Sponsor's Message

Well they're great!

It took a total of about two weeks from the time I ordered them until they turned up in my mailbox, snuggly and safely wrapped in a little cotton drawstring bag and a padded hard-case.

Although I opted for the budget versions (just US$39 plus US$7 priority airmail postage), they are a very nicely made set of eyeware. The frames are strong and fashionable, the lenses certainly seem to be exactly as per prescription and despite the fact I didn't order an anti-reflective coating I haven't noticed any difference between this new pair and my old far more expensive ones.

Could I recommend 39dollarGlasses.com to others?

Most certainly. Don't get caught out paying 5-10 times as much by purchasing locally when there are much more cost-effective options available through the Net.

Now have your say Got something to say about today's column, or want to see what others think?  Visit The Forums While you're here, why not visit the Aardvark Hall of Shame and perhaps make your own nomination.

Bye Bye VOIP?
I see that Telecom are denying any suggestion they might deliberately implement TCP packet-scheduling techniques that screw up VOIP calls.

Of course they effectively admit that what they're doing may have the side-effect of screwing up VOIP - but that's not why they'd do it - of course.

The reality is that VOIP has the potential to knock many telcos' revenues right down the gurgler by slicing into their toll revenues and it's only natural that they're going to take whatever measures they have to in order to fend off such a threat.

As I've mentioned before, Telecom has always made it clear that its DSL service is not suited to "realtime" applications and I have no doubt that we'll see latency going through the roof if/when VOIP really does become a threat to its revenues.

Whether these latency increases are a deliberate tactic or just an unfortunate side-effect of running the DSL network more efficiently is something that the Commerce Commission will likely be called on to decide.

Given the huge amount of latitude that the CC tends to give Telecom, I suspect we'll end up having to ditch our Skype and Teleo accounts once this comes to pass.

Of course you can't blame Telecom (or any telco) for doing this -- they have an obligation to their shareholders to return the maximum profits and if that means muscling out competition from VOIP providers then so be it.

Of course that doesn't mean we have to like it.

Another option which I suspect is not beyond the realms of possibility, is that Telecom may come out with a DSL-express service which offers much lower latency, thus allowing VOIP. This "premium" service would be priced in such a way that they recoup much or all of the revenue that would otherwise be lost from their toll-call base. By doing this they could claim to the CC that they *do* provide support for VOIP, it's just that it costs more to offer a service of that quality.

And the CC will swallow this, hook, line and sinker.

So, enjoy your ultra-low-cost VOIP international calls while you can, I strongly suspect that their days are numbered.

Aardvark Forums
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