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The mainstream media is hyping this up as a real challenge to Telecom and some kind of breakthrough -- but hang on, didn't iHug and a number of other wireless providers offer such a system many months ago?

I guess for those early adopters who are prepared to put up with losing their phone line during heavy rain or who accept the other limitations of the technology, Woosh's service will be attractive - but I doubt that Theressa's shaking in her boots today.

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Woosh's prices are okay -- but still not totally competitive with Teleo or Skype when it comes to international calling - so one has to ask whether it will attract any serious international toll users.

We all know that VOIP is a great money-saver if you make any reasonable level of long-distance calls -- so why hasn't some enterprising entrepreneur already set up shop selling VOIP telephones to users of Telecom's DSL service?

There must be a lot of businesses for example, who'd love to have what amounts to a US-based phone number that links straight back to a phone on their desk or a line into their PBX.

Sure, you can do this with your PC -- but what most people want is a *real* phone that looks and acts just like the one you've got hooked into the PSTN.

So what's stopping people from going ahead and selling such devices here?

I'd wager good money that it's simply massive uncertainty as to whether Telecom will pull the plug on VOIP support over its DSL network. As I've mentioned before, there are no guarantees associated with Telecom's broadband service and the service specifically denies any kind of realtime capabilities. So, while your VOIP phone may work today, there's no guarantee that it'll work tomorrow, if Telecom see it as a threat to their bottom-line.

Of course Woosh has their own network so they're able to avoid this risk -- but there are other risks.

Do they have enough capacity to handle a rapid uptake and high levels of use?

If you're working over copper or fibre then you can increase capacity by simply digging more holes and burying more of the stuff -- or by using smarter technology to expand the bandwidth of what you've got.

Unfortunately things are not so simple with wireless. Extra spectrum is not always available -- and there's a significant ongoing cost associated with the use of such additional frequencies. It would be a shame to see Woosh crash and burn because their network crumbled under the load and there was no way for them to easily upgrade.

Do you currently use Woosh?

Are you planning to use their VOIP service?

Are the risks worth the savings over renting a phone line from Telecom?

Go have your say in The Aardvark Forums

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