» VoIP

Report: Growth and Challenges ahead for VoIP Market

Abby Johnson — Wed, 27 Jul 2011 13:46:34 +0000

While VoIP has gotten more popular in recent years, a new report from research firm Point Topic predicts that it will grow into a $40 billion market by 2015. The report looked at global fixed line services, which does not include services such as Skype.

Oliver Johnson, the CEO of Point Topic, spoke with us and said that the real growth would be in services such as Skype. He also told us that this growth should be taken with caution since there are many challenges in the space. For instance, the VoIP market faces technical and mobile challenges as well as pushback from regulators.

Despite the challenges, Johnson expressed optimism about the future of VoIP.

The Story of Jeff Pulver and His Work with VoIP

Abby Johnson — Tue, 24 May 2011 13:59:06 +0000

Jeff Pulver is widely recognized for his work with advocating VoIP and social media. As he explained to WebProNews, his successes in these areas date back to his youth as he tested various ways to communicate.

He went on to create both the Voice on the Net (VON) conference series and the 140 Characters Conference as well as co-found Vonage. In addition, he is also credited with the FCC ruling, which is known as the “Pulver Order,” that acknowledged Free World Dialup as an unregulated information service.

As he continues his work with both VoIP and social media, Pulver told us, “At the end of the day, I’m all about connecting people with people whether I’m doing it on the telephone [or] on the computer.”

Google Voice Open to More Users

Abby Johnson — Fri, 26 Jun 2009 17:07:33 +0000

The much-anticipated Google Voice service is now available to more people. Yesterday, Google began sending out invites to those who have been requesting access to the free service. In May, Google reportedly reserved 1 million phone numbers through Level 3 Communications, which caused many people to speculate that a public launch was imminent. While the announcement does not signify a completely open, public launch, it does allow more users to enjoy the service.

Google Voice, formerly known as Grand Central, lets users to unify all their phone numbers under one single number. All calls can be routed through that single number and can simultaneously ring home, work, or mobile phones. Voice also contains advanced voicemail features that include message transcripts. You can sign up for your invite here.

In the short amount of time since Google’s announcement, Google Voice has already received criticism. Some oppose the new number that is created since outbound calls may not be recognized by friends and colleagues. Privacy concerns have also been raised since Google has the ability to access all voice conversations and voicemail. For Gmail users however, this is nothing new since Google can already access similar information.

What about you? Do these concerns worry you? Or do the concerns seem small when you calculate the convenience of Google Voice into the equation?