As more and more businesses switch over from Phone Switched Telephone Networks (PSTN) to VoIP, it is worth pausing to consider how Internet-based communication has destroyed the “minute.”
Essentially, bandwidth is king—at least as far as service providers are concerned. Why don’t we worry about overage on our minutes anymore? It seems that the once-common cause for teenaged punishment, going over on your minutes and texts, is no more, and instead it has been replaced by going over in your data.
When you hear the phrase often touted by phone companies, “Unlimited talk, text and data,” you’re kind of assuming the first two, aren’t you? It would be crazy to have to worry about using too many minutes these days, or even getting charged for sending something as innocuous as a text message—considering the fact that we can read the news, stream the latest episode, or play games with our friends all from a cordless brick in the palm of our hands.
So maybe the death of the minute isn’t something new, but it’s certainly got implications far beyond just what we’re paying for—and the development of technology. Thinking in terms of a major city, creating the bandwidth for technology like VoIP New York businesses can really utilize may mean a complete infrastructure overhaul.
Here are the different things that we need to consider when we speak of Internet-based telecommunication:
Wi-Fi: The Best and The Worst
While Wi-Fi is certainly most mobile and computer users’ best friend, it can have it’s downsides when tried to use on a massive scale: essentially, when you have Wi-Fi that’s designed to be used by a small number of people being used by a larger amount, it slows down.
There’s only so much share that can happen before speeds are affected. So how do you increase speeds? You increase the bandwidth, and that will cost you money. The reality is, before you we get too Wi-Fi crazy, we need to understand the limitations of our current wireless systems, and make provisions before ISP capitalize on the needs.
Internet Neutrality
This is a buzzword that’s getting thrown around quite frequently these days, and it’s not something that most people understand. The best example comes from Netflix recent debacle with Comcast, in which Comcast wanted to charge Netflix higher fees because of the large volume of traffic streaming videos from their site.
Essentially, having a neutral or open internet means that every site gets equal access, and that you don’t have to pay for certain data, i.e. there is no difference in charge between users, content, sites, applications, etc.
A totally open Internet is not something that’s a guarantee at the moment, and the fate of a neutral Internet will certainly change the way services like VoIP and video streaming affect the consumer.
While there are still plenty more factors that will affect the way that we interact with the internet in the future, and telecom continues to develop around it, these are some of the most important things that we will continue to front, as the Internet continues to revolutionize the World’s communication. We are excited to see what’s to come.