[152590] in North American Network Operators' Group
The Compexity Factor (was VoIP v POTS)
daemon@ATHENA.MIT.EDU (Jay Ashworth)
Thu May 3 11:24:57 2012
Date: Thu, 3 May 2012 11:24:07 -0400 (EDT)
From: Jay Ashworth <jra@baylink.com>
To: NANOG <nanog@nanog.org>
In-Reply-To: <51C66083768C2949A7EB14910C78B017018ECCFC@embgsr24.pateam.com>
Errors-To: nanog-bounces+nanog.discuss=bloom-picayune.mit.edu@nanog.org
----- Original Message -----
> From: "Ralph Brandt" <ralph.brandt@pateam.com>
> Yes, those things happen. But there are several such failure points in
> the POTS system and hundreds in VOIP. I support VOIP, ISDN etc. But I
> know all too well the failure points...
And here, Ralph puts his finger on what has always been my number one
concern about the Internet, as cool as it is:
The likelihood of a system's failure (and indeed, it's lack of complete
use) is proportional to -- not solely, but prominentl -- its systemic
complexity.
There really isn't much that can fail in a current day copper POTS install,
or more to the point: much that *does* fail. There are probably an order
of magnitude or two more places that a VoIP residential phone line can stop working.
Sure, you get more capability, but does that outweigh the reliability
you lose?
My answer is Not Always.
Alas, I don't make those decisions.
The same process has affected other disciplines; most notably (for me)
photography: tried to buy a roll of 35mm ultraviolet film lately? Locally?
Cheers,
-- jra
--
Jay R. Ashworth Baylink jra@baylink.com
Designer The Things I Think RFC 2100
Ashworth & Associates http://baylink.pitas.com 2000 Land Rover DII
St Petersburg FL USA http://photo.imageinc.us +1 727 647 1274
