[clug] Residential VOIP discussion, was Skype on Ubuntu

[Martin Pool]

On 04/10/05, Tomasz Ciolek <tmc at dreamcraft.com.au> wrote:

> There are universal service provisions and emergemncy call shitfights
> between the telcos and the regularot on that exact issue - emergency
> call provisions.

Apparently the Telecommunications Act requires access to "digital data
services" for everyone, whereever they may choose to live.  It's
amazing that I could choose to live as a hermit in the wilderness and
(it would seem) have the cost of a satellite internet link subsidised
by ADSL users in the suburbs.  Mm, pork.

> > If you're going to do away with the landline altogether, make sure
> > noone will ever need to use your phone to make emergency calls. A
> > good way of avoiding confusion is to use the PC exclusively, and
> > don't have anything that looks like a normal phone. This is one of
> > the nightmares I have regarding the TransACT service - I don't know
> > how much their network relies on the electricity supply.

I've had my Transact phone keep working when the power was out, but
also had Transact off the air for a few hours because power was
interrupted at their node, which according to the callcenter guy does
not have backup power.  I suppose the node is not necessarily on the
same power supply as the residences.  At any rate the net result is
probably less reliable than POTS.

My feeling is that if people have the choice to have no phone at all,
then they should have the choice to buy a bad or unreliable phone.

--
Martin