Is VoIP the 'Next Big Thing' in Telecommunications?
Marvin Bellnick
VoIP or Voice Over Internet Protocol has been simmering for the past few years. This year the market has heated up. Many large businesses have jumped on the VoIP bandwagon and have realized savings of 50-percent or more off their phone bills. VoIP providers are competing to add to or replace large PBX systems for the corporations and add web conferencing capabilities plus wireless VoIP (wVoIP) over LAN’s as well.
Hospitals and other large, fragmented workforces are discovering the value of using wireless VoIP phones to converse with one another quickly and efficiently while in different wings, floors or buildings of a large facility. This kind of wireless VoIP setup can have huge cost savings over cell phones and is more efficient that using pagers.
While business VoIP has caught on in the corporate landscape, residential VoIP is still trying to take hold. This is largely because of a couple of current disadvantages of VoIP. First, not all current VoIP systems have power backups. When the power goes out in a residence, the landline is still operational. Since VoIP works over a high-speed Internet connection, which requires power, if the power goes down, so does the VoIP connection. This will be of concern to many concerned about emergency situations. The good news is that many VoIP hardware providers are starting to deliver systems with power backup to address just this issue.
The second drawback of residential VoIP is that not all current VoIP service providers offer full, 24-7 emergency 911 service. After hour calls in Florida, may be mistakenly rerouted to Idaho for instance. This is also about to change. The Federal Communications Commission has mandated that all phone service providers offer e911 service as standard. According to the FCC, “All interconnected VoIP providers must automatically provide E9-1-1 services to all customers as a standard, mandatory feature without customers having to specifically request this service. VoIP providers may not allow their customers the option to “opt-out” of E9-1-1 service.”
Clearly, though, residential VoIP is heading towards direct competition with the local phone companies’ coveted landlines. A couple of years ago at a meeting in SBC’s Publishing division, one of the executive managers cried, “Landlines, we need to stop losing landlines!” This was in response to cell phone companies taking away market share from the local Baby Bells. Now that VoIP is on the radar, the executive management teams for the local and long-distance phone companies must be huddling in their back offices, trying to figure out how they will stop the bleeding in the years to come.
With VoIP costing far less that traditional local and long-distance phone service and overcoming the last of the residential hurdles, one can be sure that consumers will soon be taking notice. Many will also start wearing t-shirt like “VoIP VIP” and “Got VoIP?” to herald in the new era in telecommunications.
About the author:
Copyright © 2005 VoIP Service Providers
VoIP Service Providers - Marvin Bellnick writes for VoIP Service Providers, a company dedicated to publishing the latest happenings in the Voice Over IP industry.
The latest information and news on VoIP :
Mobile VoIP company Fring adds a number of advanced features to its Windows Mobile app, including file transferring.
New Year rings in better VoIP for all (The Register)
More VoIP options come to Windows Mobile and iPhone It seems that January is when VoIP clients get spruced up with new features and capabilities, with both Truphone and Fring launching new versions ready for punters wanting to do more than save a few quid on phone calls.?
Mumbai gunmen used U.S. VoIP service to talk to their superiors during their ...
A U.S. VoIP phone service kept one of the terrorists who carried out deadly attacks in Mumbai, India, in November in touch with his handlers based in Pakistan, according to reports describing a dossier of evidence compiled by Indian officials.
SDK helps developers VoIP-enable Pocket PC applications. (ThomasNet)
VoIP EVO SDK for Pocket PC contains C-API DLL and COM control of VoIP EVO client that can be used from any programming language C++ and .NET Compact Framework. It comes with Windows as well Linux server (running as service), and enables VoIP conferencing with crystal clear sound for both low and high-bandwidth users (Speex Codec). Supported development environments include Visual Basic .NET, ...
FXO Chipset enables backup of VoIP traffic. (ThomasNet)
Comprised of FX1000 system control interface and FX1041 data access arrangement codec, LSI(TM) FX1000 foreign exchange office chipset enables connections between IP applications such as media gateways and VoIP devices and conventional analog lines. Solution provides Internet-based communications services with backup or alternate routing over PSTN, resulting in integrated communications services ...
Motorola Combines WiMax, WiFi, Ethernet, VoIP In One Device (InformationWeek)
The Motorola wi4 WiMa CPEi 775 will be available only to carriers initially and will not be offered for retail markets.
VoIP: Beyond the Status Quo (CircleID)
On New Year's Eve 2008 I felt compelled to respond to the stories being written about the Death of VoIP which lead to my recent blog post: VoIP is NOT Dead!
ESS Technology Announces World?s First VoIP Single-Chip Solution to Embed Two...
ESS Technology, a leading provider of high performance audio/video solutions, today announced the ES9701 as the newest member of its VoIP product line. First in the industry to embed two Subscriber Line Interface Circuits (SLICs) and an Ethernet switch, the ES9701 brings the highest integration and lowest bill of materials to consumer VoIP adapters and IP phone applications.
Mumbai gunmen used US VoIP service (ARNnet)
Indian dossier says handlers used a virtual phone number provided by service provider CallPhonex to call a cell phone used by one of the terrorists in Mumbai.
Truphone adds Skype, Twitter to iPhone client (CNET via Yahoo! News)
The Internet telephony company Truphone has turned its client for the iPhone and iPod Touch into an aggregator for a range of popular VoIP and instant-messaging applications.