1. Home
  2. Voice-Over-IP
  3. no more cheap VoIP?

no more cheap VoIP?

Guy sounds like a nutball.

Dvorak says "Anyone who attempts to put a server on a home DSL line soon finds the phone companies pinging it to determine the use, and then disconnecting it or warning the customer."

We've had servers on home DSL lines since the day they were invented. Have Dvorak's disconnects happened yet? In the real world, I see the opposite. See, for example,

formatting link
where SBC is =defending= their customers who run file-sharing servers.

I think port-blocking is an urban myth.

Many ISPs did block port 80 for a while in 2002, because of the "Code Red" virus. They got roasted for it and, as far as I can tell, they stopped. There are =very= few current confirmed reports of port-blocking to be found on the net.

Mostly what I see is just people telling the same stories to each other over and over again, about how "many ISPs" or "most cable companies" are blocking ports. Then other people repeat the story.

As to VoIP specifically --

A web search reveals that one ISP once tried to block Vonage. See

formatting link
The ISP in question was instantaneously shot down by the feds -- fined and ordered never to do it again.

FCC press release at

formatting link

Port-blocking is an urban myth.

VoIP blocking is not something I would lose sleep over.

And Dvorak's a crankball.

yours, Garry

Reply to
Garry W
Loading thread data ...

Dvorak: The Coming Death of Cheap VoIP "VoIP is a great boon for anyone who wants affordable local and long-distance calling, and the future is bright and . . . Wait. We hear some grumbling in the distance. It's columnist John C. Dvorak telling us to wake up to the fact that the big telcos will soon control VoIP, so it will end up costing far more than it does now. Sound crazy? It won't after you read Dvorak's latest column."

formatting link
I hope not! - RM

p.s. the article covers Canada too.

Reply to
Rick Merrill

Looking in the last year and a half of Google/news messages, I'm unable to find anyone who's actually tried port 80 on Verizon and found it blocked in that time. While I did see several reports from people who actually tried it and found it not to be blocked in their neighborhoods.

The only actually-tried-it reports of Verizon blocking that I can find, in a brief search, all date from 2002.

Have you given Verizon/port-80 a try lately? I'd be interested in the result. Maybe I'm shooting my mouth off.

Garry

Reply to
Garry W

Verizon (at in least former Bell Atlantic territory) definitely blocks port

80 on their DSL and has for years. But I agree with your general point that ISPs can't be bothered to micromanage what their customers are up to.

miguel

Reply to
Miguel Cruz

You'll find much more discussion on

formatting link
than in usenet.

They were probably not in Bell Atlantic territory, then.

I can't try directly, because I moved away from DC (where I was a Verizon customer) in mid-2004. But the day I left it was still blocked on my DSL service.

However, the reports at dslreports.com continue. Here's one from a week ago:

formatting link
miguel

Reply to
Miguel Cruz

I like John and I respect his opinions, usually. But let us not forget, this is the same guy that predicted "The Great Internet Collapse" in

2001. He gets it wrong, from time to time. Like this one.

He is clearly laboring under some incorrect assumptions. For example, he states that DSL providers prohibit the installation of servers on the DSL connection. He then notes that this same draconian stance will be applied to VOIP users. In fact, many DSL providers don't care if run servers on your connection, and at least one, Speakeasy, actively promotes this use.

The telcos are whistling in the dark as they watch the legacy PSTN get relegated to insignificance. It may take years, but voice communication is moving to IP networks and the means for operating a packet-switched voice network is within reach of anyone with a DSL connection and a copy of Asterisk. If all of my friends/customers/whatevers can reach me via FWD, or my own IP phone network, what do I need QWest for?

Reply to
John Nelson

Cabling-Design.com Forums website is not affiliated with any of the manufacturers or service providers discussed here. All logos and trade names are the property of their respective owners.