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OTT communication, an acronym implying “over the top,” with relation to web browsing, is any web enterprise that makes use of the web to facilitate browser communications. It amounts to a value-added feature of web browsing. Consider the web as a road by which we would travel from one place to another. There are variable road conditions, intersections, road blacks, detours and other traffic with which to contend as we make our way along the road. There are also a variety of vehicle choices available to us to accommodate our travel needs. Some vehicles are faster and better equipped to deal with the complexities of the road to facilitate our travel than others. These better-equipped vehicles are the equivalent of OTT communication; they allow faster, more reliable communication over the web. But it does not stop there. Beyond the better vehicles, OTT communication might also equate to after-market accessories we can add to an already improved vehicle to enhance its capabilities of travel more effectively, reliably and efficiently. A better set of tires to handle more severe road conditions than provided by the vehicle manufacturer would equate to OTT communication. For example, the development of a smart phone allowed our wireless engagement with the web, improving on our previously limited access by Ethernet wire was an application of OTT communication. Further, using Skype as a means to engage faster and cheaper world-wide communication of both voice and video over the web is an added example of OTT communication, and that technology can ride on the development of the smart phone as an enhanced OTT communication feature. Your ISP (Internet service provider) is the road on which the enhancements of OTT communication offer efficient communications on the web. However, ever since traditional telephonic communications media and Internet media have combined over the same service wired and wireless links, competition between communications network services and OTT communication services has reached a critical mass as OTTs are overtaking the market because they can make use of the road with more efficient and cost effective vehicles than simultaneously provided by traditional network services. Current network carrier laws and regulations were structured to allow innovation of use over the network such as has been developed by OTT communication without the original network carriers being able to restrict those innovations. Even though the network carriers are in competition with OTT service providers, all must be allowed free use of the network; network carriers cannot impose toll booths on the road and they cannot impose restrictions on the types of vehicles that use it. As a response, some network providers are beginning to vertically integrate OTT services themselves, which they are free to do. All of this competition is good for the market. As long as network providers continue to create new roads and upgrade existing roads, and as long as OTTs continue to facilitate use of the road, users are assured of ever increasing effective and efficient communications.
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OTT communication services, OTT Communication, OTT, Communication,
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