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September 06, 2004
Voice over IP
You can call me for free on 1 747 668 2317. It won’t cost you anything. It won’t cost me anything. The call doesn’t come to my telephone. It comes to my computer. It’s called ‘voice over IP’ or VoIP. VoIP has been around for a few years, but is only now achieving the critical mass to allow it to take off.
The good news is that soon you won’t have to pay BT (or whoever) for your telephone - though you will have to pay someone for your internet connection. It’s part of the inevitable process in which the internet takes over from traditional media, broadcasting and telecommunications.
Ofcom has just recognized the existence of VoIP and released a consultation document:
www.ofcom.org.uk/consultations/current/newvoice/newvoice_pes/
They have announced that VoIP numbers will have an ‘area code’ of 056, this is important as it will enable calls from ordinary telephones to VoIP. This is not possible at the moment unless the VoIP user buys an 0870 number.
Posted by Simon Holledge at September 6, 2004 03:16 PM