Triple Play - The Future of VoIP, Television, and the Internet

With the emergence of broadband connections and the internet, applications for the use for this technology has expanded throughout the years. From simple intranets to the evolution of the internet, from traditional telephones to VoIP, from local video to online video and many more.

Triple play comes in with these applications in mind. According to wikipedia:

In telecommunications, the triple play service is a marketing term for the provisioning of the two broadband services, high-speed Internet access and television, and one narrowband service, telephone, over a single broadband connection. Triple Play focuses on a combined business model rather than solving technical issues or a common standard.

There are of course implications for this type of technology. 1Gbps of bandwidth is huge..and I mean really huge! For businesses, if you have a fiber-optic backbone for your network, you may well run over 1Gbps of data in your network. Internal VoIP calls, video, and data transfer within your network are fast. If you can extend your backbone with such throughput over a larger area, so much the better. Ideally, this would be the kind of setup we would like as consumers. Company players, however, would find it rather difficult to deal with with all the negotiations and implications of the technology. From wikipedia, we read:

There are multiple and intense regulatory battles over triple play
services as incumbent telcos and incumbent cable operators attempt to
keep out new competitors -- since both industries historically have
been regulated monopolies, regulatory capture
has long been as much a core competency for them as have been prices
and terms of service. Cable providers want to compete with telcos for
local voice service, but want to discourage telcos from competing with
them for television service. Incumbent telcos want to deliver
television service but want to block competition for voice service from
cable operators. Both industries cloak their demands for favorable
regulatory treatment in claims that their positions favor the public
interests. In March 2007 cable operators scored a major victory when
the FCC overruled two state public service commissions by ruling that
incumbent local exchange carriers must connect to VoIP services [1].
Regulators in South Carolina and Nebraska had been allowing local
telcos to block Time Warner Cable from offering local phone service in
their states. In the other direction, also in March 2007 the FCC
limited the powers of municipalities and states over telcos that want
to compete with cable TV companies [2];
consumer groups expressed displeasure with this FCC ruling because they
fear telcos will only offer service to the richest neighborhoods (a
major bone of contention between telcos wanting to offer television
service and local governments is that local governments typically
impose "build-out" and community access requirements so a cable
provider is forced to wire the entire town within a specified period of
time). All three Republican members of the FCC voted for this decision,
while both Democratic members voted against it and one predicted either
Congress or the courts would overturn it.

Sad as it is, we as consumers would have to wait for their action regarding the issue.

Going back, the boom of Youtube as an online video platform may imply advancements for the implementation of VoIP video conferences.

For now, we would have to do with what VoIP presently offers, which is no doubt good already. Small and Large Scale businesses alike make use of the technology already. If you are starting up a small or home business, you may want to consider investing in a VoIP system that would work for you.

People in PBXEQ would be able to help you in finding the kind of hardware you need for you business. Simply go to their website and chat with their representatives so you would know the voip hardware you need.