More VoIP Predictions for 2005
Regular visitors to Voxilla have probably already seen my One Look Back, Two Steps Forward where I lay out several predictions for the world of VoIP in 2005 as well as look at the predictions Voxilla previously made one year ago. Andy’s thought was that 911 won’t be as much of an issue once the press woke up. He also says Quality of Service will go up in 2005.
Meanwhile, Skibare over at VoIP Nuke asks me when I think the industry will consolidate. As I said in the article, I don’t think it will be in 2005 and it may not even be in 2006. My reasoning for this is that if you look at the traditional long distance market since the breakup of AT&T in 1984, there have been a number of competitors in that market. Obviously, some do better than others, but at least until VoIP got popular, it was quite easy to make a decent living operating a long distance company. Now, those same long distance companies must adapt or perish in the new world order of VoIP. Those that do will continue to be successful, those that do not will be replaced by any number of newcomers.
Skibare also asked me who I thought which VoIP provider was going to dominate 2005. I don’t know, but I do know that the providers need to work harder to differentiate themselves with features and/or price. It’s getting increasingly more difficult to tell providers apart. For me, the biggest differentiator is: open credentials. As far as I know, BroadVoice is one of the few companies that offers an unlimited plans and will even give you the device credentials on request. Galaxy Voice is another, but their $20 plan is not nearly as good as BroadVoice’s is. I’m really surprised neither company plays the fact they share device credentials up. To me, that’s a big deal. Maybe it’s not to the masses, though.
