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2.7 Million VOIP Subscribers in the United States

Posted by samzenpus on from the new-phones dept.

prostoalex writes "There are 2.7 million paying VOIP customers in the United States, according to research by TeleGeography. The whole industry will generate $220 million this year, with Vonage leading as far as customer number."

6 of 116 comments (clear)

  1. What is even more interresting... by nordicfrost · · Score: 4, Interesting

    ...is how many "unpaying" VoIP there are in the US. I, for one, use services that are free, like Skype, to communicate with friends. Skype does have a payment service, but along with my friends I never need it. We kinda fly under the radar.

    I can't imagine that there are just a few of us that use systems like iChat, Skype etc. for voice communication.

    1. Re:What is even more interresting... by caseydk · · Score: 4, Interesting


      Yeah, I was thinking of that, but even more important:

      220 million/year / 2.7 people = less than $100/person/year

      Seems like pretty low revenue/user. I hope the margins are good.

  2. 911? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Insightful

    Is this still a shortcoming of VOIP? If so, that's a lot of people without a lifeline.

  3. Sounds fantastic! (...fantastic) by bigtallmofo · · Score: 5, Funny

    I was one of the early (...early) adopters of voice over IP (...pee) and I think {static} is great (...great).

    My hat's off to Vonage (...ojj)

    --
    I'm a big tall mofo.
  4. Something doesn't add up. by tdemark · · Score: 4, Insightful

    $220 million / 2.7 million users = $81.48 / year
    $81.48 per year / 12 month = $6.79 / month

    The average VOIP account only is only $6.79 per month? That doesn't seem right. I have one of the cheaper accounts available ($14.99, VoicePulse), so I am a little skeptical of that number.

    From the linked article, Vonage has 750,000 customers. Assuming they are all on the cheapest plan:

    750,000 x $14.99 x 12 = 134,910,000

    Which would mean for all non-Vonage VOIP customers:

    $85 million / 2 million customers / 12 months = $3.54 per month per customer

    Given the other players involved (VoicePulse, Voicewing, AT&T, Time Warner), I have a hard time believing that number.

    - Tony

  5. Why this is not sustainable... by cardpuncher · · Score: 4, Interesting

    "Operator, I'm trying to call my elderly mother, but there seems to be a fault..."

    "Sir, you'll have to have your mother run traceroute and then call us back."

    "How do I call my mother to tell her and how does she run traceroute?"

    "Perhaps you can download the instructions from our website and mail them to her?"