Wake up! Don’t confuse technology with service implementation
Having just read some comments about the “reliability of VoIP” I am reminded of a problem that I see on a daily basis when users confuse the difference between technology and an implementation of a particular service. These are obviously interrelated but many people do not grasp the true difference leading otherwise good technology to be given a bad name because of a poor service.
Voice-over-IP (VoIP) has been marketed in many ways but the most common association I would expect an average Internet user to link it with is “cheap phone calls” as it cuts out the traditional telecommunications operator from part or all of the phone call, thus reducing the cost primarily to that of the Internet connection itself. VoIP technology is used by many companies that use calling cards, etc. and sometimes (I would not go as far as saying often as I am not sure how well it can be quantified) quality of the phone call can be quite poor as VoIP providers reduce the bandwidth available (or compress using an inferior codec) to the user in order to fit more calls within a pipe. This, bundled with other service problems often results in users blaming VoIP as a technology for not being ready or mature, rather than considering the implementation of the particular service.
The same label currently applies to “Virtual Private Servers” (VPSs) in many cases as they are considered ‘cheap alternatives to dedicated servers’ whereas a VPS based service can in fact be superior by allowing easier failover/migration options in the event of problems or scalability issues and better redundancy in many cases.
Fundementally it comes back to the same problem that affects today’s society–It’s all about price. This factor drives decision making so much that technologies are often associated to prices alone. There is a gross misunderstanding that the level of service provided by two companies with varying prices must be the same, and therefore the cheaper option must be better by definition. It is often not considered that differences in price are quite possibly related to service quality, redundancy, expansion capacity, etc.
Consumers – Wake up!
Consumers are often treated with kid gloves and there is a perception they need strong protection in terms of industry regulation to ensure no ‘cowboys’ can enter a market. This is a frequent suggestion by individuals who find themselves at the mercy of a company that has gone out of business, etc. These types of regulation are a huge burden on smaller businesses and may well prohibit new innovative entrants from engaging in the market as the cost of entry is higher.
It is important to accept consumers require extra protection than that afforded to businesses for the simple reason contract values are smaller and let’s face it, we can’t “negotiate” a contract with the bus company on common terms when we board one during rush hour. However, this needs common sense to be applied and consumers should share the responsibility by not choosing suppliers, no matter which industry it is in, by price alone and not labelling an entire technology based on experiences from one provider, usually a low cost one.