I believe that there are three barriers to adoption with this service. 1. You need to have a headset & microphone. 2. Your computer must be running. 3. The person you want to call must also be on-line.
Granted there are still situations where this may work well for some; calling someone who is already on-line, a co-worker perhaps, or quickly calling someone overseas and asking them to get on-line.
When they have the ability to connect you to a "regular" telephone there will be charges -- some local telco will want their termination fees after all... And now, suddenly, without ads and spyware, they need billing systems, support, etc. And they are suddenly competing with folks like Vonage and capturing the attention of regulators, again like Vonage.
On the whole, however, the *masses* don't care that their calls are carried via P2P VOIP or some other technology. They'll put up with a little work or invonvenience to get a deal on rates so long as the quality is there (and I'll give these folks the benefit of the doubt on that) but most folks generally aren't at their machine 24x7 to make and receive calls.
On the other hand, they already have a service that is always on, requires no waiting for a system and software to start, requires no presence awareness/coordination, that works well, and has a very simple interface. (i.e. Their existing landline or mobile phone.)
Thus, in the end, I think this this will be mostly used by folks avoiding expensive international tolls, or co-workers from time-to-time, but not much beyond that.
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amazon.com and epinions.com are also good places to go for user/buyer reviews.
Granted there are still situations where this may work well for some; calling someone who is already on-line, a co-worker perhaps, or quickly calling someone overseas and asking them to get on-line.
When they have the ability to connect you to a "regular" telephone there will be charges -- some local telco will want their termination fees after all... And now, suddenly, without ads and spyware, they need billing systems, support, etc. And they are suddenly competing with folks like Vonage and capturing the attention of regulators, again like Vonage.
On the whole, however, the *masses* don't care that their calls are carried via P2P VOIP or some other technology. They'll put up with a little work or invonvenience to get a deal on rates so long as the quality is there (and I'll give these folks the benefit of the doubt on that) but most folks generally aren't at their machine 24x7 to make and receive calls.
On the other hand, they already have a service that is always on, requires no waiting for a system and software to start, requires no presence awareness/coordination, that works well, and has a very simple interface. (i.e. Their existing landline or mobile phone.)
You may have to pay for services like Vonage, but it's a good deal and once it's set up it "just works" from what I understand. It looks like AT&T is going to affer a similar service as well.
Thus, in the end, I think this this will be mostly used by folks avoiding expensive international tolls, or co-workers from time-to-time, but not much beyond that.