Is Internet Telephony Reliable?
In spite of my enthusiasm for VoIP, I realize that it will take some time for it to become pervasive. Not decades — but not in the next twelve months either. I was experiencing some sluggish network performance on the home LAN today and decided to re-boot the router. This is something I don’t do […]
Long Distance – 2
There is a lot of feedback from readers about the last few stories where I discussed “long distance”. Some are saying, “yeah verily”, others are saying “not so fast”. This is understandable given that we are beginning to go through a very disruptive period with regard to telephony. We are 5% of the way into […]
Long Distance
What is "long distance"? I would define a long distance as something that takes a long time to cover; e.g. flying to Singapore requires going a long distance. It takes more than 24 hours to get there. When it comes to telecommunications, however, the term "long distance" has little meaning. Packets of ones and zeroes […]
View From The 49th Floor
The 6:25 AM train ride to Grand Central Station was uneventful, although I have to admit that it was hard not to think about the possibilities on this September 11. A short walk lead to the security desk at JP Morgan Chase on Park Avenue. Then a bag check (no temperature was taken as in Singapore) and up to the 49th floor […]
Calling Joi
My friend and colleague Joichi Ito and I had been chatting sporadically over a several week period via instant messaging. One day we decided we should talk via voice and I gave him a call that evening around 9 PM. The monthly invoice from SNET/SBC just arrived. The call to Joi was 27 minutes and […]
