In-Stat:
7.9 Percent of U.S. Households Use a VoIP Servic
Ah,
VoIP. So much has been written about it, and so
much remains to be said. The technology that allows
voice signal to be sent over the Internet has
been praised for its affordability and chastised
for its sometimes sub-par voice quality, by turns,
over and over again.
While some of the potential downsides of VoIP
may be causing enterprises to think twice before
jumping on board, hesitation is much less common
among consumers.
At least, that’s according to a new report
out this week from In-Stat . In fact, the industry
research firm found that, as of the end of second
quarter 2006, more than nine million U.S. households
include at least one active VoIP user. Many households
use multiple VoIP services.
In-Stat’s research is inclusive of both
facilities-based VoIP (e.g. Vonage (News - Alert))
and client-based VoIP (e.g. Skype).
Perhaps not surprisingly, given its nearly identical
functionality to traditional telephony, facilities-based
VoIP services continue to be the most popular.
Vonage and Time Warner Cable are nearly tied for
first place, with 1.7 million and 1.6 million
actively subscribing households, respectively.
But, client-based VoIP services—which typically
require the user to remain in front of his or
her computer to make and receive calls—also
are making a dent in the traditional telephony
market, In-Stat found.
Skype is still the most popular client-based VoIP
service, with 2.1 million actively subscribing
households. During the third quarter of 2006,
though, Microsoft’s service gained more
than 1.1 million households.
Even more significant than the pure numbers, though,
is the fact that in a recent In-Stat survey, almost
half of residential VoIP users (49 percent) said
they had discontinued their traditional phone
service in favor of VoIP.
Also of note, half of the users surveyed said
they use their residential VoIP service partially
or wholly for business purposes.
Some key disadvantages of VoIP remain (such as
the fact that when power goes out, the service
goes down), but in time it seems likely that these
will be overcome, indicating that incumbent phone
service providers will need to begin offering
VoIP to stay competitive, if they haven’t
already.
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