chefwong
join:2001-02-26
Brooklyn, NY
1 edit | Will independent VOIP be dead by 2010...
been mulling over voip at home for awhiles. Basically, for the forum members reading this....we are just enthusiasts, hobbyist or fanatics about voip.
between converged bundled (tv, internet, voice) or cell phones & or even cell phone bundles *aka, tmobile@home*, is independent voip as a whole on death watch...for the residential market at least ?
at home, I have both Vonage and CV at home. I hardly use these services...but whatever reason one, I have kept both lines active. Vonage, which is not the primary line at home, have had them since like early 2002. And for whatever reason it's worth....I keep them as my way of supporting Vonage and paving the way for others for VOIP as we know it on the residential side today. |
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swizzlestick
@podgorny.cz
| Every industry proliferates until a local buyer sees no difference between competitors.
For example, neighborhood convenience stores increase until there is nothing more to offer compared to what already is there. But one neighborhood away there are a bunch of other convenience stores, who can compete with the stores in the first neighborhood because of the distance between them and their closer customers.
Each vosp has the entire world as its neighborhood, so the business will probably end up in the hands of 3 or 4 large companies who will offer slight differences and advantages. |
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mazilo
From Mazilo
Premium
join:2002-05-30
Lilburn, GA
| reply to chefwong
Back in the mid 90s, I had a friend shown me an article from a PC Magazine saying that Linux OS would soon die because it couldn't beat the demand on M$ Windows. Guess what, most embedded systems today are still running Linux. So, to answer your question, as long as the demand on FREE VoIP still exists, free VoIP won't die. |
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N9MD
Premium
join:2005-10-08
Wayne, NJ | reply to chefwong
»Re: Who's here to Stay - Vonage vs. CV |
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chefwong
join:2001-02-26
Brooklyn, NY
| reply to chefwong
U know I brief these board and my biggest gripe is those who complain about certain service and the pricepoint associated with it.
I don't think any service should be free ....if I like whatever service I am using, I do want them to be profitable and prosper. Maybe my mindset is different, but if I like the service enough to use it, being profitable within being competitive in the market, I'm all for it. |
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PX Eliezer
Premium
join:2008-08-09
New Jersey
 ·Callcentric
·Optimum Voice
·callwithus
·voip.ms
1 edit | reply to chefwong
It's important that independent Voip DOES stay around!
If it does not we are limited to:
a) POTS service which is dying and which is obscenely overpriced.
b) Cable company or ISP phone which is overpriced and underfeatured.
c) One dominant Voip outfit (Vonage).
d) Cellphone only.
That's why it is so important for a variety of independent Voip providers to succeed. Keep in mind, they do NOT need to be big to be good, because they can keep overhead low!
But in keeping overhead low, they can't do it for free. That would be a hobby, not a business. (If your customers won't hand over a nickel, your company is in quite a pickle).
Quality BYOD companies like CallCentric and others.
Quality DISCO companies like VOIPo and others
(DISCO = Device Is Supplied by COmpany).
And it is likewise important, if a company has various troubles that can't be fixed or transformed, to get the hell off the road and stop trashing the good name of the whole industry.  |
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ophelus
join:2004-01-11
Denver, CO
| reply to chefwong
I don't really see cell as being that big of a competitor.. I mean they pay outrageous taxes for dozens of different county’s/cities in each state.. which oddly enough get passed on to you even if you never *pass* through that county/city..
Even with their broadband initiatives.. I don't see them pulling ahead at all till they could match voip's price structures and then beat them and this doesn't include special features like.. call filtering or multiple numbers.. |
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RockyBB
Premium
join:2005-01-31
Longmont, CO
| said by ophelus  : I don't see them pulling ahead at all what do you mean "pulling ahead"? cellular is already way ahead. Verizon Wireless alone has 80 million subs. AT&T and Sprint have tens of millions more. Residential VOIP is barely rounding error compared to cellular. If you're going to bet on a fight already in progress, always understand who's ass is being kicked. |
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nitzan
Premium,VIP
join:2008-02-27
·ViaTalk
 ·Comcast
| reply to PX Eliezer
said by PX Eliezer :Keep in mind, they do NOT need to be big to be good, because they can keep overhead low! Exactly. Who cares how big cell or cable VoIP or femtocells is - as long as we have enough customers to sustain independent VoIP providers with a modest profit I'm happy. 
