The Great Dinosaur
In the digital world, where people use the Internet as their main source of communication, public switched telephone networks (PTSNs) have long been forgotten in favor of the speed and versatility of fiber-optic lines. However, a long time ago, the Internet ran on the same 4-pin RJ11 cables that people used to connect their land lines. The question on all of our minds is “Why did the Internet allow us back then to go to sites in locations vastly remote to ours at no extra cost, yet we were stuck having to pay up to 25 cents per minute to call family members abroad?” The answer is very complex, but a lot of it had to do with the way in which both systems worked in that era. When the world was using ADSL, they were using a previously-untapped part of the frequency spectrum available in the RJ11 cables that connected phone networks. Since phones were using a lower frequency range there was no interference. This was also a major selling point of DSL services (i.e. you didn’t have to disconnect your phone line in order to use the internet). The importance of this is that telephone network operators needed to lower demand for their services in order to maintain a stable international network which led to increased costs for consumers. Today, international calls aren’t that difficult to make, and prices have since gone down considerably. In some cases, you could even call neighboring countries at no extra cost (e.g. the U.S. & Canada, or some countries in Central Europe). But even after all the advancements we’ve made in telephone infrastructure, why are we still paying for long distance calls?
Multiple Reasons, Really…
It is impossible to isolate the reason why telephone networks are behind the Internet in providing a truly open form of communication. The issue is actually very nuanced, but I can say with confidence that there are a few main issues they face: That last reason is perhaps the biggest one. Some countries are still using older infrastructure, or their operators simply won’t collaborate with your network unless they pay a hefty fee. That fee would be passed onto you in the form of a pay-per-minute scheme.
The Final Frontier
Despite the heavy improvements we’ve made in communication, it seems as if traditional phone lines are here to stay. But as time continues to pass, there seems to be a tendency to try to mix the Internet with telephonic communication. Although services like Google’s Project Fi are making some headway, we still have a long way to go until you can make phone calls without any extra charge to any country in the world. If there’s one thing that could be the major catalyst in communication, it’s certainly the Internet. What do you think? Tell us in the comments!
