was freaky. We did everything from books. We did write code...on paper. The basic programs were then typed by capturing operators, executed and the results printed out on 132 character column printers. Two weeks later you would get the printout back and be graded on the success on that piece of paper. We were tormented with the words:"Remember, computer time is expensive!!!!!". But in the meanwhile IBM PCs were getting cheaper (about the price of a small car) and those little game machines like Commodore 64, SpectraVideo etc... were suddenly very affordable. So it seemed that after a short while computer time was only expensive on 'their' machine. Mine was cheap. Bought the computer for R300 and wrote many fancy programs on it.So, using the same mentality, I state from a TMVC perspective:"Remember, voice communication is very expensive!!!". Right? But I can get connected over a Telkom dialup line, jump over the internet and chat to a friend in New York for the cost of a local call and my monthly subs to Mweb. Then they suddenly get tense thinking that this guy is paying only cents per minute when they could have made Rands per minute. Sure the QoS is not there. But many times we are not talking one-on-one. We conference. Then I missed something and ask via text what he said. It is so second nature to type and talk at the same time. So we have absorbed the QoS problem by adapting. How much will Telkom charge me per minute for that?
Chatting over the internet is NOT like talking over the telephone line. In my line of work you learn to listen to the guy speaking. You learn when you speak you don't just talk for 5 seconds. You learn to live with the fact that the stream might be broken and that the voice message will arrive 4 seconds late. So I feel, and many other might agree, that the QoS currently available is liveable.
Again I will repeat what I said earlier about bandwidth.... It will reduce as technology advances. This will mean reasonable quality over GPRS. Maybe TMVC has lost track of this and now realize that a client won't use up his cap in one sitting. We might even reach a point where you can send more data over GPRS than over the normal voice channel, for LESS!
So is VoIP expensive? Will TMVC lose money when each server could potentially be a telephone exchange? Is VoIP already paid for in the monthly subs? Will a group of 10 000 3G users affect someone like Vodacom's income level by doing their own VoIP thing?
So Bosun, as for QoS and exchanges, I understand that very well.... and I also like you response. Those of us who are bitching and moaning should know if we have reason or not to act like this. Keep in mind technology is moving at a steady pace and the decisions we make today and the ground that we win in the process will determine the way you will live in the future. I can paint a very hazy picture but will let your imaginations fill in the blanks.
Where is Vodacom and MTN on this? Please come forward and tell the people what will happen in the future if they dare use 3G/EDGE/GPRS for VoIP.
VMS
