FAST FORWARD

Through a recent Harris Poll survey, Verizon discovered most people (87%) have no clue what VoIP is. They guessed everything from hybrid vehicles to low-carb vodka. Verizon’s Michelle Swittenberg, executive director for consumer VoIP services, talked with Telephony’s Tim McElligott about how the carrier’s VoiceWing service will advance the service, but perhaps not the terminology.

Is Verizon going to start getting aggressive with its VoiceWing marketing?

Obviously, because we have a whole portfolio of voice products in place, one of the things we felt we needed to have in place, which is falling into place now, is dry-loop DSL so that when people get VoiceWing they don’t have to necessarily keep the underlying line. About 60% of our customers keep their line; the other 40% port their numbers to VoiceWing.

We have customers that are not in that early adopter stage, so we don’t want to push them to use something that is just starting to emerge from being an early adopter product. Even though 87% percent of people don’t know about VoIP, that means 13% of them do. At this point last year, it was probably 3% or 4%. So we are making sure we are offering the right product to the right groups.

How have you increased the effort to grow market awareness?

We have increased online advertising, which is where most people are that are going to use this product. We have increased our presence at some events that have target geographies for VoiceWing. We did a very localized event in Boston and New York and somewhat in Pennsylvania, as well as an Internet push. As the technology matures, we’ll push it out actively in other geographies as well.

Based on survey results, what is the key to marketing VoIP to the consumer market?

Calling it VoIP is one of the issues. VoIP is a technology that is inherent not just in broadband phone networks, but also in traditional networks because when you look at features on the wireless network like push-to-talk, that’s all VoIP. Our SuperPages group just launched their click-to-call feature, which is VoIP. So the term VoIP itself is confusing. We want the message around VoiceWing to be that this is a different way to use your broadband. The killer app on broadband is voice now.

What has Verizon learned in the 14 months of its controlled roll out?

One thing we have been able to learn not just from this but with our other voice products is that being able to port numbers easily is important. We know other carriers have stumbled on that, and obviously as you move more toward mass-market adoption, people won’t just be toying with this; it’s going to be their home phone service. So we have learned a lot about porting numbers. We’ve also learned a lot about 911. We learned that the traditional model for 911 just doesn’t apply in this environment. We always knew it couldn’t be an opt-in situation, so when customers activate their accounts they have to put in a service address so we could route calls to their PSAP. We are having to invent ways to deal with the nomadic element of VoIP. However, because of IP there will be ways to go above and beyond what is doable for 911 in a traditional network.

Are you ready to share adoption numbers yet?

No, not yet. Our overall voice subscribership is over 33 million; it dwarfs any numbers on VoIP. So we don’t talk to those numbers directly.

How is your geographic rollout going?

We have 168 area codes available in 39 states, and since it is an Internet service, anyone in the 50 states can buy the service. We will ship an adapter anywhere. Some 15% of our customers are not even in our franchise territory. They recognize our name and say they want their phone service from Verizon.

Have you come to terms with the cannibalization issue?

We recognize people are making calls over the Internet. So if people are going to do that, we want them to use our VoiceWing product. That’s why we have this portfolio approach to voice services. Our goal is to have the right kind of phone service for each kind of customer.

Which advanced calling features are most popular right now?

Simultaneous ring is big. Listening to your voice mail over the Internet is also big. Call forwarding from the Internet is very popular. Being able to forward your calls from the Internet on a scheduled basis is a unique feature for VoiceWing. One that is popular but we can’t figure out why is incoming call blocking. This is where you use your address book, which in VoiceWing synchs with Outlook, Lotus Notes and Palm, to select people you don’t want to be able to reach you. It’s our third most popular feature, and we find that curious.

Do you see a wireless tie in with VoIP in your future?

We have definitely talked to our wireless folks on how we can cross leverage the services to be more interactive. We don’t have anything to announce yet.

Who is your biggest competitor in residential VoIP?

Overall, the telephone market has become very competitive. We don’t underestimate any of the competitors that are getting in to the market, from cable companies to the PC-to-PSTN calling providers. We could see how those could have an impact on Verizon’s business. That’s why we continue to innovate and enhance our voice services, so we can give customers what they want. They are driving choice in the market.