Fergie's Tech Blog

Vonage: VoIP Pioneer Could be Left in the Dust

A New York Times article by Ken Belson and Matt Richtel, via The International Herald Tribune, reports that:

Thanks to its relentless marketing and low prices, Vonage has quickly become synonymous in the United States with phone service over the Internet. But when Brandon Sehlke and his wife moved into a new home in San Antonio, Texas, two weeks ago, they chose a new Internet phone service from Time Warner Cable, not Vonage or AT&T, his old provider.

The deal Time Warner offered was just too good: Phone service with a television package and a broadband connection for a promotional price of $89.95 a month.

"Getting all three services was better than anything else we could find," said Sehlke, a dental student in San Antonio. "I briefly looked into Vonage. But paying $90 for all that was hard to pass up."

As more people make similar choices, Vonage's run as the industry leader is likely to end. While Vonage, with 1.6 million subscribers in the United States, Canada and Britain, is still used by more Americans than any other Internet phone company, Time Warner, Cablevision, Cox and others are rapidly catching up, using their marketing heft and their ability to offer bundles of services.

posted by Fergie @ 5/22/2006 01:05:00 PM