Reading Reflection for Week Nine
I found the article “How VoIP Works” by Robert Valdes, to be very interesting because I have recently heard a lot about VoIP but didn’t know how it worked. I was familiar with VoIP service for computer-to-computer communication; however I didn’t know that Wi-Fi IP phones will be available to be used in Wi-Fi hot spots. These Wi-Fi IP phones sounds interesting, and it made me start thinking of where there are Wi-Fi hot spots and why someone would want a phone to use in these Wi-Fi hot spots instead of using a cell phone.
~Could Wi-Fi IP phones replace cell phones or maybe all phones since some people have wireless internet in their house?
One thing that I liked about this article was that it defined many terms using very simple language. This made reading the article a little easier, even though this article was using a lot of technical language, since they defined the terms I could understand the article. Before reading this article I had never heard of softphones and only remember vaguely seeing a commercial for Vontage. I found it interesting that the strongest selling points for home users were price and flexibility. The article goes on to list the services that VoIP companies provide, which are very similar to what traditional phone companies provide.
~Since VoIP companies provide similar services to traditional phone companies, what is stopping people from switching?
The “Pros and Cons” section of this article brings up the point that although VoIP is cheap and flexible, it is not as reliable as are traditional phone network. Especially because VoIP is dependant on wall power which would cause problems if the power was down, and Emergency 911 calls are had to locate when the call is placed using VoIP.
~Is it a good idea for homes to do away with traditional phones in case of an emergency or should VoIP be used as an alternative to long-distance calls and traditional phones for local and emergency calls?
~I think that eventually VoIP will be able to work around these two emergency problems; however VoIP still only works when your computer and internet work, so will people ever be able to safely switch to VoIP as their only phone in their house or will they always need a cell phone or traditional phone as a back up?
~Will the adoption of VoIP create enough of a push for rural areas to start getting broadband?
~Could Wi-Fi IP phones replace cell phones or maybe all phones since some people have wireless internet in their house?
One thing that I liked about this article was that it defined many terms using very simple language. This made reading the article a little easier, even though this article was using a lot of technical language, since they defined the terms I could understand the article. Before reading this article I had never heard of softphones and only remember vaguely seeing a commercial for Vontage. I found it interesting that the strongest selling points for home users were price and flexibility. The article goes on to list the services that VoIP companies provide, which are very similar to what traditional phone companies provide.
~Since VoIP companies provide similar services to traditional phone companies, what is stopping people from switching?
The “Pros and Cons” section of this article brings up the point that although VoIP is cheap and flexible, it is not as reliable as are traditional phone network. Especially because VoIP is dependant on wall power which would cause problems if the power was down, and Emergency 911 calls are had to locate when the call is placed using VoIP.
~Is it a good idea for homes to do away with traditional phones in case of an emergency or should VoIP be used as an alternative to long-distance calls and traditional phones for local and emergency calls?
~I think that eventually VoIP will be able to work around these two emergency problems; however VoIP still only works when your computer and internet work, so will people ever be able to safely switch to VoIP as their only phone in their house or will they always need a cell phone or traditional phone as a back up?
~Will the adoption of VoIP create enough of a push for rural areas to start getting broadband?
posted by Meredith at 2:20 PM
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