Voip teleophony - Anyone know Packet-8 or others?

[Ben Scott]

On 12/12/05, Kent Borg <kentborg at borg.org> wrote:
> On Sun, Dec 11, 2005 at 04:09:47PM -0500, Jeff Kinz wrote:
> > We're getting ready to switch to VOIP over Comcast cable.
>
> VoIP is limited by the quality of your internet connection.  How good
> is your cable modem connection?  We have all come to expect very high
> availability for phone service, does Comcast meet that for IP in
> general?

  What we call "the Internet" does not, never has, and almost
certainly never will provide any kind of Service Level Agreement. 
It's basically a best-effort, "if it works, great; if not, too bad"
scenario.  While, in general, this meets the needs of most people most
of the time, it's important not to forget that this wonderful Internet
thing comes with absolutely zero guarantees.

  So, any over-the-public-Internet VoIP service is going to be subject
to that limitation as well.  Worth keeping in mind.

  VoIP service that stays within the local operator's network may be a
different story.  If, for example, Comcast's VoIP offerings remain on
Comcast's networks until bridging to the PSTN, Comcast can offer QoS
guarantees (which is not to say they *do*).

-- Ben "Caveat Emptor" Scott