VoIP News: November 2007

The spread of broadband has made keeping in touch with family and friends much easier for us all, but it has been suggested that this has proven especially useful for the over 50s. The editor of New Age Media magazine, Justin Pearse, highlighted the substantial numbers of older people using the internet everyday. "The classic use of the internet [for this age group] is for keeping in touch across the world," he said.

Discussions over the future of broadband in the UK have resulted in additional pressure on the government to push ahead with a national fibre to the home network, according to reports. At the Westminster eForum event it was highlighted that a new 'super-fast' fibre broadband network would cost around £15 billion, at least £1 billion less than the proposed London Crossrail route. Ericsson's UK chief technology officer John Cunliffe added that this cost could be spread over 50 years, further reducing the financial burden while the UK would enjoy hugely improved internet connection speeds.

Merging data and voice communications services is set to become a key part of business strategy next year, it has been suggested. According to electronic giant Siemens, unified communications (UC) will become more in vogue with firms and providers, SearchVoIP. com reports.

The 24-hour information service from the National Health Service (NHS) has brought its 36 contact centres together on the same network using VoIP. Cost savings and efficiency benefits are predicted due to the improved efficiency from united previously 'siloed' NHS facilities, while it is also hoped that response times to patient calls can be reduced. "We wanted to improve the service we were offering, while benefiting from the cost savings that centralisation should bring," said Adrian Price, national ICT infrastructure manager at NHS Direct.

High-speed broadband services have spread successfully across the UK as consumers choose to take advantage of fast web connections. According to official figures, some 88. 4 per cent of internet lines in Briton are broadband-enabled, following a 26 per cent rise from last year.