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Is VoIP the ?Next Big Thing? in Telecommunications?

Is VoIP the ?Next Big Thing? in Telecommunications?

VoIP or Voice Over Internet Protocol has been simmering for the past few years. This year the market has heated up. Many large businesses have jumped on the VoIP bandwagon and have realized savings of 50-percent or more off their phone bills. VoIP providers are competing to add to or replace large PBX systems for the corporations and add web conferencing capabilities plus wireless VoIP (wVoIP) over LAN's as well.

Hospitals and other large, fragmented workforces are discovering the value of using wireless VoIP phones to converse with one another quickly and efficiently while in different wings, floors or buildings of a large facility. This kind of wireless VoIP setup can have huge cost savings over cell phones and is more efficient that using pagers.

While business VoIP has caught on in the corporate landscape, residential VoIP is still trying to take hold. This is largely because of a couple of current disadvantages of VoIP. First, not all current VoIP systems have power backups. When the power goes out in a residence, the landline is still operational. Since VoIP works over a high-speed Internet connection, which requires power, if the power goes down, so does the VoIP connection. This will be of concern to many concerned about emergency situations. The good news is that many VoIP hardware providers are starting to deliver systems with power backup to address just this issue.

The second drawback of residential VoIP is that not all current VoIP service providers offer full, 24-7 emergency 911 service. After hour calls in Florida, may be mistakenly rerouted to Idaho for instance. This is also about to change. The Federal Communications Commission has mandated that all phone service providers offer e911 service as standard. According to the FCC, "All interconnected VoIP providers must automatically provide E9-1-1 services to all customers as a standard, mandatory feature without customers having to specifically request this service. VoIP providers may not allow their customers the option to "opt-out" of E9-1-1 service."

Clearly, though, residential VoIP is heading towards direct competition with the local phone companies' coveted landlines. A couple of years ago at a meeting in SBC's Publishing division, one of the executive managers cried, "Landlines, we need to stop losing landlines!" This was in response to cell phone companies taking away market share from the local Baby Bells. Now that VoIP is on the radar, the executive management teams for the local and long-distance phone companies must be huddling in their back offices, trying to figure out how they will stop the bleeding in the years to come.

With VoIP costing far less that traditional local and long-distance phone service and overcoming the last of the residential hurdles, one can be sure that consumers will soon be taking notice. Many will also start wearing t-shirt like "VoIP VIP" and "Got VoIP?" to herald in the new era in telecommunications.

- Marvin Bellnick writes for VoIP Service Providers, a company dedicated to publishing the latest happenings in the Voice Over IP industry.

In The News:

ITP VoIP Reaches Out to Travelers Looking to Make Internet Phone Calls
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ITP VoIP, an IP telephony service, is promoting its Global Cell, Softphone, and Calling Code Voice over IP add-ons for international callers. Voice over IP provider ITP VoIP is now promoting its telephone and cable phone service for international ...

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By Paul McDougall InformationWeek Microsoft has released an update to the Windows version of Skype that adds new video calling and social media capabilities to the VoIP client while patching some minor bugs. Skype 5.8.0.154 includes support for HD ...
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Broadvox GO! SIP Trunking Services now compliant with Matrix VoIP Gateways
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EVDOinfo
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By Qualcomm Incorporated SAN DIEGO, Feb. 2, 2012 /PRNewswire/ -- Qualcomm Incorporated (NASDAQ: QCOM) today announced that the Company, working with Ericsson, has successfully completed the first voice call handover from an LTE mobile network to a ...
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Patton Unveils High-Density Carrier-Grade/ VoIP Media Gateway Today at ITEXPO
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Announcing the 2048-channel SmartNode(TM) 10200 TDM+VoIP Media Gateway Series, Patton expands into the carrier-grade/high-density VoIP space. GAITHERSBURG, Md., Feb 01, 2012 (BUSINESS WIRE) -- --SmartNode(TM) VoIP. . . more than just talk!

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Revolabs Unveils FLX VoIP
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SUDBURY, MA, Jan 31, 2012 (MARKETWIRE via COMTEX) -- Visit Revolabs at ISE 2012, Booth 12B92 - Revolabs Inc. today introduced the Revolabs FLX(TM) VoIP, the first wireless conference phone designed for VoIP networks. Supporting a wide variety of IP ...

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Quakes provide opening for new system
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Startup business telephone systems company Phone VoIP was born out of the Canterbury earthquakes with its founders saying it should do well in an environment where fibre is making inroads into the traditional copper telephony links. VoIP is an acronym ...
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IPsmarx Announces New Hosted VoIP Platform at IT EXPO East 2012
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By Laura Stotler Extending its reach to service providers and resellers who wish to offer hosted VoIP services, IPsmarx (News - Alert) Technology has announced the RAPID IP-PBX system. The company rolled out the new all-in-one platform at IT EXPO East ...
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Qualcomm VoIP Chip Could Signal the End of Metered Cell Calls
Voxilla.com
By Voxilla Staff Engadget and others today picked up on an acronym and initialism-laden press release from chip-maker Qualcomm about the â€œfirst successful VoIP-over-LTE to WCDMA handoff.â€ Qualcomm's marketing folks may not have put it in an ...

General Telecom Launches Private Label VoIP Initiative to Enable Resellers to ...
SBWire (press release)
Miami, FL -- (SBWIRE) -- 02/02/2012 -- As a premier provider of outsourced telecom solutions to carriers around the world since 1991, General Telecom today announced the immediate availability of its Full Service VoIP Concierge Partner Program, ...

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Is VoIP the ?Next Big Thing? in Telecommunications?

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