VoIP expected to increase marketshare

VOIP is like the little technology that could, and it’s almost there.

In the past, it has been condemned for its below standard voice quality. It has been just as highly praised for its affordability.

This double standard has made the corporate community hesitant to jump aboard the VOIP train. Consumers have been quicker to respond despite the potential downsides.

There are two types of VOIP services: facilities-based and client-based. Vonage seems to be on its way to cornering the facilities-based market, with Time Warner Cable closing in fast. This VOIP service is very similar to traditional telephony and seems to be the more popular of the two.

Client-based VOIP typically requires that the user remain in front of the computer in order to be able to send and receive calls. Skype is the market winner in the client-based VOIP arena.

In the US, over nine million homes currently have VOIP users. Many of those homes have multiple VOIP servers. Almost half of these users have discontinued their traditional phone service in favor of VOIP – showing that the internet telephony is beginning to make a dent in the traditional telephony market.

An interesting note is that around 50% of the home users have reported that they use their residential VOIP service at least partially for business purposes.

As the key disadvantages of existing VOIP service are corrected, it is very likely that the VOIP share of the telephony market will continue to increase.