Google Voice shows promise
Today marks a milestone in communications for the masses as Google Voice enables outbound calling for zero cost. This means any calls placed from a GV account to the continental U.S. are free. Calls to international locations are for-fee but are low cost (when compared to how we transport international calls using regulated carriers) and offer a click to pay scheme. If you have additional details on the international calling payment scheme, please chime in here.
Here's are some reasons why this is a huge milestone:
1) GV uses available networks to transport communications sessions. Currently we pay exorbitant monthly charges for dedicated circuits to the Public Telephone Network (PTN) for outbound and inbound voice paths used for phone calls. (For 9-1-1 we would maintain a group of dedicated circuits to identify the local origination of call for emergency services.)
2) Integrated directory information is immediately available when I place a GV call. GV looks in my address book for matches and displays choices. It might be worth a chat with GV to determine if we could link a central database of names and numbers as well as local look up. The result could be a streamlined method to contact any CIC University as well as any PSU student, faculty or staff person currently contained in the LDAP entries.
3) There's promise with this new change and we might be able to leverage it to save infrastructure dollars in the near term. How? It's not as easy as it could be, since GV does not support Session Initiation Protocol (SIP). If it were possible to use SIP we could easily point all of our outbound calling to GV. I guess they know the inevitable outcome if SIP was supported and have chosen to develop a business case at some point to enable direct connection with an associated cost. If you know more about this possibility, then please fill us in on the future steps.
4) It's one more brick off of the wall. Phone numbers were once user identifiers. Certainly they will remain as business and departmental portals when voice communications are in play. But there are some distinct advantages in identifying a person rather than a department in most every case except a quest for general information. If you think I'm wrong, then call one of the larger retailers. They auto-answer your call and subject you to a set of choices. Why? Because you want something and they have a person who can help. When they find out what it is you want, then the person who is most skilled in the thing you want will answer.
5) It's free, it's cool and Google is doing the right thing here.
Here's are some reasons why this is a huge milestone:
1) GV uses available networks to transport communications sessions. Currently we pay exorbitant monthly charges for dedicated circuits to the Public Telephone Network (PTN) for outbound and inbound voice paths used for phone calls. (For 9-1-1 we would maintain a group of dedicated circuits to identify the local origination of call for emergency services.)
2) Integrated directory information is immediately available when I place a GV call. GV looks in my address book for matches and displays choices. It might be worth a chat with GV to determine if we could link a central database of names and numbers as well as local look up. The result could be a streamlined method to contact any CIC University as well as any PSU student, faculty or staff person currently contained in the LDAP entries.
3) There's promise with this new change and we might be able to leverage it to save infrastructure dollars in the near term. How? It's not as easy as it could be, since GV does not support Session Initiation Protocol (SIP). If it were possible to use SIP we could easily point all of our outbound calling to GV. I guess they know the inevitable outcome if SIP was supported and have chosen to develop a business case at some point to enable direct connection with an associated cost. If you know more about this possibility, then please fill us in on the future steps.
4) It's one more brick off of the wall. Phone numbers were once user identifiers. Certainly they will remain as business and departmental portals when voice communications are in play. But there are some distinct advantages in identifying a person rather than a department in most every case except a quest for general information. If you think I'm wrong, then call one of the larger retailers. They auto-answer your call and subject you to a set of choices. Why? Because you want something and they have a person who can help. When they find out what it is you want, then the person who is most skilled in the thing you want will answer.
5) It's free, it's cool and Google is doing the right thing here.
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