When you think about VOIP's adoption hurdles, there's the usual suspects: new technology, access to 911, the challenge using existing phone jack,s and lack of education about features. Another issue slightly off the radar screen is home alarm systems and whether they will work with VOIP rather than a regular phone line. Many consumers buy their alarm service from an ILEC so jumping to VOIP can be even more complex. Give Vonage credit for tackling this obstacle through a deal recently signed with Alarm.com, which provides home and office security service. Alarm.com has started to market both services to customers to break the ILEC grip on the business.
This deal is all part of VOIP's evolution from bleeding edge to a mainstream service. A colleague asked me yesterday what VOIP penetration will look like in five years given all the hype. At first, I said "10%, 15%" but then thought about how the cablecos are aggressively getting into VOIP and offered an estimate of 25%. The funny thing is I could be totally wrong - being too high or too low - or on the mark. At this point, it's difficult to determine how the market is going to unfold. The technology is way too new and the last thing anyone should do is get carried away on euphoria - particularly when you think about all the bullish e-commerce forecasts during the dot-com boom.