Ambient Voice Calls

Joi Ito mentions on his Blog an interesting usage of VoIP: permanent calls. Whether working together or just begin apart for some reason, just keep the voice channel open and you will hear the life of the other person as she/he goes about her/his business. Maybe the separation is then not so bad. They also call it ambient virtual co-presence.

A permanent call on PSTN is certainly not done, due to the costs. And also the PSTN-infrastructure is not designed for that. I guess the number of voice channels can be increased to get a 5.1 surround presence and you will have an even more immersive presences (immersive ambient virtual co-presence?).