Internet software attempts to solve this problem using various methods, trading off sound quality against the cost of compression. And, of course, Internet telephony takes an Internet connection. The Internet may have penetrated American homes and offices at phenomenal speed, but its penetration is insignificant compared to the telephone. The real issue here is the cost of Internet telephony. Where Internet access is already available, the marginal cost of making an Internet phone call is effectively zero.
Internet telephony is currently a bargain basement service.
Nobody is going to pay much money for the kind of quality that Internet telephony offers today. MCI had to charge next to nothing to get any customers at all. When Internet telephony offers voice quality and connectivity that compares with what the telcos can offer, it will probably cost much the same as the telcos charge. The Internet as a free resource may be doomed. Today, we are living in a fool's paradise in which the pricing for Internet access does not seem to take account of the need to build the infrastructure to support it.