On 7/26/07, SIP <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: > Bah. VoIP is hardly dead unless you're stuck in the US. There, it's > been legislated out of existence by telecoms that could no longer > compete. And where they've failed in legislation, they've succeeded in > dubious lawsuits. > > But then... that's why VoIP adoption in the US is screamingly low > compared to the rest of the world. France. Germany. The UK. Even Latvia > has higher VoIP adoption rates. > most of those companies also have higher costs to call from a traditional phone, although that is starting to change. VoIP in many places is embraced because it offers cheaper calling, more unlimited plans, etc - things that you get default with most US POTS calling plans.
There is also a remarkably low outlay of broadband in the US, while its getting better the US has fallen fairly low on the list, according to *shudder* wikipedia the US is 12th. (Wikipedia - where any crackhead can make an offical looking entry and others will repeat it as gospel - consider this a warning it may not be accurate - I dont care to check the cites to see if they are even reputable). The cited source does list the US lower, with France and the UK being higher. Germany is lower, but its 1/4 the US number which I believe gives it a higher per capita rating. Latvia isnt on that list. Then there is the age issue, over 50% of the US is over 40, and those people by in large are less likely to embrace newer technologies. While that isnt true of everyone, there are a lot of people that want to continue doing things the way that they always have. Why do you think that vonage spent so much money on some commercials showing older people with their service and saying how easy it was to set up? Legislation and lawsuits arent the only reason, it may influence it some (I dont think it does that much personally but have nothing to back that claim up). There are many factors that come into play. The 20% of americans that have broadband is probably the biggest factor, unlimited long distance on mobile phones is another - something you dont see often in europe (its starting, its just not as common yet). VoIP adoption in america is still growing, a sign that lawsuits and legislation havent scared everyone off from providing the service. -- Trixter http://www.0xdecafbad.com Bret McDanel Belfast +44 28 9099 6461 US +1 516 687 5200 http://www.trxtel.com the phone company that pays you! _______________________________________________ --Bandwidth and Colocation Provided by http://www.api-digital.com-- asterisk-biz mailing list To UNSUBSCRIBE or update options visit: http://lists.digium.com/mailman/listinfo/asterisk-biz
