Over 20 million VoIP subscribers in the United States

VoIP users take note—you now command a noticeable share of wireline telephone service in the United States. The Federal Communications Commission reports 21 million subscriptions to Voice over Internet Protocol accounts provided by companies like Vonage, as well as the telcos and cable providers.

These represented 13 percent of the nation's 162 million wired connections as of December 31, 2008. The overwhelming majority were residential. Only one percent of those VoIP lines served businesses.

But VoIP still represents a relatively small percentage of the total number of landline phone subscriptions. The majority are still of the traditional switched access variety, carried over copper wire systems—141 million of these, all told. They count for 87 percent of all the lines (48% residential; 39% business accounts).

Has VoIP use significantly expanded over the last few years? "Interconnected VoIP service represents an important and rapidly growing part of the U.S. voice service market," the agency's report says.

We're sure that's true, but the Commission's next survey will offer more details on this growth, because 2008 was the first year that the FCC required carriers to report detailed data on the service (the previous report hardly mentioned VoIP at all).

The latest count does break down VoIP use in some interesting ways. It notes that the great majority of consumers who buy VoIP subscriptions do so via some kind of broadband bundle package involving TV, Internet and phone service. In 2008, 89.8 percent of those who purchased service from a big incumbent carrier and 79.4 percent who subscribed to a smaller carrier or cable company got their VoIP in this fashion.

The incumbents usually offered their VoIP via "DSL or Other Wireline" technology (98.1%) and the non-incumbents, mostly cable companies, provided it via coaxial lines.

This survey doesn't cover the growth of wireless telephone service. But the agency's last report cited 255.3 million wireless subscribers at the end of June 2008—17 million, or 7 percent, more than a year earlier. By Matthew Lasar


FREE sample (VDSL/ xDSL filters, Connectors, Cable & Wire harness, power supply charger)


Original Article Here