Why isn't Voice-Over-IP free?

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ninethreeeleven

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I know Vonage and other compaines (Time Warner for instance) are charging monthly fees for this but why isn't it free?
What is holding this back from being free? Does there need to be servers set up somewhere to route the calls? Does there need to be an agreement with the phone companies to take the calls?

What will it take to make this just a one time software purchase rather than a pay-to-play service?
 
you're calling land lines, so that's part of the fee. The old phone company model has a 3-part fee -- starting, ending, and carrying the call. VoIP can't skip them all.

Additionally, the company itself has to stay in business somehow

Finally, I'm not sure how bandwidth costs fall out (though I don't think Vonage has to purchase any for call purposes).
 
considering voice over ip is comparable in price to land lines, and is less reliable...i fail to see the point. i guess if you travel alot and dont have a cell phone
 
Because people like to have new technology...Plus the ability to call china, overseas at less than landline prices....Come on China 3cents a minute...etc...
 
The reason I ask is that many of my firends live in apartments, and dont have land lines, just cell phones. In 2 of their apartments, they have to leave all thier phones on the window sill just so it will ring. They then have to stand by the window or go outside to answer the calls, because there is no reception in thier house. (they have Nextel (2), Verizon, and Cingular, its the house, not the coverage.

I think that if they had to make an important call or wanted to make an extended call out side of the 4 degree weather it would be nice to do it over the computer.
Is there a connection fee to a cell phone? or can V-O-IP not do that?
 
VoIP can certainly make a call to a cell. It's just a different way to connect to the same phone network.

As for charges, the cell will still have to deal with an incoming call (depending on how that plan counts incoming minutes). Vonage will also have to deal with (potentially) en-route fees, as I'm not sure where VoIP stops and the PSTN picks up.
 
Steel Chicken said:
considering voice over ip is comparable in price to land lines, and is less reliable...i fail to see the point. i guess if you travel alot and dont have a cell phone
Click to expand...

I pay $16 per month, including taxes, for 500 anytime minutes on Vonage. That's way more than I forsee needing (I don't call that often, or get called), and even if I moved to their unlimited plan it'd be $25 per month, plus taxes.

I don't know of a phone service that can get close to that in cost.

Now, I'll grant your argument about reliability. A few times, my girlfriend has asked to repeat what I've said, but I mainly chalk that up to me being quiet on the phone. And if a computer on the network is downloading something major (say a Linux ISO), then that'll choke up the call quality--but a router with good QoS features ought to make that invalid.

I think the main reason, for me, is that I didn't want to have a cell as my only line of communication (I use Virgin Mobile pay-as-you-go, and only use it when I really need to), and I wanted to avoid the problems mentioned by ninethreeeleven. Plus, when you live in an apartment with three other people, it helps to have your own phone line, and trying to deal with the phone company to get things wired up correctly--and drop in jacks, too--isn't something I'd want to do.

Also, I was able to pick the exchange (that is, geographical area) of the phone number assigned to my service. I picked one 25 miles away from me, in my girlfriend's city, since she's the main person I'll be calling. That way, no toll charges for her, and I'm good since a minute is a minute for me, no matter where. And not to mention that I can take my adapter with me on the road and plug it in to the network, plug in any old phone, and talk like I was back at home. That can save a lot of money if, for example, you're in a hotel where your cell phone works like crap (as happened to me in Vegas).

And yes, there is a certain "coolness" factor. ;)
 
I charge my account with voicepulse with 10 bucks. I can pay for a phone line ( 8 bucks a month. Unlimited incoming calls ), and I pay 3 cents a minute local/long distance. I can recharge my account at any time. But here's the best part: I can have the calls terminate via a IAX/2 connection to my asterisk server, so I can do what I want with the call.

So far the service has been excellent ( I have a polycom IP500 on an asterisk system ). No dropped calls, amazing quality ( better than the POTS system ), and I get all the versatility of VoIP. If they had 209 numbers, they'd have me as a customer for life.

You'll note that I don't really touch on the OP's subject as it's already been answered. I figured this was a prime spot to pass along some good info.
 
You might as well use skype as it is free. Granted the person you are talking to has to have a computer with skype on it as well. You have to get Skype Out if you want the ability to talk to phones and that costs money.
 
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