Monday, December 17, 2012

Google Leaves Voip Service out of its Fiber Revolution

By Saul Saresi


The monster that is 'Google' has shocked the digital world by deciding not to include a Voip service option in its new Fiber package which it will be unleashing onto an unsuspecting world early next year after early trials have shown that Google is onto another winner.

The reasoning's behind the decision are not entirely clear, but the response to its test service across Kansas City (currently the only area where the service has been trialed) have proved to be hugely successful and ensured Google that the service will be equally well received when opened up to the rest of the country in the coming weeks.

It seems that there are two main reasons for Google not including Voip in their package, the first being that there are a multitude of varying regulations concerning telecommunication billing requirements, and the second that there is a certain difficulty in combining the necessary voice and data into a single package.

The 'special rules' that they are referring to are the numerous federal and state regulations in place that vary drastically from one state to the next, and in particular the different billing systems to support phone services due to the differing tax state calculations.

Maybe one of the over-riding factors in their decision was the ease with which customers could add a Voip service to their package by simply purchasing an Ooma or MagicJack and registering with any one of the service providers already on the market.

David Greenbaum of GigaOM explains that: "Because many people still require a landline to run their alarm and fax systems, it would prove to be an additional hassle for them to switch, even though, in theory, both can be done relatively easilyvia a third party IP phone service over the internet".

So all things considered, Google have obviously done (substantial) research and decided that the world at large is still not ready for Voip to be rolled out en mass - and given the resources at their disposal it would seem highly unlikely that Google have mis-interpreted the marketplace.

And even if they have, i doubt that they are going to lose too much sleep over it. Given their resources they could upgrade their service quicker than any of their competitors and still control the market. The one thing that is for sure is that their competitors are going to have to pull their fingers out to keep Google fiber from commanding the entire broadband and telecommunications market just as they have with the world of online search and advertising. And you certainly wouldn't bet against that happening.




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