Just got back from a Toastmasters meeting in which one of the speakers had a speech titled “If the phone doesn’t ring it’s me”. He was discussing the concept of VOIP (Voice over IP). Mainly it was about Skype. After the speech I chatted with him for a few minutes. It got me thinking about the concept a little bit. There are quite a few options out there.
There are huge numbers of options available for having phone service over the Internet. Companies like Vonage have been doing it for years. There are many services online to allow you talk over the Internet such as Skype, Google Voice, and you could even include Google Talk and TokBox as options. Even many of the cable companies are using VOIP to provide local phone service to their customers. The cable companies are basically competing with Vonage but removing the need for the phone router in your home.
Do you see an end of the standard phone line? Is the time coming that the old bell phone interface will no longer exist on your house?
I think the end of the standard phone line is coming. It will take some time for it to go away. At first, it was other services that kept it around like fax or security systems. Now, I think that fax technology is living on borrowed time. Security systems are moving to communicating via IP. Many people are moving to mobile phones and VOIP solutions.
Of course, there will be phone lines for some time. I met a lady once who said that until the late 80s they still had party line service in their rural area. So, obviously it will take some time but I definitely think that the momentum is in place to replace this service with other alternatives.
What do you think? What’s your favorite VOIP service?
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