[VoiceOps] SMS gateway API.

[Alex Balashov]

John Todd wrote:

> IP is a far better method for real-time, though SMS does have a higher 
> reliability for more "sketchy" geography or coverage areas, by nature of 
> its store-and-forward abilities.  One must consider the usefulness of a 
> large belch of store-and-forward messages upon coverage restoration, so 
> even this becomes less useful as your edge cases get more grey.

I think it seems like a safe bet that network build-out for data service 
will get more dense and penetrate into more areas as time goes on, which 
will make SMS even less useful and relevant.

I think the incumbents know this, just like they know this about the 
rest of the cornucopia of "legacy" technologies they actively sell and 
market.  It's just that unlike upstart competitive carriers and ITSPs 
betting on "disruptive" technologies, they have both CAPEX and revenue 
streams in things like SMS to protect.  Squeezing every bit of ROI from 
something that's a sunk cost up until the very point of diminishing 
returns is just good business.

A colleague of mine observed the misguided irony of CLECs and ITSPs that 
bash the RBOCs for continuing to push T1s, frame relay, and stuff like 
that.  It's not that these guys are inept and "didn't get the memo" on 
advanced VoIP.  It's just no aspect of their business model or M.O. to 
experiment in emerging markets where the uptake curve is still incipient 
to some degree, except in rather limited ways.  They wait for dozens of 
companies like all of ours to fight it out, figure out which business 
model actually works, wait for the technology and economics to get more 
mature, subscriber density and penetration to increase, and then acquire 
or duplicate what's left standing on a very large scale, much as they 
did with dialup Internet access.  That was supposed to be the "death of 
the telco," right?  And what are your Internet access options now?

Next-generation voice application providers and operators mostly have 
$0/mo coming from a century's worth of copper buildout and other plant 
investment, so of course they're going to be looking forward and selling 
whatever they think the next big thing.  But the RBOCs/ILECs are in a 
very different position;  they've got revenue streams to protect.

-- Alex

-- 
Alex Balashov
Evariste Systems
Web    : http://www.evaristesys.com/
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