AOL Looks to Reboot With VoIP (comment)

[PhoneBoy]

Please comment on this article here:

[kitonne]

Since most of AOL's installed base is using dialup, and not broadband, as far as I know, I wish them luck.... I am afraid most of their customers will be in for a rough ride, with distorted voice and dropped calls, unless AOL has a brand new "iLBC like" codec, but with lower bandwidth requirements. Pretty much all low bandwidth codecs I know about are VERY sensitive to lost packets (G723, G729, CELP, GSM, LPC10); iLBC was created to remove that sensitivity to lost packets, and is doing a stelar job in working over links which drop packets left and right. Since iLBC targeted a fairly high level of voice quality (same or better then G729), it still needs over 23Kbps. As long as there are dial up customers limited to 22Kbps or lower (upload bandwidth, the 40+Kpbs listed by the modems is download ONLY), iLBC as it stands today will not work for everybody on a dial up connection. I have no hands on experience with speex - I would appreciate some comments from somebody using other less common codecs....

If what they want is to play in the broadband area ONLY, they may have a shot in getting some of their installed base to sign up, but there is not enough level of detail regarding pricing to figure it out what their chances really are, with Vonage advertising eveywhere unlimited service for $24.95, and BroadVoice showing up in most search engines with their $9.95 "unlimited in state" plan.....

[PhoneBoy]

I gotta believe AOL is going to be focusing on broadband users with this offering, though stranger things have happened. Whether or not anyone will care to use AOL-branded VoIP is another matter.

[madsexy]

It wouldn't surprise me if it actually works for AOL. I saw a report on TV that there were thousands of people in the US who signed up for AOL and did not even have a computer. They just get a CD in the mail, call to find out what it is about and AOL gets them to sign up and the poor fools have no idea what they are signing up for... scary...

[mberlant]

Maybe there's some nice music on the 90% of the CD that doesn't contain the installation program.