Call termination (was Re: [LINK] Phone bill shock)

[Paul Montgomery]

richard@auscoms.com.au wrote:

> Paul,
> 
> You make a mistake letting yourself be entangled in this kind of argument with
> Adam. To quote A. P. Herbert, a statement like this one:
> 
> >As to my agenda, well I've spoken to you in private about options and 
> >opportunities and you're not rally interested.  I've just explained in 
> >brief the potential for ISPs to blitz Telstra and any other carrier using 
> >carrier resources and not requiring carrier licences.
> 
> ....is like the thirteenth strike of a clock; it casts doubt not only on itself
> but on everything the clock says.
I agree but this argument keeps on popping up, sometimes from otherwise 
worthy sources, and someone needs to rebut them.

> But I've heard so many times how ISPs render telcos worthless that it's probably
> worth puncturing in its own right. So: what happens when somebody routes a voice
> call over the Internet instead of Telstra?
> 1) The ISP assumes responsibility for some or all of the customer support role,
> which leaves it in the red the moment anybody has a problem; and
> 2) The carrier gets the backbone traffic, which is more profitable than the
> customer tail traffic.
> 
> So for the last few years, the sorts of commentators that write for Wired or
> rant on slashdot have said "we're going to wipe out AT&T" and at the same time,
> the carriers have laughed all the way to the bank.
Richard, I think you might be confusing the issues surrounding "call 
termination" with voice-over-IP, which are two subtly different 
concepts. VoIP is voice circuits which are converted into data traffic, 
whereas call termination revolves around all types of data traffic, 
including VoIP. Your characterisation of a call "over the Internet 
instead of Telstra" is not relevant to call termination, because we are 
talking about Internet traffic running over last-mile networks like the 
CAN, which is owned by Telstra.

--
Paul Montgomery, CEO @ AusBONE, the ISP peering co-operative.
Land: not yet  Mobile: 0410 622 589  mailto:monty@ausbone.net