Live~NRGY

Well it’s about time someone finally shouted out the words. In fact it should have happened about a good 10 years ago when Nortel hiring me in their succession group of system engineers. The word at the time was that my hiring was contingent on the fact that our “Team” the one’s responsible for the dial tone you here every time you pickup that phone was in fact “DEAD” – as in to be phased out in favour of DATA or the new model at the time – hence succession. Actually I was hire to only maintain a part of a system to be killed in favour of DATA only phone systems or internet models.

The irony of course is that the newer teams dealing with the “DATA” were sacked and our team revived only to be laid off one by one later. Sensing the irony of it all through the blitzkrieg of stupidity of buying every little tech firm with valuations in the billions on a daily basis – I left and was fired. I couldn’t deal with the stupidity right from day one of hiring. It just wasn’t adding up knowing that down the road people would be severely in trouble. Ironic isn’t it ! But even if I had said I told you so, would anyone have believed me? Good question isn’t it, since the mortgage broker from CIBC at the time thought both my wife & I were the next up & coming superstars. She basically gave me blank cheques and told me to fill in whatever amounts I wanted no questions asked. I threw the cheques away without ever asking for a penny. Again ironic that CIBC / Firstline Mortgages just about drove me into the ground during my separation and divorce from my ex-wife when things went from bad to worst for her. Another story for another day in court.

Anyways, here’s what I’m expecting – voice out – too expensive for servers, routers, switches, bells & whistles. Data only please. And if you are expecting on wanting to keep your voice doodad, expect to pay premium prices as it is phased out. Something akin to paying for the privilege of dial tone today instead of rotary. And network surplus charges to boot. Running all that wire and wireless stuff costs someone – yep the consumer.

Once the billing model changes to DATA only, expect more changes to the way billing happens. Creativity from the telecom industry never ceases to amaze me. Remember when we used to cry about our telephone bills jumping a few cents or dollar per month and having governments intervene to appease the masses. Well today’s anything under a $100 per month may seem like cheap again in the future. Data is exploding in leaps and bounds. Video calls are the next step – hang on to your hats. 🙂 🙂 : OMG I can’t wait to see what it’s gonna cost us, just like smart meters. Just remember not to make the same mistakes as Nortel Networks.