Voice over IP, a technology that has evolved over almost a decade, allows people to make phone calls over the Internet.
It is touted by a broad spectrum of firms as the next Internet application that will impact us all. These firms include our local cable and telephone companies (Verizon, AT&T, and Comcast), startups (Vonage), and those on Wall Street who report on all of them. It is important enough for the FCC and congressional committees to open new regulatory discussions, including proposals for taxing VoIP similar to existing calls, with massive lobbying efforts taking strong positions. VoIP is clearly on the minds of many consumers with approximately 2 out of 3 agreeing in a recent survey that “VoIP Will Forever Change How We Communicate.”
This talk by Harry Burns will address the VoIP hype, consider what it is and the types of benefits we as consumer users might derive from it. It will start by addressing the fundamental network technology changes that enable VoIP as well as the technical challenges presented to these networks when carrying voice traffic, and consider some of the economic advantages of these new networks. When voice is considered as just another form of data carried within the Internet, many new capabilities emerge for bridging the classic world of telephony services with the new world of Internet enabled services we use now every day. The talk will look at some of these services and then use as an example AT&T's consumer offer being launched under the name AT&T CallVantageSM.