VoIP is exciting technology (28th/April/2005)

I’m very excited about VoIP technology – It’s going to change the whole telephony business-model. There are a number of killer-apps for each element of technology, email is a killer-app (even my mum now uses it), Wi-Fi is an up and coming killer-app and I think that VoIP will become a killer-app. I don’t understand how BT are going to compete with a potentially free method of talking (assuming an open-source VoIP software-suite will emerge). The only things that let the telephone-providers have control are:

Not open-source 🙁

People will need an ISP People will need to rent a physical Internet connection (i.e. ADSL phoneline, cable, satellite, Power of Electricity cable). People will need a telephone number People will need to be able to reach an emergency number (999)

The 3rd point is debatable. My mum will need a telephone number but if two people with VoIP want to talk to each other, they can use each others usernames to set up a call without needing a telephone number. Imagine using a Wi-Fi PDA as a phone around our house? and when Wi-Fi is available everywhere, mobiles could be replaced by VoIP enabled PDA’s. The phone would be redundant, power to the computer.