“The telephone network is obsolete”: Get ready for the all-IP telco (AY&T wants to screw YOU)

[Xithras]

73. You seem to be equating "not everywhere yet" with "not everywhere ever"

The FCC approved a plan a couple of years ago to phase out the Universal Service Fund, which currently subsidizes telephone service to rural areas, and shift its funds into the new Connect America Fund. That funding transition won't be completed until 2018. When it's finished, that fund will be spending $4.5 billion a year to do exactly what you seem to think will "never" happen. It's goal is to make broadband service available to every house in America, no matter how far flung or rural. If it gets a phone signal now, it will get a VoIP signal in a few years. You just need a bit of patience.

A global switch from our century old analog-over-copper voice system to a modern packet-switched system IS a good thing. The fact that AT&T is doing it is irrelevant. By definition, any I.P. network can carry ANY type of I.P. traffic, so customers on a VoIP only network will potentially have the ability to connect to ANY type of communication device, either currently existing or coming in the future. Switched networks can also pipe more users over fewer wires, increasing network reliability.

It's true that there are tradeoffs with every technology change, and the battery thing is certainly one of them with VoIP. For most people, it's a tiny price to pay.