Telephony is finally, and forever free.

So writes Dana Blankenhorn (excerpt):

“News that Skype will go into a new open source FreeSwitch should mark the end of the proprietary era in Voice Over IP, and of telephony in general.

The idea of VOIP was to bypass the old network and move calls to the new network, which had a different business model. By pricing calls as bits, rather than as a defined service, VOIP saved money for people and helped destroy the old phone network business model.

Since then that business model has fallen. I no longer log long distance calls, or worry which side of a call is being charged. I pay a monthly fee for my mobile service, with plenty of “minutes” so that it’s not an issue. So do most people.

When VOIP was new the proprietary nature of Skype made sense. It helped VOIP live in a proprietary, regulated world.

But that world is fast disappearing. Incumbent wireline companies are like newspaper monopolies.”