Tesco shelves VoIP

Tesco has announced that it will be shelving its VoIP phone service due the lack of customer use.  Their customers have until 27th April to find an alternative and the decision includes both the Internet Phone and Talk Wi-Fi products.

Voice Over Internet Protocol (VOIP) lets people make cheap calls via their broadband connection and has been tipped for years to be a serious replacement for standard home phone lines.  Nevertheless VOIP has failed to capture the mainstream UK consumer who has focused their attention on the mobile phone market in last few years.

Tesco is a big player, with a huge mainstream marketplace and if they have found it difficult to find success in VOIP it is likely a sign that the average consumer is not ready for this type of service yet.  This is a significant blow for other providers.     

Leon Perry of SynergyOne, a business telephony supplier that specialises in VOIP for business, told us:

"VOIP simply hasn’t found its feet in the consumer market.  Regardless of the cost upsides, the average homeowner just can’t get past the idea that they may need to ‘switch on their computer’ or ‘plug in the VOIP phone’, and picking up their landline or mobile is just so much easier.  It’s a different picture with business VOIP solutions. Businesses are more clued up and prepared for the set up, given the significant cost cuts they could make on their business calls."

Clearly the UK consumer is a long way from accepting VOIP, and in the meantime businesses are driving forward this technology.  We’ll have to watch this space for the future of consumer VOIP.

Posted by: Matt