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Supermarket giant Tesco is vowing to bring VoIP to the masses with the launch of its own pay-as-you-go internet calling service. Britain’s largest supermarket says “complicated technology” and “confusing jargon” means talking over the internet is largely the domain of techies. But “all that is set to change” Tesco said, as ‘ease of use’ and ‘great value calls’ should bring the technology to the “mass market for the first time ever.” If its predictions are sound, 2006 will be the “year of the internet phone” – a distinction pointed out by Tesco to rival companies that choose not to provide customers with a Web-only phone. Once registered, Tesco customers not only receive a slimline handset, but also a personal VoIP phone number, allowing them to make cheap calls when they move address or work remotely. Within the UK, calls will cost just 2p a minute – the same fee for phoning international hotspots such as Canada, US and Australia, while UK calls to mobiles are priced at 10p a minute. Tesco has shown that all of its tariffs for phoning the US, Australia, France and Canada are cheaper than BT’s off peak and peak charges, for customers on the telecom provider’s Together Option 1. It claims Tesco Internet phones are “more easy to use than traditional fixed line” alternatives, and added its VoIP offering would “slash call costs” for just over 8 million broadband users. BT has gone on record defending Tesco’s claims, reportedly alerting consumers to how they could face call charges 21-times greater than BT, for UK-to-UK calls placed from a Tesco phone during the evening. Telecoms experts at analysis firm Ovum agree Tesco’s costing model for Internet calls is less of a bargain than it may first appear. “Tesco's pricing is simple, but not particularly cheap - better offers can be found from other VoIP providers (including BT itself for certain types of phone call) so we would expect Tesco to have a longer-term pricing strategy in mind,” said Ovum’s Mark Main, in a statement. He added Tesco would need to manage its service rigorously because of its reliance upon third-party broadband connections. Similar to existing VoIP packages, concern was expressed that the £20 start-up kit for the service, comprising USB handset and PC phone client software, could impractically tie phone users to their computers. “Using a PC as an intermediary device does not lend itself to the best convenience or quality - as is the case with similar 'soft-client' VoIP services, the PC has to be switched on to make or take calls and the user is "tied to the spot", they cannot wander around. There are more elegant VoIP solutions available with better flexibility.” The firm believes Tesco is simply “testing the water” by offering Web calling to a nascent technology market, suggesting as a result, that the service will not prove “a big money spinner,” Ovum said. However Tesco’s telecoms executive Andy Dewhurst is optimistic, "Our research showed that while many people are aware of internet phone services, most have been put off by complicated technology and confusing tariffs and installation. "Tesco’s simple and convenient new service will finally make this amazing technology accessible to millions of households throughout the UK and allow everyone to benefit from free or very low-cost internet calls," he said. Tesco net users must plug the handset into the USB socket on the PC to begin calling, after software installation, registration of details and selection of the phone number they want to use from a supplied manual. Consistent with its ‘every little helps’ marketing slogan, Tesco said its internet phone is “pay as you go,” allowing customers to monitor exactly how much they spend speaking online. Jan 23, 2006 Email this article Printer friendly page Previous Page
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