Simon; > >> Voice over IP is paradoxically both internet and telephony at the same > >> time. This article presents the paradox, and associated arguments. > > > > There is no paradox. The internet carries information. > > > > You should, at least, distinguish VoIP as a telephone network > > and the Internet telephony. > > There is no "internet telephony"... See my paper "Simple Internet Phone" presented at INET2000. http://www.isoc.org/inet2000/cdproceedings/4a/4a_3.htm It, for example, says: However, it is obvious that the telephone network will be replaced by the Internet, and will eventually disappear. > there is "IP telephony" which is > There is no "internet telephony"... there is "IP telephony" which is > not running on the public internet. There is also VoIP on the public > internet which I like to call "Voice Chat". Apparently, you don't recognize the current situation, which I foresaw several years ago. Voice chat, of course, is no internet telephony. > > Paradoxical reguration on voice in US is a US local issue. > > Please cite a document, I don't find any japanese regulation that makes > it any different there... Japanese telecommunication laws (available at http://law.e-gov.go.jp/cgi-bin/idxsearch.cgi) does not distinguish telephony or voice something special and the requirement on providers is same, though detailed requirements varies. > > In Japan, TAs to connect the Internet and POTS telephone devices > > are rapidly replacing the telephone network including VoIP ones. > > ... do they provide PSTN-level availability? In theory, yes. In practice, there is no such thing as PSTN-level availability. > in an emergency / power > failure? In emergency, best effort network works better than circuit swithced one, of course. As for power, have you ever used ISDN with TAs? Masataka Ohta