Good morning, Darkman.
Darkman90808 wrote:Any thought about how this my apply to Google Voice? I've always been concerned Google would drop it someday.
That's just it. Who knows?!
Each time I've found a decent telephony solution, it gets blown up either by the whim of the company owner (in the case of magicJack), market volatility (in the case of Skype) or just plain killed (in the case of Gizmo5). Literally all of my savings in eliminated monthly fees goes out the window in buying new equipment and spending one month out of each year implementing a new telephony solution and working out the kinks. It's just doesn't make any sense to me.
So, I increase my annual wireless telephony costs by USD360.00/annum and needn't worry about market volatility (Verizon Wireless isn't going away anytime soon), whims of the company owner (Verizon Wireless' subscriber base is too large for them to say,
okay, effective immediately we're no longer supporting CDMA wireless telephones and/or Verizon Wireless exiting the wireless telephony business altogether.
If you ask me, the Voice-over-IP industry killed itself. The only stable player in the market place has been Vonage so the folks who opted in on Vonage and renegotiated their terms as the telephony marketplace evolved were smart. Spending one month of my free time out of each year monkeying around with a new VoIP solution isn't my idea of fun. I want something that I don't have to reinvent every year.
In my opinion, the reason Google deep-sixed Gizmo5 is because Google believes that the trend toward personal telephony is wireless, not landline or SIP-based VoIP. I believe Google views Gizmo5 as a turnkey solution with no long-term viability in favor of untethered personal communications. And, do you know what? I think Google is right. People are replacing land lines with wireless telephones in droves. Most people aren't fussing around with ATA's and SIP gadgets. That pleasure is reserved for us geeks who enjoy learning new things (and torturing ourselves in the process.)
Google has deep pockets and Google Voice is a project. I think Google wants to figure out how they can be a complete 360° personal communications portal for consumers. That means e-mail, instant messaging and voice/video telephony. That's the direction Google Voice/Gmail/GoogleTalk seems to be taking. Once Google has a significant subscriber base using Google services as their personal communications portal, the money is in the data mining. That's my take anyway.
I'll continue to use Google Voice with my Verizon wireless telephone. But, now I'm limited to only two Google Voice telephone numbers since they restrict the number of times we can use forwarding telephone numbers. I already have my Verizon Wireless telephone setup as a home telephone on Google Voice so I can forward to the wireless telephone from two different Google Voice numbers.
All of the extra numbers I had going to my two Gizmo5 telephone lines will go out the window.
I thought about exploring starting up a SIP-based telephone company, but what's the point? Vonage has been hit hard by the evolving personal telephony market and people just aren't moving in that direction. The direction is wireless (untethered). In my market alone we've had about four or five wireless telephony start-ups in the past 24 months. What does that tell you? Think
untethered. That's where it's headed.
As much as I hate the idea of paying USD69.99/month for unlimited voice to Verizon Wireless, it's actually going to be a good deal in the long run since I won't have to reinvent my personal telephony solution once-a-year. T-Mobile increased their unlimited rate plan from USD49.99/month to USD59.99/month. There are other local start-up wireless providers with lower-cost unlimited rate plans, but poorer coverage, too. The thing to watch will be pricing. 18 months ago, Verizon Wireless' unlimited rate plan was USD99.99/month and T-mobile's unlimited rate plan was USD49.99/month. We'll just have to wait and see what consumers like.
One thing is clear. Consumers like being untethered. That's the real reason entities like Gizmo5 are a dying breed. I think Vonage will remain because they're the market leader in the SIP world and the only high-profile stable option alternative to Comcast and Verizon FiOS; both of which provide telephony service ridiculously inexpensively if one purchases a bundled package as most consumers do. I kind of get the feeling that my dry DSL loop might be the only one in Exton, Pennsylvania as Internet-only customers are probably a dying breed, too.
If I had my druthers, I'd like to see more competition in the broadband marketplace. Today, we have Comcast and Verizon and that's it. Clear doesn't count because Comcast has a piece of it. Clear is essentially Comcast wireless for Internet access. More competition in the broadband marketplace is a tough thing to get though. But, that's something I'll be watching.
Anyway, it's a lovely Saturday and I'm getting early spring fever. I'm getting too old to worry about which VoIP solution I'll implement this month at home, too. Hehe. So, remember to have fun and keep learning!
Remember that! 