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Vonage Shut Down
March 23, 2007
There are rumors flying that Vonage will be shut down. Unfortunately as this company is a poster child for VoIP, what happens to it could have negative impact on the industry at large. This is too bad. There are a number of companies in IP communalizations doing a great job and making great money.
For example Acme Packet is a publicly traded company who is doing well.
One thing worth pointing out is Vonage focused too much and still focuses too much on marketing. I can’t believe I of all people is saying this. But there have been times I picked up five magazines for a long flight and saw Vonage ads in each magazine. Now obviously this is too much advertising.
Still, it is easy for me to criticize the company in hindsight. The problem is the profitably numbers were terrible because of this massive spend level.
The point is, Vonage did great things for the VoIP industry and it seems it may do as much negative for the market as it has done positive. Actually, the blame here should rest more on Verizon than Vonage.
One other point; the PR team at Vonage (or at least one person at the company I have referenced in the past) has been very unresponsive to most editors and bloggers I have spoken with.
For all the money the company has spent on marketing, its PR efforts have been fairly negative according to most people in the industry I know. In fact I can’t name a company with less responsive PR. Again, this is not across the board.
Why does this matter? Because so many of the people who feel as if they have been wronged by the company’s PR department (bloggers, reporters, etc) who seem to have a vendetta against the company.
This is too bad and to be honest, although writers shouldn’t have egos, in the real world everyone has one (including me).
Let’s just hope all this bad will doesn’t put the company in the grave before its time.
I truly hope Vonage makes it out of this mess soon and finds a way to undo the damage Verizon has done.
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Good News For VoIP
March 23, 2007
Recently the U.S. appeals court upheld a decision that exempted VoIP providers from many state regulations and oversight.
The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Eighth Circuit backed a 2004 decision by the FCC that exempted VoIP telephone companies from rate regulation and from being required to seek certification before offering service.
The court upheld the FCC's order and said an issue raised by the state of New York on state regulation of fixed Internet phone services was "not ripe for review."
The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Eighth Circuit backed a 2004 decision by the FCC that exempted VoIP telephone companies from rate regulation and from being required to seek certification before offering service.
The court upheld the FCC's order and said an issue raised by the state of New York on state regulation of fixed Internet phone services was "not ripe for review."
From a complexity standpoint having regulation of VoIP vary in every state would be challenging for providers. It just doesn’t make sense for every state to regulate IP communications.
VoIP has brought the cost of communications way down for consumers and in a world where virtually everything gets more expensive, this technology allows consumers and businesses to save money. Of course politicians in many states have their own interests at heart. They realize excessive regulation will increase consumer costs.
Of course they just don’t seem to care about what is best for consumers and this is a real shame.
Other comments on this matter worth reading are from Tom Keating and the Associated Press.
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