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3
Useful VOIP Tips:
1-Contact your VOIP provider to ensure
that your home address is registered for its 911 service.
2-Although it may seem obvious, make sure your high-speed internet connection is
working properly. A non-existent VOIP connection is commonly related to an
internet connection that is not working properly rather than your VOIP provider.
3-It is important to place your VOIP working in low-traffic areas. If the
ethernet or power cords for your cable/dsl modem are in a high traffic area, or
an area susceptible to young children or pets, you run the risk of regularly
losing your phone connection.
VoIP is the Bell Killer; Small
Business Owners Are Grabbing Lucrative Voice Services Market Share
by:
Martin OKeeffe
When I entered the
fledgling cable TV industry in 1979, a newly minted college grad, I remember
thinking, WOW, everyone should be in this business. Even discounting those
ignorance-on-fire days, the feeling of being in an industry poised to take off
like cable did is one I'll never forget.
It's the same feeling I have now, marketing the rapidly emerging broadband voice
technology VoIP, and creating a vibrant new revenue stream for my business. Only
this time, it's not a new product introduction - the residential, landline voice
market in the US alone represents hundreds of billions of dollars in existing
consumer spending. It's consumer spending previously held captive by a relative
thimbleful of companies due to technology and regulatory constraints. Now this
market share "deck of cards" has been tossed up in the telecom whirlwind, with
enormous opportunities for individuals and small businesses to tap into huge,
recurring, monthly income streams.
The market research firm IDC says more than 10 million residential phone
customers are now using VoIP services, and it predicts that the number will grow
to 44 million in 2010. The Harvard Business Review, in a recent article predicts
not only rapid growth for VoIP but also profound, beneficial changes to the way
businesses operate, as a result of VoIP deployment. The impetus for such a
rapid, mass shift in market share is simple: Lots more features and functions
for about half the price the Bells (over)charge for unlimited local & LD.
And it's getting bigger. My company is already marketing VoIP video phones, and
flat-rate global calling plans that the big phone companies can only dream
about. And we represent the only VoIP provider in the US currently offering VoIP
service in Puerto Rico...WITH Puerto Rican phone #s. Also, right around the
corner is IPTV, internet-based video entertainment which promises the same
market share impact on the cable & satellite TV business.
Here's some of the things being said about VoIP:
"VoIP will irreversibly alter the world of communications. VoIP is the most
significant paradigm shift in the entire history of modern communications since
the invention of the telephone."
-- Michael Powell, Former FCC Chairman, Fortune Magazine - July 2004
"VoIP will be the largest transfer of wealth ever in American business history.
-- Business Week magazine, 2004
"There will be 50 million new subscribers to this service by 2008"
-- Harvard Business Review, September 2005
Want to learn more about VoIP? See how you can drastically reduce or even
eliminate your phone bill. Plus, learn how to plug your existing business into,
or create a new business around, these exciting new revenue streams, please
visit http://www.voipaware.com. For a
copy of the Harvard Business Review Article referenced above, please send a
request to: 1voipgeorgia@comcast.net.
About The Author
Martin O'Keeffe is the founder & president of iMEDIAbuy, LLC, a
telecommuniations consulting firm based in Atlanta, Ga.
