VoIP: Here, There, Everywhere
<<<... However, that geographic freedom also leads to one of the most prominent obstacles to widespread adoption of the technology -- the inability of the current 911 emergency system to correctly handle VoIP calls. When callers dial 911 from a standard phone, their location is automatically included to speed dispatching of emergency personnel. Since VoIP calls can be routed anywhere, that geographic information isn't available.
Other drawbacks of switching to VoIP include the need for a working Internet connection. If callers are having technical problems with their Net connection, then VoIP phone service won't work either. A reliable Internet connection also requires power, another disadvantage of VoIP. Traditional phones are powered by the phone circuit, and work when the power's out. However, once those barriers are overcome, analysts say VoIP has the potential to offer a lot of options to consumers that circuit-switched phone services do not.
"It's data," said Peterson. "Once you have the phone call as IP packets, you can do almost anything. You can have five different phone numbers come over the same connection. When your in-laws visit, they can move their number to ring at your house for the week. Once the market share for VoIP is there, we're going to see a lot of innovation." Rodriguez agrees that VoIP is the future.
"Two years ago, an infinitesimal percentage of phone calls happened using IP," he said. "Now, more than 11 percent of calls use IP networks for some portion of the conversation. In 15 years, the standard phone network will no longer exist, because of the efficiency of IP telephony and its low cost. The IP network will be the phone system." Until that happens, consumers can look for lower prices and more features from whoever provides their phone service, as the battle for their dial tone intensifies.