Aussies set to try VoIP at home
Telstra's getting jumpy as all signs are pointing to an explosion in the number of Australians trying Voice over IP services at home this year. Will you be one of them?
Commentary In an ironic twist, less than 24 hours after we posted our feature "Is it time to ditch your landline?", Telstra announced three new homeline pricing plans which are designed to stick a finger in the dyke of its leaking fixed-line revenue.
It may be a case of too little, too late, as our story investigates the growing number of options available for both voice and Internet access without relying on copper wiring to connect you to the local telephone exchange.
And signs are that the trickle of water leaking through the dyke is set to become a flood. CNET.com.au recently partnered with Connection Research Services (CRS) to survey 3,320 households in Australia about how they are adopting digital technologies. We'll share more results with you in the coming weeks, but some of the findings will rock Telstra even further.
Not only did ninety-eight percent of the respondents own a mobile phone, nearly ten percent have already experimented with Voice over IP (VoIP) and another third are considering doing so this year.
That's an astonishing result if it extrapolates to the population at large -- a third of all Australians looking to make phone calls on the Internet! We certainly saw a big VoIP push by vendors at the CeBIT show in May, and we've got lots more reviews on VoIP services and handsets in the pipeline, but what are your experiences?
Have you tried a VoIP solution yet? Why or why not? If you're a VoIP fan, how much money do you think you're saving? Share your experiences with us below!