Telepocalypse

When quality isn't job number one

Via David Isenberg I note the following screed from the poisoned pen of The Register’s Andrew Orlowski:

Of course carriers have greater pretensions that that: they want to be TV channels and Wal Mart, too. Anything else to a carrier is what they call a “dumb pipe”. But they’d would be wise to put aside such dreams and focus on QoS and coverage, their best weapons against insurgent VoIP-bearing data networks.

I agree totally with the coverage. It’s why Verizon whipped everyone else’s ass in the US wireless market. “Can you hear me now” was one of the most brilliant marketing campaigns of the decade. While others tried to push fancy data features, Verizon concentrated on the nuts and bolts. The business model archetype of telecom is “distribution”, not “product”. Verizon got it, and had a bigger distribution capability for their services than anyone else.

But QoS? It depends on what you mean. I think a better term would be “Quality of Experience”. QoE has little or nothing to do with giving priority to certain spectral timeslots or packets. It’s the end, not the means. As the network gets faster, statistical aggregation effects make network-based QoS increasingly irrelevant.

The words you use control the thoughts you have.