atcomsystems.ca/forum Forums General General Telephone & Systems Information Is VoIP an attempt to steal phone tech work?

OK, Steve, I'll accept your statement that cell phones might be better that standing in the rain at a payphone with no change. Only the phone won't work in the vehicle, unless you turn the vehicle around. And roll the window down enough to stick the antenna out, unless of course you've got the latest and greatest with a stub that is the antenna. Then you're right back out in the rain! I do admit that cell phones can be mighty handy in an emergency. Unfortunately, the route my wife drives to work only has 2 places in a 5 mile twisting, but flat route. (Man that was redundant) John C.

This is really drifting, let's keep it.

Sorry, I got us off topic and never really answered the question.

No, I don't think that VoIP is an attempt to steal phone tech work. I am a CG with a fair amount of experience with telecom as well. VoIP is gaining ground because it is technically possible, it has acceptable voice quality to most people (that's where I was going with my cell comment) and it can save money in some cases.

Many companies now place telecom staff in the IT department. The company that I work for is just one example, but there isn't another IT/CG at any site in North America that knows more than an average consumer about phone lines, let alone phone systems, paging equipment, and other telecom peripherals.

On the other hand, we have lots of IT/CG types that know about networks. They make up the bulk of the department outnumbering the telecom staff 10 to 1. The head of the department started off as a CG. When they look for solutions they look at what is familiar. You have probably heard the old expression: If the only tool you have is a hammer then all of your problems start to look like nails.

There is no conspiracy here, just a reaction to circumstances that guides people in that direction.

If there is no conspiracy then how do you explain Many companies now place telecom staff in the IT department?

-Hal

If you want my guess, it's because the producers of these "VOIP" systems have purchased major prepaid charge accounts at most golf courses where corporate CEOs tend to frequent. It's all a palm greasing thing.

Do you really think that the CEO of, oh let's just pick one: Schlotsky Industries really understands what he agreed to buy on the golf course? Of course not! He just heard "savings" and in a typical knee-jerk reaction, opened up the checkbook.

Lest we forget the "keeping up with the Jones" issue.

We can continue to fool ourselves into believing that this stuff really works and saves money, but come on........

VOIP has it's place and works fairly well in certain instances, but once again, it is not ready for prime-time. This is the third generation. How many strikes does one get in a baseball game?

When it works flawlessly, across the board with the industry-standard 99.999% uptime requirement for telephone service, I will welcome the technology with open arms and sell it to anyone needing a phone.

I think that the average corporate office worker spends more time each work day on their computer workstation than talking on the telephone. Workstations, servers, and the networks that connect everything together are far more complex than the telecom equipment in the same office environment. These complex IT systems require support staff for end-users and the infrastructure that operates behind the scenes to allow modern office workers to do what they do. Since there are so many IT people compared to the number of telecom people and since most companies now seem to operate on the premise that anything with a power cord, display and input device should fall under IT then telecom groups end up in the IT department.

Many companies have a Chief Information Officer (CIO) or a Chief Technology Officer (CTO). You'll notice that there is Information & Technology in those titles, but no mention of telecom. Companies adopt VoIP (and focus on IT) not because of a conspiracy, but because the bulk of the support staff is more comfortable with VoIP (and IT work in general) than with a phone switch.

General purpose computers, even with all of the support issues, save companies money. Every square foot of office space costs money. Every piece of office furniture costs money. General purpose computers are far more compact than the sum of all of the devices they replace.

With the right software and a headset you can even use your computer in place of a telephone. Marginally acceptable now, the day will probably come that softphones will be the rule on the average corporate desktop. If you think that telephone desk sets will never go away, talk to the people who sold typewriters, adding machines, small typesetters, and stand-alone word processors.

I'm not trying to be incendiary and my comments all pertain to companies with, say, 500 employees or more. I think that smaller businesses would be crazy to rely on their data network for voice traffic without a full-time IT person. I certainly won't be replacing my Partner ACS with a VoIP system at home any time in the near future.

Companies adopt VoIP (and focus on IT) not because of a conspiracy, but because the bulk of the support staff is more comfortable with VoIP (and IT work in general) than with a phone switch.

That's exactly what we have been saying all along. Don't hire one person or retain a service company in the oft chance your old reliable (and paid for) TDM system requires attention. Scrap the whole thing for a problematic and expensive to implement VIOP solution just because your overpaid and overrated IT staff is too stupid to understand something that doesn't have a Microsoft operating system and a keyboard and monitor.

The conspiracy is in that the IT industry is much better organized and financed (read Microsoft, Cisco etc. etc.) than the telco industry. What other industry has the resources to reinvent the wheel just so their population has job security? How many geek publications are there? I would suggest hundreds, all trumpeting VIOP and many delivered weekly to corporate executive officers desks and numb nuts CIO and CTO types.

What telecom publication have you read lately? Sad to say you are reading it now...

-Hal

The company that I work for has increased the number of Telecommunications employees at the same ratio as IT employees after converting to VoIP. We have the same service contracts with the same vendors and we use the same cable installers.

Going to VoIP does have some tangible benefits for the company, though. Some of our sites don't have any technical support staff on site. Moving phones at those sites is now a breeze: every single jack in the office (except analog ports labeled as such) is connected to a power over ethernet data switch. When people want to move around, they can move their phone and notebook PC easily. Plug in anything anywhere and it works. Our Telecommunications staff used to talk non-technical staff through moving patch cables over the phone. Now our Telecommunications people spend time on more interesting things.

I was on a trip to New Zealand a couple of years ago. I took my cell phone and a good quality USB headset to use with a softphone package installed on my notebook. I could use the softphone for free (cell rate was expen$ive) with the same voice quality as the cell. People could even call me at my extension when I was sitting in an office or hotel room in New Zealand.

Anyway, my company may not be typical but we aren't changing our Telecommunications hiring practices as a result of VoIP.

LightningHorse sed:
It's just that "you can't teach an old dog new tricks", esp if they won't pay attention (Translation, close to retirement, whether they can afford it or not). So VOIP will sucessfully, reliably deploy, and us old dogs will be around to keep the leftovers running until they're no longer viable.

I have been paying close attention to telecommunications for a long time. In the middle 80's, when cellular was supposed to revolutionize telecom. It did, we are now all rudely having conversations that are insignificant while waiting to pay for a coke and bag of chips at the local 7-11. Cellphones have become a nusiance at best (by the folks that are NOT using them for anything important.)

By the way, on the back of my truck, a sweet sticker...Hang Up and DRIVE

VoIP may be a good thing, and may also be the way telecom is going to go, BUT, until there are many improvements to the quality and reliability of the transport medium, and until they standardize how programmers program, and until they decide will it be switching method A or B that is the adopted standard, I will stick with key systems and PBX switches.

$0.02

Frank, let's start a Conga line, I'm following you! John C. (Not Garand)