There is no such service called ‘Free’ in a strict sense. Even if you are making a free VoIP call, there are certain hidden costs associated with it, to say installation charge and Internet cost.

Any way, the availability of Skype-like applications have led us to classify free VoIP and paid VoIP. I don’t need to define what free VoIP is.

A recent Ofcom report has candidly revealed that free VoIP services have failed attract a substantial number of customers in UK. I feel the scenario is same elsewhere.

The available of Skype like applications has no doubt drastically reduced the cost of international calls. However, they can not sideline the traditional phone service so easily for all practical reasons.

In its latest survey, the telecom regulatory authority has found that mere 17 per cent of adults in UK have used the services and only 14 per cent of people prefer to use the service over more conventional methods.

No doubt, the adoption of VoIP is growing at a rapid pace in the past few years. As per latest count, there are more than 2.4 million households across the UK having used VoIP service. It is only nine per cent of the total. Therefore, Ofcom says that the technology is still in the early-adopter phase.

Here I would like to raise a question that why the intake of VoIP is considerable low even if the adoption of broadband is growing rapidly.

There are number of reasons such as poor call quality, security, lack of general awareness, installment problem and lack of technical knowledge.