VOIP Debate (Continued)

Martin Tobias adds his view to the debate that has been raging on this blog and elsewhere since Vonage raised $105 million.

I agree with Martin's take on this.

Comments

[jeremyx]

I know little about investing but this is great from my point of view. This crazy level of investing will up the hype and ultimatly make the services better.

I use Vonage now but I feel very much like an early adopter. (Read the service is not that great but I'm a geek and it's cheap) Once more companies get into this game and when the telcos really get into it, then the VOIP services will be refined and very good and very cheap.

This is all good news for me.

[Tony Alva]

Being a cellular industry guy, we have a axiom that is the normal response to any inquiry regarding wireless usurping the wired POTs line, and that is, "not in the forseeable future". Why this cautionary retort? Because in America we have the most reliable wire telephony system in the world. I'd chance that everybody on this blog can't recall the last time one of you picked up your wired phone and didn't get dial tone. This is a tough bar to rise to and the wireless world is far from being in the same league. Which brings me to the relevence related to this post. Is VoIP ready to compete with this standard? I think this is the real question of survival for these guys. I'll trust you VC's on the details of how you hatch and nurture this potential revolutionary technology, but to the rank and file customer, the reliability factor is make or break.

Sorry to say, I am skeptical. I switched to an altenate LEC (cable company) when competition broke out for my local service here in Atlanta and it didn't take long to experience an outage. Relying on your internet conectivity (Ask youself how often that goes out on you?) for something as vital as phone service just seems risky. If the tech bugs are all worked out as the Vonage's of the world say they are, they need to go and convince the potential customer base of this first and foremost.

My good friend and neighbor is making the switch to Vonage this week against my advice so I'll get to see first hand how it all goes. I'll let you know how it works out.

[hey]

depends where you are in N. Am.

if you're in rural area (or a summer resort area thats not the hamptons) you're pretty used to the phones going out...

and.. well some of us don't have home phones, so it doesn't matter...

generational issue, but house phones are dying