[I went together on a business trip with Jacob Bridger, a colleague of mine. In one of our many discussions he raised his experience with the IP-PBX he has installed at home. I asked him if he can write it up for this blog and its readers.]
Many of us see VoIP as a cheap alternative to the PSTN. Services like Skype, Vonage and others use VoIP to allow us to call PSTN numbers at the last mile using a lower cost than an end to end circuit switched play. But beyond cost savings, I see VoIP as a way of bringing people together. I live in Israel. My sister lives in Seattle - about half a planet away from me.
Since I’m a technical savvy person (a.k.a “geek”), I’m the first person on my block in Israel to have a full blown IP-PBX in my home that seamlessly integrates between analog, PSTN, and VoIP services. My PBX is hooked up both to the POTS service provider and to the Internet over a standard DSL connection. My sister who is a non-technical person has the lowest bandwidth Verizon DSL connection available in her Seattle neighborhood.
Now, I could have used VoIP to enjoy low cost calling to her by signing up with a VoIP call termination service provider who would then complete the call by bridging to the PSTN in Seattle after crossing the planet over the public internet. But, I wanted to give her the feeling of really being a part of my family in Israel. So, on my last trip out there, I surprised her with a low-cost ATA. I installed it as a router between her DSL modem and her computer. After a few small configurations, Voila’, my sister is now recognized as extension number 620 on my family network. She knows that during the 8PM news in Israel, she can just dial extension 401 and the phone rings in my living room. Later at night, she’ll dial extension 415 when I’m upstairs. She’s become part of my core family - which is exactly what we wanted.
No more remembering 10 digit numbers, no pin-codes, no payments to service providers. Just pure IP telephony over the public internet. And the quality is flawless - not a single snap, crackle or pop across the 7,000 mile public internet highway.
Now, I could have just kept calling her at a couple of cents a minute using cheap VoIP termination services. And that probably would have been less expensive considering the up front purchase price of the ATA (around $40). But, I preferred to bring her the ATA as a gift to show how important she is to my family and how much we want her to be more connected with our day to day in Israel. And that’s something that you don’t really get from cheap PSTN termination, is it?
My wife will be visiting her family in San Diego next week and will be hooking up an ATA at my mother-in-law’s house. We’ll see how that works out! Right now, I’m thinking of giving her extension number “666″.
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