Voice Over IP: Why it will never be free
Voice is just another application, so it should be free, right?
We’ve all heard this, haven’t we? That in the world of IP, Voice over IP (VoIP) is just like email, or any other application that traverses the internet. Oh, and since email is “free” voice will eventually be free, right?
Ummm…Not so fast.
Here’s why we believe voice calling will never be a “free” application like email
Voice, is a real-time, synchronous communication method. When we are talking to each other face to face we are able to hear the person speaking and can respond instantly to what they are saying. Telephony has enabled this to happen across thousands and thousands of miles with almost no discernible delay.
Today, you can be in Manhattan and have a real-time conversation via the phone with a person in Melbourne, Australia. This real-time, synchronous nature of voice communication sets an expectation amongst the marketplace that is different from email or even texting (asynchronous based communications).
We can think of at least three broad based categories of communication where real-time, synchronous voice communications, are essential:
Emergency Communications: When disaster strikes, doesn’t everyone want to talk to someone in real-time to help them get through the disaster? Do you want to wait for a text response if you need an ambulance or your house is on fire?
Government Communications: Governments need to talk to other governments and businesses to coordinate. If there is an economic problem, a misunderstanding, a need for assistance, they don’t want to wait or rely on asynchronous communications
Business Communications: Businesses thrive on the ability to interact with partners, vendors, customers, and prospects. Businesses see value in being able to communicate in real-time via voice. They employ all the other communication methods as well, but the one they value the most is real-time synchronous communication.
So, because of this inherent, obvious need for real-time communications, telecommunications carriers build networks with certain degrees of quality and performance thresholds that meet the needs of the markets they serve. In doing so, they need to charge a fee for building, delivering, and sustaining a real-time voice service. Otherwise, if they couldn’t charge for it, then it would be best effort and, in an emergency, whether it was a life, government, or business emergency, best effort is just not sufficient.
That is why we believe voice will never truly be “free” and there will always be some economic exchange of value between the carrier and the user of the network.
What do you think? Do you agree or disagree?
