In June 2006 we reported that only 39% of calls by PhoneGnome users were being delivered via their local telephone service attached to their PhonGnome box. That number has now been reduced even further. Among PhoneGnome box users, a full 69% of calls are bypassing the user’s local phone service and being delivered via the Internet. When looking at the overall minutes delivered, we find only 20% of the minutes of PhoneGnome box users are using the local telephone service - in other words, 80% of minutes have been diverted from the local carrier! I guess that makes PhoneGnome a “minute stealer” in the words of Andy Abramson.

Overall, here’s how calls placed by PhoneGnome users are being terminated (i.e. where they end up):

This represents calls by all PhoneGnome users, including those with the PhoneGnome box and those without the box (those using only web-based or PC-based calling, with no PhoneGnome hardware). In the chart, ITSP means calls delivered to the PSTN via an “Internet Telephony Service Provider” (i.e. cheap calls via paid VOIP service) and PSTN means calls delivered via the LINE port of a PhoneGnome box (i.e. user’s local telephone service). That might be a normal landline, a Cable VOIP service, or even an ATA-based VOIP service like Vonage. GNOME FREE means calls to another PhoneGnome user. OTHER FREE represents calls to some other free Internet destination, like another SIP service (FWD, Gizmo etc.), a peering partner, etc. SOFTGNOME represent calls that were answered by a PhoneGnome user on their PC.

Compared to 2006, the percent of calls to other PhoneGnome members is up from 16% to 24% and the overall percent of free calls is up to over 30% (from 19% in 2006). Calls to other SIP users and other compatible VOIP services doubled from 3% in 2006 to 6% today. All of this results in a drop of calls placed via the local phone service from 39% in 2006 to 26% today.

When we look at this in terms of minutes rather than calls, we see even more use of the Internet over the traditional service:

How do users place calls?

When we look at how user’s originate calls, we find a tale of two user segments. Users with the PhoneGnome box clearly appreciate the convenience and simplicity of simply dialing with their ordinary phone, placing 96% of calls using the telephone attached to the PhoneGnome box.

Looking at how those users without the PhoneGnome box place calls, we see that over two-thirds of calls, 69%, are placed using softphone credentials, either via PC or an ATA, SIP phone, or PBX. This is somewhat unexpected - we would have assumed that people prefer using their existing telephone and it clearly shows that people appreciate that PhoneGnome provides free open credentials with every PhoneGnome account. This enables users to use the free softphone we provide, or any softphone they choose, as well as ATAs, SIP phones, and even PBXs, to place calls with their PhoneGnome account.

However, it’s also interesting to note that while a large percentage of calls are placed using a PC, very few are answered on the PC, only about 1 percent. This suggests that even though many people are comfortable using their PC to place alls, very few leave their PC on to receive calls.

Among these free-account (no PhoneGnome box) users, a full 75% of calls are free calls, either to other PhoneGnome members, PhoneGnome peers, or other compatible SIP/VOIP destinations all over the world.

Overall, this data makes it graphically clear that PhoneGnome members, especially those using the PhoneGnome box, are saving a tremendous amount of money through a myriad of means.

This entry was posted on Thursday, January 31st, 2008 at 1:15 pm and is filed under General. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.