After doing this week’s reading on VoIP I was immediately drawn make to a memory of fall quarter. When all the new freshman were moving into my house I began to notice that all their laptops had cameras and microphones built into them! It made me really excited, jealous (naturally) and amazed at the fact that the format of the laptop had changed so much in almost less than a years time since I had purchased mine. I was excited, for one thing, to see how this new technology would impact our everyday lives…and sure enough I found out the hard way. One night my roommate was talking, and I just assumed she was talking on the phone…little did I know she was actually talking to her computer screen and there on the screen was the face of her friend at college in New York! I was actually stunned into silence and she started turning her laptop around the room showing her room to her friend…and of course there I was stunned, half changing clothes might I add, in the middle of our room! So, as I said I learned about this fabulous new technology the hard way…but it was still a good experience. I’m not sure if the technology she was using on her Apple is VoIP, but I’m sure its a similar idea.
Looking into the future I really cannot see how VoIP will impact cable and telephone networks, both being regulated infrastructure industries today, but I’m sure it will be a nasty battle of lawsuits, government regulations, and some healthy democracy-driven competition. While reading about the drawbacks to VoIP I think the fact that it is over your internet connection and the reliability of internet connection isn’t always the best will most likely impact the outcome of a possible battle between cable and telephone networks and this new force in communication technology. I really can’t see VoIP catching on to mainstream America at this time because the majority of the population is still so attached to their cellphones and even the reliability of their landlines to fully commit themselves to a new form of communication via their internet connection, no matter how much faster, “high tech”, and/or “new age” it seems to be initially. Once this technology has been smoothed out and possibly become more mainstream (like it seems to be being implemented into laptop computers, etc.) then I think that cable and telephone networks will have to revap and remarket what products and services they provide to make themselves a necessity once again to their current customers and the world.
Discussion Questions:
How many people in the class have actually used or possibly own this technolog? Do you like it? Is it reliable?
Do you think that this technology actually has the mass ability to impact cable and telephone networks that extensively (either economically or geographically)? Will they pull from telephone networks current customer base or will they draw an entirely new crowd of individuals?
