Telecom Trends

Has anyone else noticed that phone calls just don't seem to be as good as they were 10-15 years ago?

I had a number of radio interviews in the wake of the recent tragic breakdown in communications that may have contributed to the death of a Calgary toddler. Many of the discussions surrounded the potential for compromise in 9-1-1 location information associated with nomadic VoIP.

With over-the-top VoIP, the phone line just cannot be as reliable as a traditional circuit switched phone service. It needs power and it needs the residential broadband service to be working and relatively clear of heavy congestion. For an emergency call to be routed properly, the user needs to actively keep their user profile up-to-date. Still, these compromises are made in exchange for a lower price tag and a number of valuable call management features.

We put up with dropped calls in exchange for mobility; we're willing to redial in exchange for overseas calling rates that look like domestic pricing. In general, I sense that we seem to tolerate a number of quality compromises these days on voice service in exchange for lower prices and other features.

It is unusual to see quality diminishing with the application of new technologies. Those pin-drop crystal clear advertisements seem to be a distant memory.