Call it Internet telephony, call it Voice over Internet Protocol (or VoIP). But don't be surprised if you find yourself in a few years making all of your business calls by
means of your Net connection.
With VoIP, the telephone is plugged into an adapter connected to a cable or DSL modem and works over the existing data network. From a business perspective, the cost factor
has been a key element in VoIP usage. One vendor, Skype, is allowing its customers to make free PC-to-phone calls in the United States and Canada through the end of the
year; it previously cost two cents per minute. Recent developments in wireless VoIP-friendly cell phones freed the technology from its landline moorings, further enhancing its
appeal.
"I use Vonage as my primary phone service and I am exploring the possibility of using Skype for doing some teleconference stuff in the near future," says VoIP devotee
James Hills, president and chief marketing officer for marketinghelpnet.com in Bartlett, IL. "Also, my fax line is with Vonage, so I use that at $9 per month rather than a
virtual fax. It is nice being able to fax out documents on a distribution list without having to worry about long distance charges. Also, I have contractors in the Philippines
and I am a subcontractor for an analyst in the UK, so on any given day I am calling Europe and Asia at least once. That would be a fortune on regular phone services, but that's
not the case with Vonage."
However, quality control can be something of an issue. Melissa Prusher, an independent PR rep in Manalapan, NJ, tried and abandoned VoIP service. "As an independent
consultant, it is hard to have a professional front with shoddy phone service," she says. "There was either a lot of crackling or just dropped calls. Call quality was
inconsistent."
However, Chris Null, former editor of Mobile Magazine and columnist for Yahoo! Tech, points to an even bigger obstacle to VoIP: The major telecommunications
vendors. "They have a vested interest in you keeping your $50 a month phone line instead of dropping it for a free VoIP service," he observes. "No U.S. high-speed wireless
provider allows VoIP traffic on its network."
For Null, such tactics won't halt the progress of Internet telephony. "Ten years from now, no one will talk about 'VoIP' any more," he says. "They'll just say 'the phone,' and
that will imply a VoIP call. I don't think the wired phone network as we know it now will be around for much longer. The economics are simply no longer relevant and over time the
wired telephone as you know it will vanish."
Contacts: James Hills, [email protected]; Melissa Prusher, [email protected]; Chris Null, [email protected].