VoIP & Cellular: The Loss of Intimacy.

With all the freedom of using a VoIP (Voice over IP) phone or a cellular phone there is a cost. It just doesn't sound as good as a plain old telephone service. There are two major problems with the quality: delay and distortion. Both of these lead to a loss of intimacy - especially if you are calling from cellphone to cellphone in which case it doubles the trouble.

Have you ever 'stepped over' the other party while talking? By that I mean you start to speak and they hesitate and continue talking, then you stop, and they start. It can really mess with the timing of your conversation. This is due to the slight delay in both GSM and CDMA based cellphone technology. In fact, the old analog cell phone system actually provided better call quality than any of the digital services do. This is telecom's dirty little secret: digital kills intimacy. It's like trying to have a deep conversation in the furnace room. "What?" "Huh" "I said I LOVE YOU" "OK - I LOVE YOU TO!"

If you are planning to do a job interview over the phone, or propose to your future spouse - use a landline! Until digital overcomes the delay and distortion you may consider ending everything you say with a loud "Roger".