Are Security Vulnerabilities the End of VoIP?
One of the most important developments in the telecommunications industry in recent years has been the availability of mobile VoIP technology. Although its early days for the mobile VoIP start-ups such as Truphone, it certainly seems they have the potential to reshape the industry quite dramatically. Some of the recent longer established mobile operators’ actions seem evidence of this with T-Mobile recently being forced to allow the use of Truphone over its network, having previously not allowed calls to Truphone allocated numbers.
While some people claim that as VoIP prices fall towards zero, this is making it a very difficult industry to make any substantial profit in; the wider availability of cut cost high speed broadband and has resulted in a huge surge in the availability of free Wi-Fi. As a result this is making mobile VoIP operators an increasingly attractive proposition for consumers. The trend in the availability of new ’smart phones’ with the ability to run mobile VoIP client software, at ever decreasing prices is also, it could be argued, creating the ‘perfect storm’.
We have recently seen T-Mobile introduce their Voice over IP service called @home giving people the option of paying a single low monthly flat rate. However whilst the industry is finding customers uncomfortable about getting rid of their fixed phone line all together, mobile VoIP operators have no such obstacle to contend with. The seamless integration of mobile VoIP software into the functionality of mobile phones, as well as the reduced cost of unlimited data phone packages has resulted in a predictably rapid growth in the mobile VoIP industry.
Currently it has been documented that there are 4 million VoIP subscribers in the UK, and its likely this figure will go up. How established mobile phone operators will take advantage of this growth remains to be seen but the decision to force T Mobile to unblock calls to Truphone users surely gives a clear sign that rather than try and resist the mobile VoIP operators, the entranched industry monoliths must find a way of embracing them.
One issue which could have an influence on the take-up of mobile VoIP is security, with many highly visible incidents highlighting the problems in making calls using VoIP. Another issue to contend with is ‘VoIP phishing’ where people are duped into giving up their personal data of their own free will after falling for a thief’s lure. This is also indicative of other VoIP security problems where unscrupulous would be thieves can tamper with the caller ID making it appear as though they are ringing from their own financial institutions. Once such issues have been dealt with and fears allayed it is likely that mobile VoIP will become will become much more integral to peoples lives as people take the opportunity to turn their mobiles into VoIP phones.
