My former boss, David Churbuck had some thoughts and I thought, well time to share them with you…
Consumer reluctance on VoIP is, I think, due to a few things.
1. Switching costs. Inertia is difficult thing to break. Some segment of the population will switch broadband providers or long-distance carriers are the mere whiff of a savings or some frequent flier mileage. Not for most.
2. Features. Your average Joe needs to see a compelling feature set, other than cost, to drive the cross-over. VoIP has lots of compelling office applications, but no one is marketing any “must-have” residential features.
Porting your existing phone number is probably another hurdle to switching to VOIP. Currently it takes Vonage about 20 days to port a number. In the meantime you must use a temporary number, which is not such a bad thing but can be a large worry for some. I will be porting my number to voip in the next week so this has been a topic on my mind.
Of course, i think the big issue is that all these steps add to the overall anxiety about VoIP. Its not as much as the inertia of the whole thing which is going to slowdown the little operators, and turn things in favor of the cable and telephone companies who end up selling voip packages
Another problem: a lot of us in the NE remember last year’s blackout and worry that–should we switch to VOIP–we’ll be out phone service if we’re out electricity, That’s a real problem. TShould the power go out again — or when the next terrorist attack happens — I want to know that I’ll have phone service. once the VOIP provlder s figure out a way to ensure power, I’ll switch.