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VoIP's failings
I have always had at least one VoIP phone in my household for many a year now, yet I have recently started to favour the good old-fashioned plain old telephone service (POTS) over the many issues regarding VoIP phones compared to that of a POTS.
A few months ago I started to realise the increasingly annoying amount of issues to do with VoIP phones. While the price may be cheaper there are many issues that make me choose to use a POTS phone instead of VoIP.
First of all, set up is far easier. With POTS all you have to do is plug it into a phone line and you are pretty much ready to go calling who you like in an instant. VoIP, on the other hand, requires you to connect it up to your computer, either via cable or, even harder, wireless. A lot of the time it goes wrong, requiring you to edit network settings and the like.
When you finally do get it working it turns out that, due to the phone and internet being from the same company, it requires you to have a new phone number as well as being unable to drop your phone service without losing your internet connection.
Secondly, there's the delay. Even a tiny amount of delay causes major echo problems. Even something as common as a router firewall can cause delay up to anywhere from ten milliseconds to 3 seconds.
Thirdly, power is a problem for VoIP. With a POTS phone the power is supplied by the telephone line itself, meaning that in the case of a power outage then your phone is still useable without any problems. A VoIP's phone's power is supplied via AC power, as is the router it relies on, which can cause obvious problems if the power is down during an emergency.
After considering the advantages compared to the disadvantages of POTS and VoIP phones, i think it is a wise choice to stay on POTS until a time when VoIP is more stable, reliable and of a better quality.
Callum Smith
August 17, 2007 in Vent your spleen! | Permalink
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