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Re: You're all over thinking this

  • From: Peter Corlett
  • Date: Thu Jul 21 18:56:33 2005
  • Newsgroups: newsgate.nanog
Austin McKinley <[email protected]> wrote:

[Well, OK, so I'm being UK-centric, but the same problems apply.]

> What's the opex of a single residential phone line? How much does it
> cost to have a live copper pair, and how much does it cost to
> connect said copper to the PSTN?

If BT is to be believed, slightly *more* than the retail cost of
GBP10.49 a month. I assume that BT expect to recover some of the loss
through call charges or other services. (Not unreasonable - BT
indirectly get a reasonable wedge from my ADSL supplier even if I
don't pay more than the basic line rental.)

> Could local telcos offer nothing but emergency local dialing? Say,
> 911, hospitals, sheriff's office?

Who would decide which numbers go onto the list. What about the
40p/min 070xx numbers that Patientline provide "free" to hospitals?

(070xx is just a sleazy way of sidestepping premium-rate legislation
of 09xx numbers.)

> Or maybe just local dialing, with a "by the minute" rate to
> discourage use?

Us 10.49 customers pay 3p/min daytime anyway, whether local or to the
other side of the UK :)

> Since most residential customers use their ATA's to mimic a single
> analog line for the whole house anyways, why not add an FXO port to
> the ATA? Set the ATA to fail over to the analog line if it loses
> power. Customers get *real* 911 service, and telcos won't be stuck
> with miles of worthless, buried line.

It's not really worthless, as that's what the broadband comes in on
for pretty much every UK broadband user. (Unlike BT, with NTL and
Telewest you don't *have* to take the voice service, but the price
breaks encourage you to and I suspect it gets installed anyway.)

It seems that the status quo in the UK already gives you pretty much
what you want. I guess that's why, wearing my end-user hat, I've seen
absolutely no effort going on to make 999 work over VoIP.

I think UK users of VoIP still view it as a way of getting dirt cheap
voice minutes by avoiding BT's call rates, rather than as a
replacement phone line. In that vein, would you expect, say, MCI and
all the tinpot long-distance carriers to concern themselves with 911?

-- 
Everyone must believe in something. I believe I'll have another drink. 
								- W.C. Fields