Path: csiph.com!weretis.net!feeder8.news.weretis.net!reader5.news.weretis.net!news.solani.org!.POSTED!not-for-mail From: Richmond Newsgroups: uk.telecom Subject: Re: Virgin Media's Digital Voice system Date: Thu, 12 Feb 2026 17:51:23 +0000 Organization: Frantic Message-ID: <82ikc1vois.fsf@example.com> References: <82v7g2uk0q.fsf@example.com> <82ms1eugqr.fsf@example.com> <10ml102$1kgul$1@dont-email.me> MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain Injection-Info: solani.org; logging-data="81417"; mail-complaints-to="abuse@news.solani.org" User-Agent: Gnus/5.13 (Gnus v5.13) Cancel-Lock: sha1:da8H/NzvdW9Iz/TOjx9De1+GlGs= sha1:CHJp3OPmcysRWOS8PAE173N778s= X-User-ID: eJwNycEBwCAMAsCVNAVsxklQ9x+hve/x0ZQXRIGX15sZPtoZqaDf7tOFCQRHllgYwGrHP3Z9H1ERVw== Xref: csiph.com uk.telecom:38897 David Woolley writes: > On 12/02/2026 15:24, Richmond wrote: >> The problem of configuration could be solved by providing >> preconfigured equipment which has been tested. > > And to ensure that it remained as tested, you would keep the > credential secret and not allow the user access. Oops! I think that > is exactly how consumer "Digital Voice" is implemented! You can allow someone to see something without allowing them to change it. And all they really need to see is their SIP URI. >> As I understand it, if you know a SIP address, >> e.g.666666@voipfine.co.uk, then you can phone it directly using your > > This looks to be a VoIP provider type address; if you were really > going direct, the address would have personal domain name, so you'd be > contacting something like sips:lounge@the-house-of-john-smith.example I don't know what difference this makes. If you want to have your own SIP service by registering your own domain, yes, but either way it is like an email address. 666666@voipfone.co.uk is a unique user, SIP URI, (Fine was a freudian slip, I meant fone). > >> own SIP account. How is this different from connecting to Wikipedia, >> or > > I think you mean without using any SIP account! I don't really. I mean a SIP URI. The address is part of the protocol as it is with email. You can still set up your own email server if you want to. You just have to know much more than you used to. > > The reasons are very similar to reasons why nearly every one sends > email via their ISP's outbound relay, and receives it by IMAP. The > system that Demon used, originally, was to make their customers full > status mail nodes, with SMTP both ways, but that wouldn't work well > these days as many destination would refuse to accept the incoming > traffic, to avoid abuse. (I think there is no even a trend to doing > email via web servers, even for outbound). You now have to provide DMARC information in the headers yes, but that doesn't mean you have to use a third party email provider. It is more convenient as you don't need to configure it. > > The Demon way of handling email was also helped because they gave > people public IP addresses, and personal domain names. You would need > personal domain names to do direct VoIP, and public addresses would > help, although dynamic DNS would be a work round (but someone has to > pay for that). You can use direct VOIP on a VOIP provider's domain. I am not sure why this means you have to pay by the minute. A&A allows direct VOIP calls (if you configure it). > > An added reason is that VoIP always had to interwork with the > traditional phone system and you needed someone to operate that > interface. That system will be gone by January 31, and many calls must already be between VOIP systems. > >> downloading a file? Why does it have to be a special case internet >> service with special case charges? > > Telephones were an area in which it was traditional to pay time based > charges. That's not a reason for continuing to do it. > > In any case, you will pay for the infrastructure one way or another. > > I think that the internet ended up mainly fixed fee because it too > expensive to bill on real usage. I can make a video call free but I have to pay for an audio call. If I am using Google Meet they make some money out of me, but does that account for the difference? audio is less data. I can use an Amazon device to make free calls, even to landlines. I had to pay for the device, and they will try to sell me subscriptions for music, video, etc.