Consumer VoIP Dying?
April 27, 2009
(2 votes, average: 4.50 out of 5)
Loading ...AT&T has announced the impending death of CallVantage, their Vonage-esque consumer Internet phone service. Verizon also plans to shut down their Internet phone service dubbed “VoiceWing.”
For a while, it seemed as though it was only a matter of time until VoIP (Voice Over Internet Protocol) would take over the universe and put the long distance companies out of business. But something happened which changed that line of thinking.
The old long distance companies realized that there was more money to be made in wireless and Internet and abandoned their old “long distance” focus. They have transformed themselves into cellular and Internet companies. It turns out that the future may not be about making VoIP calls over wired lines after all. Consumers speak with their wallets and they seem to be screaming for mobility.
What is dead for consumers is very much alive for business. Companies everywhere are buying new IP enabled phone equipment which allows for low cost SIP trunking (Session Initiation Protocol). Essentially, they are buying Internet from a carrier and then placing all their calls via VoIP. Where consumers want to be untethered, most businesses still chain their employees to a desk.
Consumers want fast Internet at home for Facebook and YouTube, and mobile devices for fun and phone calls. Business wants internet too, but need huge bandwidth to handle the increasing load from web based information systems, video, online customer interaction, file sharing, and a host of Unified Communications (UC) options. While DSL or Cable Internet may be good enough for home, they aren’t even even an option for modern companies with more than a hand full of employees.
As futuristic as CallVantage and VoiceWing may have seemed a few years ago, they are practically Jurassic by today’s standards. Can Vonage be far behind?
Comments
5 Responses to “Consumer VoIP Dying?”
Got something to say?
Advertisement
If you're interested in advertising on Telecom Monthly and would like to learn more, contact us at ads@telecommonthly.com
[...] more here: Consumer VoIP Dying? | Telecom Monthly - Telecom News, VoIP, SIP … Tags: all-their, buying-new, calls, calls-via, enabled-phone, equipment-which, initiation, [...]
[...] how consumer VoIP is not taking off as expected. The news behind this statement is that AT&T decided to close down their VoIP service CallVantage and it seems that Verizon is very close to take a similar [...]
Consumers don’t want VoIP - they want to make phone calls.
They couldn’t care less if they use VoIP, PSTN, ISDN or any other “technology”.
What they use is a handset phone in their home, connected to whatever service provider they happen to use.
I have a triple play package with a cable operator. All of my calls happen to go through VoIP. Before that I had PSTN. What can I say?
Same quality, same service, almost the same pricing (PSTN lowered prices to meat competition).
VoIP isn’t dead - it is just starting to get into the background of people’s lives.
Tsahi
BT now has more than 2.5m customers using voip in the uk; iliad has more than 3 million in france; upc has 2m+ in netherlands. i don’t think voip is dead. it’s just not called voip. it’s simply a way to not only make calling cheaper but also to offer a range of additional services that ADD VALUE–this could be virtual numbers; it could be a second line; or it could be a range of innovative features –all of which are ENABLED by IP.
so it has nothing to do with whether or consumer voip has taken off or not but everything to do with how companies have developed the product, delivered quality and managed the expectations.
kerry
How is consumer VOIP dead when MagicJack is signing up more than 250,000 consumer customers per month and has been for the last 14 months? What’s dead is consumer’s willing to pay $35+ per line for VoIP service from the RBOC’s and CableCo’s.