There's no reason to restrict this to a centralized control structure. Gnutella, Freenet or Mojo might do nicely. Mojo has a relay proxy service which can be run from clients to enable operation of other clients behind firewalls. With a bit of enhancement perhaps the relays could be extended to embrace latency-critical applications such as voice. > > == Napsterized Telco: Can Pulver's FWD Take Off? == > > > > By Ryan Naraine > > > > Voice-over Internet Protocol (Vo-IP) guru Jeff Pulver is obviously a > big fan > > of Napster's music file-sharing appeal. He's such a huge fan that he plans > > to extend Napster's peer-to-peer technology to the telecommunications > > industry. > > > > And, if Pulver's Free World Dialup ever delivers on the early hype, > it's not > > a stretch to think long distance phone calls routed over the Internet would > > eventually be totally free. > > > > At a time when telephony plays like Net2Phone, PhoneFree and DeltaThree > have > > all moved to scrap the free version of their Vo-IP offerings, Free World > > Dial-up (FWD) is creating a P2P network that would allow users all over the > > world to borrow each other's phone lines and make every call a local call. > > > > Here's the plan: Pulver's group will sell kits for US$150 that allows > > connection to the FWD "community." The kits enable direct connection to the > > users' broadband service. It also allows connection to an analog telephone > > and a connection to the local telephone (PTSN) line to provide other > members > > of the "community" access to the phone line. > > > > Ideally, a FWD member in Sweden would pick up his regular phone, dial a > > number in the US and use the local calling minutes (usually part of an > > unlimited minutes plan) of a member here. > > > > "We don't assume any local calls to be free to the node owner. FWD members > > represent node owners who are willing to share access with other FWD node > > owners to enable local calling in exchange for their ability to make local > > calls to other FWD nodes around the world," Pulver says. > > > > "Think of this as a 'time share' but instead of time-sharing rental > > property, you are time-sharing access to your local telephone." > > > > Of course, without real-world adoption, this would simply be a small > blip on > > the telco radar but the potential for extending P2P and network sharing > > technology to the industry could have scary ramifications for the big boys. > > > > The telcos have always been able to police the trafficking and termination > > of Vo-IP data on their networks but, if Pulver's FWD develops critical > mass, > > they will eventually lose that right and find themselves is a dogfight to > > maintain profitability. > > > > Critical mass may be light years way for FWD and many technical nightmares > > are certain to crop up. > > > > Because FWD requires users to allow other members to use their local phone > > lines, who gets preference when the line owner wants to make a call? What > > happens when a FWD member plans a call to Afghanistan but realizes there is > > no one there participating? > > > > And, since FWD only works on high-speed connections, it immediately > discards > > a huge section of the population both in the U.S and around the world. > > > > Despite those questions, FWD's private beta tests using equipment from > Cisco > > systems have already begun in seven international cities. It's > available now > > in Melbourne, Australia; three Canadian cities; Jakarta, Indonesia and > > nationwide in Sweden and Switzerland. > > > > U.S cities participating in the beta include New York, California, Florida, > > Hawaii, Minnesota, Missouri, New Jersey, Texas, Virginia and Washington.
