Can VoIP Services Drive Cell Minutes?

Off On Another Tangent highlights Mobivox and their low cost IVR driven solution in a recent post about Free Calling Options Revisited.

That got me thinking how services like Mobivox, Jangl, Jajah and those from agency clients Truphone, iotum, GrandCentral and TalkPlus actually are driving the use of cell plan minutes. Here’s my logic:

1) Users of those seven services are early adopters and medium to heavy web users.

2) Likely most of their compadres are also early adopters or at the least light to medium web users.

3) Many broadband users are cord cutters. For those that use VOIP calls to the USA and Canada are free from almost all the top tier VoIP providers.

These are early adopters. Now lets take it to the next level. The most reliable phone they have is their cell phone. Services like the above are perfect bridges for cell phone users to VoIP to take advantage of the next generation services. What does that mean? Simple. The mobile operators should be looking at these new services and buying them up then bundling them up the same way Bell Labs helped the regional bells roll out four “advanced features” in the past. Those were Speed Calling, Voice Mail, Three Way Calling and Call Waiting. Next came redial, return the call, caller ID and additional features tied to them.

In my book these new services are the next step beyond those services that we take so much for granted. As such, the mobile carriers are in an ideal position to become more different than the landline companies and in turn offer something that coexists with both VoIP and PSTN in a way that has benefit to all.