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January 25, 2005
Some Bellster Clarifications...
For the record, Bellster is a non-commercial directory service that, like Free World Dialup, simply enables unaffiliated individuals to find one another. pulver.com nor any of its affiliates, subsidiaries, partners, or any other entity with which pulver.com has a commercial relationship, intends to use Bellster for any commercial purpose.
At pulver.com we started working on the "Bellster" project during 2004 as a means to deliver on the original 1995 vision of what was "The Free World Dialup Project." The original model for FWD was to allow individuals to share their phone lines to make calls into their local calling area. At the time there were some hardware glitches that made the original FWD model not quite ready for prime-time...but we had fun trying to make it so.
It took the widespread availability of Linux and Asterisk to first happen, but given these platforms, we focused on the 'glue' that makes up Bellster from the vantage point of being a directory service.
While the focus at the moment is Bellster as an enabler of a non-commercial P2P Communications Network that leverages the public internet, I expect the underlying Bellster technology to be used on a private basis for friends/relatives to share communication services with each other.
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Bellster Data Points:
As of: 25-Jan-05 - 04.15 AM ET (3+ days since launch)
Registered Nodes: 408
Active on-line Nodes right now: 63
Known Routes available: 501
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Since the launch of Bellster this past weekend, news about Bellster continues to be reported around the world:
Recent Bellster blog postings and other stories:
- FlaminTiki: P2P for phones
- Tim Janen's Blog (deutsch): Bellster Net: 'Phone Sharing'
- LordRich.com: Bellster
- Techdirt: P2P PSTN?
- Geekin': 01 22 2005
- Broadband Reports: Pulver's dream
- Alec Saunders.LOG: Bellster
- VoIPWatch: What Bellster is all about
- Slashdot: P2P Meets PSTN, With Bellster
- Converge Network Digest: Pulver's Bellster Builds P2P Voice Gateway Community
- eurovoip: pulver launched Bellster
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Posted by jeff on January 25, 2005 04:54 AM | Permalink
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Comments
IMHO Bellster is a good proof of concept. It has 3 flaws that wil prevent it,at least for now, from becoming wide spread.
1. The high cost of membership. It needs Linux and
a relativly new computer. If someone could
shoehorn it onto a 300mHZ pII, there would
be lots of computers sitting in the corner
that could be put to use.
Same thing with an XP port. Lots of
realtivley fast XP machines out there spending
their lives rendering web pages.
2. The leagal libaility issue. People using
the system for nefarious purposes shoud not
cause the provider to be liable.
3. lack of cheap local calling. Just dosen't
exist here in Israel yet. In fact the cheapest
local calling is a VoIP service which is $35
per month to Israel, western Europe and the
USA. The local VoIP plans aren't as cheap for
local calls to landlines or are not available in most
places.
Posted by: geoffrey mendelson at January 25, 2005 08:41 AM