ENUMed
I registered my PSTN (my new voip landline number) with an ENUM directory tonight (e164.org). How does this affect any of you? Well, if you try to call me via a VoIP provider that supports ENUM lookups (e.g. VoXaLot), then your calls to me will be free and quality/latency will be the utmost since it will be a true point-to-point call via the Internet.
Not all VSPs (Voice Service Providers) offer this, but I’m sure they will in the future, just to have better quality and lower prices for the company AND the user. Not all will though, I’m looking at you Vonage and Comcast Digital Voice, close-minded VoIP providers.
To better explain ENUM lookup, think of it as a phone call placed within the same network. For instance, if you and your buddy are both using the same VoIP client (e.g. Google Talk, Yahoo! Voice, or Vonage), then you can talk with them for free since the data travels directly to the other person on the same network. Now if you want to make a call from Yahoo! Voice to Vonage, well that’s going to cost $$. Why? Because the data has to travel through old fashioned means, the plain old telephone service (POTS).
With ENUM, Yahoo! could just look up the phone number in a directory, find the information it needs (where to send the call, to whom, etc), then connect the call via the Internet, which is cheaper than going over the POTS system. Of course that example had some technical flaws (Yahoo! doesn’t use UDP for its SIP and Vonage blocks non-Vonage access to its servers because they’re greedy), but in theory it works.
I just realized that I should have used cell phones as an example, mobile-to-mobile within cell companies, same network.
There are many other alternatives to using Comcast Digital Voice or Vonage or any other proprietary VSP and almost all the others allow true access to their servers, as true VoIP access should be, but companies like to restrict its customers to get that extra penny (e.g. Microsoft, RIAA, Sony…and many many others).
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