The killer app for the NBN: voice

There's been a multitude of wild ideas about how the NBN will change our lives, but one big difference will be in how we make phone calls.

In fact, some NBN detractors, like Malcolm Turnbull, have been arguing that making phone calls will be much more difficult with the new network. Remember his cries that we'll all need to rewire our houses at considerable expense?

Example of how voice telephony will be in an NBN world

I've also started to see commentators using their experiences of best-effort VoIP services as an example of how voice telephony will be in an NBN world: emergency service providers won't know where you live, the line will conk out in a power cut and the call quality will be far worse than now.

A lot of this is pure rubbish of course, although it is likely that many people will, by choice, choose lower-cost voice services that might run over the top of their IP network and not be managed by their service provider. That's got to be bad news for Telstra, whose $6 billion in PSTN revenue is in serious decline.

The real opportunity lies in how voice services are integrated into other applications. In this week's Twisted Wire we hear about the future of managed voice services for business and home users, once we have reliable connections into the home and small office.