Comments for COX Digital Telephone VoIP service

COX Digital Telephone VoIP service

2004-10-04T21:19:16Z

Johanne Torres and I were both just commenting on Cox's "VoIP" announcement today. It's called COX Digital Telephone, so both her and I wondered if it's truly VoIP or if it's voice-over-cable - a wholly different voice transport.
It was then that I came across Andy's blog where he too debated whether or not COX is using "true" voice over IP (VoIP) or using coax as the transport medium along with ATM & SONET.

As part of the announcement, Cox took a shot at the broadband telephony firms that transport voice traffic over the public Internet, saying that the method is susceptible to slowdowns. Andy commented on this FUD as well.

They also stated that Cox's VoIP traffic will flow over its private network for better QoS along with another advantage - broadband access is not a prerequisite for VoIP.

No broadband access required? Well broadband access (or dial-up) IS REQUIRED if you are doing anything over Internet Protocol (IP), including VoIP, hence, it seems to me Cox is leveraging how hot the term "VoIP" is these days when they made this annoucement. Thus, it seems to me this is digital telephone service and not true VoIP, which might explain the higher price-tag on Cox's offering vs. true VoIP plays from AT&T, Verizon, Vonage, Packet8, etc.

Comment from skibare on 2004-10-04

2004-10-05T02:24:17Z

I am betting COX is using VOIP in Roanoke and Tulsa and regular boring cheap Cable Telephony the rest of their routes............so, they can SAY that ''Broadband is NOT required''' and still get a way with the FUD about the Dirty Public Internet vs their '''Quality of Service'' (on their VOIP Level3 Network)

Skibare

Comment from Venki Iyer on 2004-10-05

2004-10-05T13:42:23Z

It is possible for VoIP to not require a broadband subscription within the cable world - the PacketCable standard relies on SIP, and most packetcable certified devices (called eMTAs) basically include the cable modem.

Comment from Randell Jesup on 2004-10-11

2004-10-11T20:49:16Z

It can be VoIP without being voice over public internet. I.e. voice over IP on a private IP network that terminates in their softswitches and voice gateways, which they certainly could do if they want.

Or, as you implied, it could be "classic" cable circuit-switched digitized telephony.

Comment from Alison Simes on 2004-10-18

2004-10-18T22:33:54Z

Does the end user customer have to install any special equipment if they get Cable VoIP telephony? In other words how is the customer experience affected or how does it change when they switch to cable VoIP telephony?

I know you have a different customer experience when going with Vonage but I'm interested in the differences between a "traditional" VoIP provider like Vonage and a Cable VoIP Provider.

Comment from Philip Graves on 2004-10-28

2004-10-28T19:46:34Z

When the cable companies say no broadband connection is required they mean that you don't have to buy their broadband service offering to get this service. So you don't have to spend $39.99 a month for broadband plus $29.95 a month (or whatever) for Voice Service.

Generally, the cable companies use VoIP from the customers house back to a central point and then interconnect with the PSTN. The cable companies have complete control of the bandwidth and service priority on their networks, so the quality should be much higher than other services that rely on the public internet.

Comment from Clark on 2004-11-24

2004-11-25T04:16:27Z

It appears each of you commenting on Cox VoIP should visit http://www.packetcable.com and read the specifications.

Comment from Dustin on 2007-12-15

2007-12-16T01:47:12Z

I do not believe cox is using VOIP, and here is why. Recent Ice storms have gone accross Oklahoma and we lost everything for a few days now, I am using my internet to post this message, the phone is supposed to come through the same box, but my phone is still down! There is a line down in my back yard that has three wires that I believe are the sorce of just voice over cable, and so I now know that the line cannot be going through the IP because internet is working fine.