Residential gateways increase home support for VoIP phones

VoIP phones are becoming more widely supported in domestic settings as internet service providers offer residential gateways, rather than basic modems.

Infonetics Research says there are numerous benefits to using residential gateways, including the ability for the service provider to remotely update the firmware and add new features.

"Gateways need to support a growing list of features to ensure the quality and security of the content being delivered in the home," says directing analyst for broadband access Jeff Heynen.

VoIP phones are just one of the IP-based services growing in popularity thanks to residential gateways, along with IPTV and digital video delivery.

Some themes remain in the 2011 report, compared with 2010's survey of service providers, including the desire to deploy gateways with both wired and wireless ports, advanced interface options and good degrees of flexibility.

In a separate report, Infonetics Research reports home networking device sales as a whole grew by 46 per cent in 2009 and a further 11 per cent over the course of 2010.