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Subject Voice Chat Preference Similar To CB Radio Popularity Of The 70s

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[quote:Berf Snurple:MV8yOTgzMjA5XzlCQUZFODQ2]
I've noticed a few people stumping for voice chat on GLP. Bear in mind, voice transmissions use considerably more bandwidth than text. This would raise the issues of facilitating and paying for the bandwidth. This is why cell phone companies love it when people use text rather than voice.

The desire for voice chat reminds me of the CB radio fad of the 1970s. Many people got CB radios for their cars and homes, and often participated in "party line" type discussions with friends and neighbors in their neighborhoods and anywhere generally within range of their radios. This also figured into the popularization of the trucking culture, movies such as "Smokey And The Bandit", and songs such as "Convoy", which topped the charts as the number one song of the year in 1975.

Some people even tried to increase the range of their CB transmissions using illegal linear amplifiers. The internet eliminates the range problem by making worldwide communications possible in a way that used to be possible only for ham radio operators.

Whether or not cheap and easy worldwide voice chatting is a good idea remains to be seen. Would the contentious nature of blog and forum discussions result in hundreds of millions of people simply going back and forth yelling "F-you!" into their microphones? Would we get constant Twitter-like TMI reports about people's dietary and bathroom habits? Or would something more edifying evolve?

Whaddaya think?
[/quote]

Original Message I've noticed a few people stumping for voice chat on GLP. Bear in mind, voice transmissions use considerably more bandwidth than text. This would raise the issues of facilitating and paying for the bandwidth. This is why cell phone companies love it when people use text rather than voice.

The desire for voice chat reminds me of the CB radio fad of the 1970s. Many people got CB radios for their cars and homes, and often participated in "party line" type discussions with friends and neighbors in their neighborhoods and anywhere generally within range of their radios. This also figured into the popularization of the trucking culture, movies such as "Smokey And The Bandit", and songs such as "Convoy", which topped the charts as the number one song of the year in 1975.

Some people even tried to increase the range of their CB transmissions using illegal linear amplifiers. The internet eliminates the range problem by making worldwide communications possible in a way that used to be possible only for ham radio operators.

Whether or not cheap and easy worldwide voice chatting is a good idea remains to be seen. Would the contentious nature of blog and forum discussions result in hundreds of millions of people simply going back and forth yelling "F-you!" into their microphones? Would we get constant Twitter-like TMI reports about people's dietary and bathroom habits? Or would something more edifying evolve?

Whaddaya think?

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