Russell Shaw asks his readers Why don’t you use VoIP? and I think one of the comments to the post sums it up well:

• Price. I get all the long distance I want with my wireless phone. Adding VOIP would be an extra expense, especially considering DSL is the only available broadband where I live and it requires a POTS line (which I want anyway).
• 911. There is nothing more reliable that a POTS line. I have small kids and expect 911 to work when I call it.

In this case, they are of course talking about a Phone-over-IP (PoIP), or broadband phone, aka a Vonage-like replacement service.

Obviously, with PhoneGnome, one can get VoIP and still avoid the above problems. That’s part of our differentiation.

For me, I would add another factor against switching to a PoIP service: They offer little to no new benefits and capabilites. They’re closed and boring. The providers show me no innovation now and no path to innovation for the future. There’s no interoperability, no integration with other services, nothing rattling anyone’s cages. In fact, these services are less open than the old telco, because at least in the old telco, I had a choice for long-dustance and international carrier. The PoIP and cable phone providers even take that option away, offering only a completely closed, vertically integrated service.

For a lot of people, the benefits are just not there for a PoIP type replacement service. The potential cost savings simply do not outweigh the risk of it not working well enough or the hassles of switching. There needs to be more value, or lower risk, or preferably both.

All that said, they can be an effective second-line solution, but when it comes to switching, it’s a tough sell (as can be seen from the marketing costs these companies are having to spend to get people to switch).

I think it’s ironic that another recent post on Russell’s blog is Four months in SunRocket LNP limbo that tells the story of a PoIP customer’s nightmare experience with transfering their number, which describes exactly the kind of risk that we’re talking about.

If it isn’t clear, we obviously believe PhoneGnome resolves these kinds of issues and lets one enjoy VoIP benefits without the limits and risks associated with PoIP services.

This entry was posted on Wednesday, November 8th, 2006 at 11:25 pm and is filed under General. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.