Our local TV station reported that on Monday morning some 200 employees of a call service were locked out of their building and were informed they were all terminated. The TV newscaster interviewed several of these folks who were totally shocked and rightfully so, since they had received no prior warning that the company would be closing. I then read several news reports that this was not just a local company closing but that this was one of the call centers for SunRocket, a company with 200,000 customers, that had pulled the plug on its VoIP operations without notifying anyone.
So what is VoIP? VoIP stands for Voice over Internet Protocol, and is basically a phone service over the Internet. If you have a broadband Internet connection you can get phone service delivered through your Internet connection instead of from your local phone company. The advantage of VoIP is that normally it costs less than traditional phone service provided by companies such as AT&T, provides unlimited servic, and you can call anyone just like your normal phone service with the same quality of clarity.
Most of us are familiar with the TV advertisements for Vonage, which is the nation’s largest VoIP provider. For $24.95 a month you can get unlimited local and long distance service plus more. (Vonage site here). I have been reluctant to try Vonage since Verizon has sued the company over alleged patent violations. Also it seems that Vonage has been reporting losses since it first went public.
As more cable companies start to offer VoIP service, this will further put pressure on the smaller companies as well. I know our local company is in the process of laying new fiber optic lines and will be offering phone service by the end of this summer.
So what is your opinion? Do you have consumer VoIP and how do you like it?
Comments welcome.
[tags]sunrocket, vonage, voip[/tags]