[asterisk-biz] Does VoIP Really Work for Serious Business?

[Wilson Pickett]

> We have been installing Asterisk for customers for about a year now, and we
> are beginning to wonder if parts of VoIP are really ready for serious
> business.

Aside from carrier network problems, the real question in my mind is,
do you want to compare voIP with cellphone quality or twisted pair
copper telco quality. Everywhere in the world I know of, cellphone
quality/coverage is often spotty and often just plain sucks. On the
other hand, and this'll reveal my advanced age, it's been at least 20
years since I've had any issues like echo on transatlantic calls via
local telco. In decades of use of wired telco service, I've probably
had the phone go out of service three times (storms, etc). I have had
calls cut off less than once per year. There never has been quality or
echo issues on any of my analog or ISDN lines, in Europe or the USA.
The last recurring phone problem I had (noise on the line, "poor
connection") was in California in something like 1972! The last
(recurring) problem I've experienced with France Télécom goes back at
least 10 years.

So in a word, I'd love to see voIP approach the near 100% reliability
and uptime of the best POTS, but I'll bet it'll be a while. It can
certainly be used well in inter-office communication with backup.