Comments on: Cable goes for the quadruple play

Newly allied with Sprint Nextel, four cable operators add wireless to their Internet, video and VoIP services.

What happens to the independent VOIP providers?

What happens to the indpendent VOIP service providers as cable operators begin to offer their own VOIP service? Will the independents go the way of @Home and the independent broadband providers, taken out by a comobination of predatory pricing and ferocious lobbying? Is the regulatory landscape different for VOIP?

[Dachi]

What happens

There is no regulatory landscape for VoIP really. if the local cable company was using @home for network services, then you were using @home.

The is not the case with VoIP, there hundreds of providers and you are free to go with almost any one of them.

Cable VoIP might see mainstream adoption, but I don't think it will put the cheaper carriers out of buisness.

[stanshih]

Why not make it an Octa-play?

This quadruple play stuff is child's play. Why not go Octa? Bundle
SprintNextelTimeWarnerSiriusOnStarNapsterTiVoNetflix-landlord/
mortgage together. The content and services provided by this
bundle would have synergistic synergies and would reach the
consortiums' ultimate goal: draining every last cent from the
consumers' wallet. ;-)