eFiles: December 11, 2001

The Internet Speaks

Voice over ip will begin to come in loud and clear over the next five years, says a recent survey of 162 network engineers and other VOIP experts. In fact, 91 percent of survey respondents said that 15 percent to 20 percent of all voice traffic will run over data networks—including the Internet—within three to five years, according to the VOIP 2000 study by Feldman Communications Inc., of Annapolis, Md.

More than 90 percent said they believe VOIP will be widely used by e-commerce companies to reduce inbound toll-free call costs and to provide customer service options such as live chat. More than 43 percent of industry experts anticipate that within the next five years, one-half of all inbound toll-free voice traffic will run over the Internet.

Power Users Say Wap, Pow, Zap!

Most users of wap devices are consumers looking to find the nearest source of nonfat café latte or the latest football score, right? Wrong, says a survey of 1,825 Wireless Application Protocol users recently conducted by Strand Consult, of Copenhagen, Denmark. Most users, the survey found, take advantage of WAP at work, with 46 percent using WAP phones for business-related purposes and 41 percent using them to access e-mail. The study concluded that companies hoping to take advantage of WAP need to work to understand how to best market wireless value-added services to their users.

And WAP is gaining popularity: 81 percent of those surveyed said they use portals, and 53 percent think mobile commerce is safe.