Mammoth Networks has announced a fivefold increase in wholesale DSL demand by VoIP providers. The company allows VoIP providers to provision standalone DSL, or DSL without a phone line, enabling VoIP providers to deliver a telephone-like product to their End User.

In the last half of 2005, Mammoth signed an increased number of VoIP providers to its wholesale DSL platform. The company cites its ability to deliver a standalone DSL over a private network as the reason for this increased demand. Because standalone DSL enters a home or business on its own telephone pair, VoIP can be delivered without the need for an expensive traditional telephone line.



"We've embraced standalone DSL, and have given VoIP providers the exact product they need to sell their service," says Brian Worthen, who oversees product development at Mammoth.

VoIP, which stands for Voice over Internet Protocol, operates over a broadband internet connection such as DSL. VoIP allows an End User to make and receive calls from a standard phone, which is then plugged into an adapter that sends the phone call over the internet, and ultimately another regular telephone.

Mammoth allows VoIP providers to provision standalone DSL loops to its network, allowing the provider to control the process from order to service delivery. The company then implements a private connection from the End User's VoIP adapter to the VoIP provider's voice gateway, bypassing the internet. Because traffic over the internet is a best effort service, latency can result in a low-quality VoIP connection. Creating private paths allows Mammoth to control the latency for the entire VoIP link, effectively improving the quality of the service.

"You can save money with Vonage or Packet8, but their services still have a hurdle to overcome - the performance of the internet," Worthen says. "Our VoIP partners can improve the quality of the call by using our network."

Worthen stated that there is a trend for users of telephone service to drop their traditional telephone line and go to a VoIP service. This service is typically provided at a lower rate than traditional telephone service. He refers to VoIP as a disruptive technology, indicating the demand for the product will force the telephone industry to adapt to the new technology or change their business model.

Mammoth Networks is an aggregator of data services serving nine Western states. Mammoth enables its Partners by erasing the invisible lines of the telecommunications structure, and leveling the playing field for service providers. The privately-held company is based in Gillette, Wyoming.