A VC - Latest Comments in The "No Voice" Internet

Re: The "No Voice" Internet

Andrew of Mixergy — Wed, 17 Sep 2008 21:04:28 -0000

How about no voice calls in public? (Or much fewer at least)

Re: The "No Voice" Internet

nils — Tue, 16 Sep 2008 17:12:24 -0000

you're so right listening to the consultants on my comuters ride from Berlin to hamburg or to someone in the subway in the morning is annoying. they invented "silence cars" at least in long range trains for people like us.

regards,
nils

Re: The "No Voice" Internet

TimWalker — Tue, 16 Sep 2008 12:34:30 -0000

You're right on the money about treating people as though they have no value, Fred. I find it particularly galling because, in my college days, I waited counters and worked as a receptionist. It costs the patron *nothing* to be kindly.

Re: The "No Voice" Internet

fredwilson — Mon, 15 Sep 2008 18:45:39 -0000

I saw that exact behavior (talking into a cell phone headset while checking out at a grocery store) yesterday and it floored me. Some people have no manners. That is so rude and it basically says to the person who is helping you that they have no value. It really pissed me off just seeing it.

Re: The "No Voice" Internet

fredwilson — Mon, 15 Sep 2008 18:45:11 -0000

I have a good feeling about the value of the twitter shares for what it's worth :)

Re: The "No Voice" Internet

fredwilson — Mon, 15 Sep 2008 18:18:48 -0000

I had the exact same experience on the metro when we were in paris this
summer

I loved having the mobile internet on the subway but never once used the
voice feature on my phone

Re: The "No Voice" Internet

damiansen — Mon, 15 Sep 2008 13:15:05 -0000

Are these ethiquete issues almost always the same? "I'm open to everything but think others will abuse of it"?
I agree with the no-talk rule: Riding in a bus is something completely different from a plane. Time-wise, stress-wise, ...

Re: The "No Voice" Internet

TimWalker — Mon, 15 Sep 2008 11:27:46 -0000

I share your biases on this, Fred, but having read the other comments, now I wonder whether it wouldn't be better for each airline to regulate this by policy. You would *hope* that people would be savvy enough to do the polite thing anyway, but experience tells us that some people are clueless.

The parallel example that springs to mind: using a cell phone as you're being waited on at a counter. *Most* people set aside their call (or checking VM, etc.) long enough to address the barista or whoever. But the fact that some clueless people don't is why some delis etc. have signs reminding customers not to talk on the phone at the counter.

No reason the airlines couldn't do the same thing as regards *talking* on the phone -- which would still allow people to *listen* to VMs, conference calls, etc. via VOIP.

Re: The "No Voice" Internet

Avrom — Mon, 15 Sep 2008 04:06:49 -0000

Is there a large difference between hearing people talk to each other on planes / subways compared to people talking on the phone? I am interested to hear what specifically bothers you about the latter since I imagine your are not interested in listening to either.

Also, I suspect that the airlines have a different reasons to block the VOIP, such as to protect their investment and revenue from the toll phones installed on the planes (and possibly due to the limited bandwidth that planes will have available for all users). This will encourage hackers to find workarounds to any security which is put in place to stop the use of VOIP.

Long-term we may be forced to embrace a new reality where the ability to make calls on planes and trains exists, and focus on shaping the acceptable ways to do so to reduce anti-social results.

Re: The "No Voice" Internet

education resources — Mon, 15 Sep 2008 03:15:22 -0000

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Re: The "No Voice" Internet

Andy Freeman — Mon, 15 Sep 2008 02:55:26 -0000

Don't cell phones work in the subways? Don't airlines still have the voice phones?

I don't see why VOIP is different from other voice transport mechanisms.

Re: The "No Voice" Internet

Guest — Sun, 14 Sep 2008 22:36:51 -0000

By the way, Fred,
it turns out you were incorrect last Friday, saying that the Fannie/Fred bailout may be the last of the "bad news". What a weekend! Lehman goes under! Meryll sold! The Fed takes equity as collateral!
What's in store for next weekend? The Fed accepting shares in Twitter as collateral?

Re: The "No Voice" Internet

jer979 — Sun, 14 Sep 2008 22:06:13 -0000

I'm as big a technophile as anyone and love having anytime/anywhere access, but I don't trust most of my fellow citizens when it comes to etiquette. I guess this is one place where I want "big gov't" (political low blow, I know) :-)

I always speak in hushed tones when in public places and more than once have asked people to pipe down. Maybe people don't appreciate how good the mics are, don't know.

