We are repeatedly hearing that SIP is an "emerging" technology (for a decade now!) and that SIP is simpler than H.323, etc. Well, most of the folks who frequent Packetizer know very well this is a lie. Today, I read and article that really took this to the extreme, saying that SIP had better "voice performance". SIP uses RTP. H.323 uses RTP. SIP uses the same codecs as H.323. They have the same voice performance. Is the success of SIP dependently entirely on ignorance and misinformation?
The Death of VoIP and the Re-Birth of Multimedia Communications
October 2, 2007
While VoIP is still considered to be a very young technology in the eyes of many, it has made a huge impact on the telecommunications business. But, VoIP was just a first step. What is about to come with AMS is another revolution in communication that will enable far more capability and functionality than the first generation VoIP networks of today. See this article.
The ITU completed work on the AMS Project Description. The Advanced Multimedia System (AMS) is viewed as a significant leap forward for multimedia systems, with capabilities that extend beyond the classic videoconferencing systems of today. With AMS, users would be able to use a multiplicity of devices and applications, seamlessly interconnected, in order to enable provide a significantly improved means of communicating than was ever possible before. This is very cool technology!
Back in December, there was news that the ITU would publish its standards free of charge. This was a temporary "trial" period, as it turned out. However, today we learned that the ITU has decided to make the standards available free of charge permanently.
We re-introduced the VoIP jobs page about 10 months ago. Unfortunately, we've had very few job postings (in spite of the fact that listing is free). Thinking we ought to just get rid of the page, I checked the server statistics and discovered that the RSS news feed is viewed by a large number of people and pulls in more hits than any other single file on Packetizer! So, we'll keep it here a while longer. I sure do wish employers would take note and use the opportunity to reach a wide audience!
The ITU-T SG16 formally initiated work on a new multimedia system called the Advanced Multimedia System (AMS). This new system will take a leap forward beyond the now decade-old H.323 and SIP systems that are currently used in the industry. Check out the concept slides.
AT&T, like all other mobile service providers in the United States, requires a contract for new customers and when getting phones at a reduced price. But AT&T goes further in abusing its customers by demanding contracts from existing customers with established credit histories who do not buy equipment.
I am sure that some of you might have seen where states want to regulateVoIP which, more than likely, also means adding more taxes. Many states definitely want to add taxes to Internet access. So, we will have taxes upon taxes to make a phone call. Is it not bad enough already? I checked my Vonage phone bill and the taxes were 21.6%! By comparison, my mobile phone was taxed 9.2%. Do we really need even more taxes on my VoIP services?!?!
Today, H.323 commands about 80% of the international long distance VoIP minutes, which is an estimated 15.8% or 49.4B minutes of all international voice communication. Skype has taken 4.4% of the market, while SIP competes with proprietary protocols for the bottom 4% of the traffic. Read the complete story.
