By Sharla Sikes

It’s hard to argue that VoIP use is growing worldwide. Lower costs attract customers across the market, but appear especially attractive to businesses. While growth figures  appear impressive, there’s more to the story.

Less than half of all businesses use VoIP, and numbers are even lower among small businesses. VoIP industry predictions look for huge growth figures in the next three years, but in order for those to become a reality, there are some hurdles that face the industry.

In its eighth annual industry report, iLocus found that “that there were estimated 37.5 million VoBB subscribers worldwide as of end 2006. 16.5 million new VoBB subscribers were added during 2006. US added almost 3 million new VoBB subscribers during 2006. France and Germany added about 2.15 million and 1.16 million new VoBB subscribers respectively during 2006. Other markets which were aggressive in expanding VoBB subscriber base in 2006 include Netherlands, Canada, and Italy.”

That all sounds great. But reliability, quality of service, confusing technology and security hold many businesses back from jumping on the VoIP bandwagon.

Public switched telephone network has been a communications mainstay for decades. Businesses look for the same infrastructure in VoIP, and find it lacking. Expectations of a phone system are high; when there’s no dial tone in the handset, users are frustrated and angry—more so than if their computer went belly up. Businesses depend on a reliable phone network to conduct their daily operations, and the unreliability of a few years ago still stains the perception of VoIP. Today’s VoIP performance outdistances that of a few years ago, but cautious businesses still hesitate to take the plunge.

In addition to reliability, businesses look for network quality of service. “VoIP is far more sensitive to network ‘glitches’ than data transmission is,” says ZDNet Asia. Dropped packets that result in spotty phone service will bring complaints from users on both ends. VoIP is subject to network congestion, corruption of data, delays in packet delivery and packets arriving out of sequence. All of these factors can cause disrupted calls and poor call quality. Additionally, the analog-to-digital conversion can cause distortions or echo effects. These issues aren’t insurmountable; but they do require a little more trouble to manage and a higher level of expertise. Available management solutions add to the cost of the system, lowering the savings that make VoIP attractive to begin with.

The complexity of VoIP communications is another deterrent. Network administrators may not be thrilled about the new terrain found in VoIP networks, and the terminology is confusing as well. That makes it tough for administrators to choose the best setup. IT staff is usually already overworked depending on the size of the business, and adding another burden to their workload may not seem so attractive no matter how much less expensive it may be. There are solutions, though.

Businesses can take advantage of consultants to set up their VoIP network, or use hosted VoIP services. Yet again, this reduces the cost savings of making the switch.

The security of VoIP networks presents an obstacle as well. Reports have circulated that warn of intercepted calls and eavesdropping. Traditional phone communications are not 100 percent secure, but require much effort and physical access to tap into. The routers and servers that VoIP calls must go through provide points where information can be accessed. Encryption can ensure that VoIP is as secure—or more so—than PSTN, but user concerns remain.

VoIP’s growth has been impressive, but in order for VoIP providers to see the market share hey hope for, these issues are some of the foremost they need to address—without cost increases that will push savings-seeking businesses back to a traditional phone system.

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