30 November 2007
As Mobile VoIP
grows in the coming years, users will get on board via 3G networks
provided by cellular handsets rather than over Wi-Fi.
That's the word from research firm Disruptive Analysis,
which predicts 3G VoIP will draw more than 250 million users by 2021,
as compared to less than 100 million voice users on Wi-Fi.
There
will be technological and business hurdles to overcome, but the move to
3G VoIP ultimately is "inevitable," according to Disruptive Analysis's
founder Dean Bubley.
In the
first place, Wi-Fi simply is not up to the job, Bubley said. "It's fine
in certain locations but has problems with continuous coverage
indoor/outdoor," he noted. Moreover, "most Wi-Fi is not
carrier-controlled—especially in enterprise—which means a whole raft of
separate login procedures, or security configurations."