HD voice gains momentum
The past few days have seen a spate of announcements of hosted high-definition (HD) voice services, illustrating the technology’s growing momentum.
Orange, the UK’s third-largest mobile operator, caused a stir when it announced plans late last month to offer HD voice as an alternative to the scratchy service consumers have come to expect from their mobile phones. But it’s not yet clear how much extra consumers would be willing to pay for higher mobile voice quality, nor is it clear what the added bandwidth requirements of such an offering would mean for already congested mobile networks.
By contrast, HD voice’s promise seems more immediately clear in the realm of IP-based and web-based calling for businesses, which are more likely to shell out the extra cash for clear telephony. Several companies are jumping on the bandwagon. Phone.com announced a hosted HD voice service today, following Junction Networks’ announcement late last week that its OnSIP hosted PBX service now supports HD voice. Meanwhile, Ooma recently added HD voice to its consumer-focused Telo. HD-quality voice may be a sought-after differentiator for IP communications providers. My question is: How long will it be until it’s too common to be a differentiator and turns into table stakes? What do YOU think? Leave a comment below.
January 12th, 2010 at 1:52 pm
There is no doubt that mobile telephony is the area that could benefit the most from HD voice. As I wrote last week (http://gipscorp.com/blog/2010/01/04/att-and-orange-look-to-the-future/) typical cellular quality is just above the threshold when people hang up the phone. The only reason people tolerate it is the advantage provided by mobility. I think if people have the option for clearer calls, they will take it. Like you say, it is just a matter of how much they would be willing to pay for it.
January 12th, 2010 at 2:15 pm
It’s all infrastructure… Pumping HD thru existing wireless networks results in more dropped packets and latency, thus ending up with *worse* audio. Hence the need to increase the supporting infrastructure. Interestingly enough, the buildout to support HD just might make LD ‘acceptable’.
January 13th, 2010 at 8:56 am
There must be money to be made in HD voice but the big barrier is end-to-end compatibility. What use is an HD service if only one handset in the call is capable. The first operator to launch will only be able to offer on-net HD calls between two HD capable handsets. Off-net is needed for mass take up. The obvious vehicle for getting this off the ground is through business customers, who typically bulk buy handsets and put all their employees on the same network. If there were compatible fixed offerings and a hosted HD audio conferencing service also available, that could differentiate business offerings.
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