For most folks, a technology solution will stop them from doing it (for now), since the only hard core (like Fred, the rest of your readers, and I) will know how to get around it, but we're a select few! For us, there's the policy angle.

In short, agreeing w/you Fred.

Re: The "No Voice" Internet

JungleDave — Sun, 14 Sep 2008 21:25:42 -0000

Just an observation - I was in Paris this week and surprised to find my cell got perfect reception almost everywhere on the subway. Despite this, only a few folks in any car were on the phone and I never saw it as a distraction given all the other noise and activity on the subway. An airplane or quiet commuter train may be different, but in this case it didn't seem to be a big deal.

Re: The "No Voice" Internet

Guest — Sun, 14 Sep 2008 21:17:01 -0000

Fred, I generally agree with you. However, it was always very amusing to me when I traveled back to the States from Europe and carried with me a a bunch of Eropean mainstream newspapers/mags to the domestic U.S. plane. You probably know that they have somewhat looser standards in Euro-land, so the dirty, scornful looks of prudish, red-meat Americans when they saw me reading Euro-trash invariably gave me a kick...

Re: The "No Voice" Internet

Tony Bain — Sun, 14 Sep 2008 16:51:23 -0000

So AA don’t have the expensive in seat credit card satellite phone?

Re: The "No Voice" Internet

Berislav Lopac — Sun, 14 Sep 2008 15:56:09 -0000

Funny thing is that for most forms of communication you list you don't need broadband at all. Whatever works on your Blackberry was actually introduced back in the dialup era, as it consists mostly of simple text.

Re: The "No Voice" Internet

Shreshth — Sun, 14 Sep 2008 13:07:21 -0000

Etiquette should be exercised and appropriate public behavior policy are a good place to limit my crudeness on the morning commute. But I dissagree with technology being a limiting factor or an ISP creating barriers to my usability of any service. I think that is fundamentally wrong.

Re: The "No Voice" Internet

davenaff — Sun, 14 Sep 2008 13:00:30 -0000

Sure, maybe you write the legislation in such a way that it allows some ISPs/organizations to be exempt.

Re: The "No Voice" Internet

tim — Sun, 14 Sep 2008 12:24:11 -0000

I can already bring in pr0n on a laptop/iPod or some magazine. I fail to see how adding broadband capability changes the social norm from what it is today.

Re: The "No Voice" Internet

tim — Sun, 14 Sep 2008 12:23:55 -0000

As for voice - I feel that people are making too much over it. On flights you already deal with a 100 distractions on the plane. Thats why we have headsets. And as someone who takes the bus everyday people on phones aren't that big of an issue - its actually pretty rare. I would rather just have the market figure it out.

My only real negative is from a security perspective. People generally forget that everyone can hear there conversation.

Re: The "No Voice" Internet

Frank Lynch — Sun, 14 Sep 2008 12:11:19 -0000

I thinking discussing net neutrality (in this context) is a red hearing. I can choose to smoke in my own personal space and am free to do so, but I daren’t in a public place like an aeroplane or on public transport because a) technology (smoke detectors) and b) policy (it’s a criminal offence to do so).

Re: The "No Voice" Internet

davenaff — Sun, 14 Sep 2008 11:59:45 -0000

I think use cases like this are interesting tests for Net Neutrality concepts and one of the reasons why I think the issue is far more complex than is typically found in most discussions. It would be pretty hard to argue that AA isn't an ISP and pretty hard to argue that restricting VOIP (either by policy or technology) doesn't run afoul of most current definitions of net neutrality.

Re: The "No Voice" Internet

fredwilson — Sun, 14 Sep 2008 11:44:18 -0000

Good point about checking voice mail daryn

I've gotten so used to having my voice mails emailed to me with a
transcription that I forgot about that ³voice² application

Re: The "No Voice" Internet

daryn — Sun, 14 Sep 2008 11:40:05 -0000

I'd rather see the blocking of VOIP and filtering of objectionable materials done via policy than technology, as well as with a gentle reminder when you get on the network, to be considerate of your fellow passengers. Let people complain if someone is doing something inappropriate, and hopefully either the social pressure or the airline staff will get them to tone it down.

My issue is that it's a fine line when talking about technology, but a little clearer when you're talking about behavior. I'd love to be able to check my voicemail, for example, and if I get it emailed to me, that'd be okay, but I couldn't use skype to call into it and check it that way? seems silly. And I could be just as annoying recording audio or video mail offline, as i would be if I were actually on the phone/chat with someone.