The Internet is a medium for any kind of data at potentially unlimited speed. I hope that companies which seek to make money by charging clients to have telephonic conversations will not exist in the near future. Unless and until the antiquated voice only telephone system is absorbed or canabalised by ISPs and the Voice over IP network has acheived critical mass, we still have to live in both the insular sphere of VoIP and the primitive analogue voice-only network and its 10 digit numbers. Unfortunately, the regulatory powers governments have over the old telephone networks, which have not been usurped over the Internet, have created incentives for politicians and soon to be obsolete bureaucrats to delay the transition process as much as possible contrary to the role of a socially progressive government. What else is new?
Well, today Skype has taken the lead in VoIP by offering a free outgoing calls from their VoIP network to the antiquated telephone network within the US and Canada, originating from IPs in the US and Canada. Of course, if you can arrange a proxy you can call from anywhere, free to the US.
Skype actually sent me an email about thier new offer this morning which I instinctively ignored as spam until a friend of mine pointed out its real advantages. I therefore post this sort of advertisement for their new service to help create awareness and perhaps generate momentum for the VoIP movement.
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