If anything, getting VoIP "off the radar" of regulators is a good thing - it means less taxes and junk fees.
--
Nitzan Kon, CEO
Future Nine Corporation |
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gsar
join:2008-09-10
Canada | DIY/BYOD VoIP: "ham radio" of the 21st century?  |
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christcorp
Premium
join:2001-05-21
Cheyenne, WY
·Bresnan Online
·VOIPo
| reply to chefwong
It's quite simple. When Cellular starts offering Unlimited Voice calls any place/time in the United States; and also offers an unlimited data plan which can be tethered to your PC/Laptop; and they can do this for $100 a month combine; and add the 2nd phone + (Wife, kids, etc...) for an additional $20 a month each; then there will be no need ever again for POTS, VOIP, DSL, Cable, etc... Ma'Bell will be relegated to just being a back haul provider for the Cell companies.
Now, whether or not the cell providers are smart enough to do this is another story. The ONLY reason cell phones haven't totally replaced POTS and VOIP is the price. But consumers would most definitely prefer the portability. If done right, especially with data, the cell phones could even make residential laptops a thing of the past. People will be able to take their laptop virtually anyplace and have direct internet access. And with the right phone plan, you'd never need a phone in the house. later... mike.... |
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RockyBB
Premium
join:2005-01-31
Longmont, CO
| said by christcorp : When Cellular starts offering Unlimited Voice calls any place/time in the United States; and also offers an unlimited data plan which can be tethered to your PC/Laptop; and they can do this for $100 a month combine; and add the 2nd phone + (Wife, kids, etc...) for an additional $20 a month each; then there will be no need ever again for POTS, VOIP, DSL, Cable, etc... I'm pretty sure that Sprint can do that now. |
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usa2k
Please PRAY for Rebekah
Premium,MVM
join:2003-01-26
Canton, MI
clubs:
·VOIPo
·WOW Internet and C..
·Broadvox Direct
| Sprint can do that at $99 for individuals.
$199 for family plan - I don't recall how much as you add more family?
Now tethering that to a PC ... not sure if Sprint is there? Or what sustainable speeds they have? I still go for least cost cell service, and hate the contract lengths. But the 2 year deals keep locking us in.
VoIP is the closest thing to a level playing field. It takes big bucks to offer cell phone service.
We need a CO-OP cell phone community service. That would be a communications revolution! City, by city, and then interconnect agreements. Cell to VoIP for long distance.
--
Jim, VoIP since 12/2002, VOIPo 2/7/2007
FAH-Tool ... Whales ... VOIPo Forum ... VOIPo Review |
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stevech0
join:2006-09-17
San Diego, CA
·RoadRunner Cable
·VoicePulse
2 edits | because the US Government's FCC (and equivalents elsewhere) have long chosen to sell (auction) the RF spectrum licenses to cellular companies, and that's like selling God-given etherwaves, the cellular companies have huge liabilities on the books for spectrum costs. Plus billions on the books for capital costs. The auctions came from greed, and less so, a lack of enforcement of "use it or lose it" when licenses were issued before auctioning. But that led to greedy speculators getting spectrum to no public benefit.
Seems unlikely to me that wireless cellular airtime can ever be unlimited/free.
For the wired phone system, these capital costs were borne in the regulated era and these costs were zero'd during deregulation, under the principle that as regulated monopolies, their capital costs have already been recovered. Cellular has never been regulated as so. That's part of our current implosion here in the US: too many cellular companies with too much debt. T-mobile and Sprint are the likely first victims. |
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