Up to 20 million could be wired to Internet telephony by 2000

When Internet telephony was introduce in 1995, it was rapidly embraced by hobbyists with high-octane PCs. With a reasonably priced client software application, a speaker, and a microphone, they could talk through a PC to another PC user with the same equipment. Running over a basic Internet connection, the sound was dreadful, but the costs were negligible--usually 80 percent cheaper than for a traditional call.

While impractical and unreliable, it captured the attention of many entrepreneurs and raised the hackles of many established telecommunications companies. Though the media latched on to the idea of free phone calls, the industry has much more ambitious plans for Internet telephony.

The broader promise of the technology is that it will bring voice communications to all IP-based networks  to the Internet, corporate intranets, and extranets. And as voice traffic migrates to IP networks, proponents say, we will come closer to the notion of a single packet-switched network that carries all forms of communication.

Internet telephony is impacting, in a major way, the entire telecommunications industry that could have as many as 16 million users by 2000.

next