VOIP Use Surging - Necessary for Hotels?

Everybody loves VOIP. It's the sexiest thing to happen to communications since the cell phone. New hotels are being built every day anticipating the VOIP wave to come, but the big stumbling block to its deployment to the retrofit hospitality market has been the fact that no one's figured out how to make money on it yet - or at least not enough to offset the cost of implementation, and the disruption to revenue that accompanies re-cabling an older property.

Well, we'll be talking here on HotelTech Expert about some of the alternatives available to deliver broadband and VOIP without re-cabling, but the first thing properties have to do is decide whether they believe VOIP, and its enabler broadband, are even necessary in the first place.

The fact is that broadband has been optional for most properties, as it is considered a form of entertainment by guests. But that's changing, as the surge in VOIP applications use by businesses means that your guest next year, or next month, will regard broadband as a communications necessity - VOIP requires it. Place your bets, gentlemen (and women).

FCC report shows interconnected VoIP use growing rapidly

By Gautham Nagesh - 01/12/11 02:02 PM ET

The number of consumers using voice services over their broadband connections grew by five million in 2009 while the number of traditional local phone lines decreased by 10 percent, according to a new report from the Federal Communications Commission.

Interconnected Voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP) services are offered by cable and telephone companies such as Vonage and Comcast to enable consumers to use their broadband connections to place and receive phone calls like a traditional phone service.

As of December 2009 there were 127 million traditional switched-access phone lines in service and 26 million interconnected VoIP subscribers. The latter figure grew 22 percent during 2009, with the vast majority being residential subscriptions.

According to the report, the increase in VoIP subscribers is not enough to offset the decline in local phone lines, which is mainly attributed to the public's increasing reliance on wireless devices as their primary phone lines. Eighty-seven percent of VoIP subscribers relied on cable modems, while only 13 percent had DSL, fiber optic or other wired connections.

FCC report shows interconnected VoIP use growing rapidly - The Hill's Hillicon Valley