All VoIP, All The Time

Spring VON 2005 show in San Jose certainly lived up to its billing. The news and announcements came fast and furious. Most notably, AOL announced AOL Internet Phone Service,with pricing and availability details to come in the next 30 days. AOL chief executive Jon Miller said the new service won't just replace existing phone service, but will also use its e-mail and instant-messaging chops to bring more features to voice communications.

But it wasn't all products, all the time, at the show. A panel warned that telecom regulation reform most likely won't occur in 2005. Conflicts between politicians will probably delay the typically incomprehensible process of drafting new telecom legislation, panelists said. Are you shocked, simply shocked!

Away from the show, there was plenty of VoIP news as well. Multiple surveys showed that there's huge pent-up demand for VoIP from both consumers and enterprises: