Skype has added the ability to send text messages to cell phones while using VoIP. Before this users could only recieve messages but now the gap is being closed between all forms of communication.

Keep your eyes open! Soon we will be able to use a single interface to  contact someone - blending phone, IM, email, fax, etc.

TeleSym, the leading provider of mobile Voice-over Internet Protocol (VoIP) solutions, announced that it has entered into a manufacturing agreement with Seattle-based Active Voice, LLC, a global provider of unified messaging, computer telephony, and voice messaging solutions to provide customers worldwide with a turnkey, mobile VoIP solution.

Active Voice, with offices in Seattle, Australia, and the Netherlands, has agreed to manufacture TeleSym's SymPhone enterprise mobile VoIP solution. Active Voice will assemble and ship SymPhone Call Registry and SymPhone Call Connector servers to TeleSym customers worldwide.

POPstar has announced their plan to add a WiFi phone service to their current product line-up. Their People Line of VoIP and FoIP currently services the Vancouver area. The phone they plan to use is supposed to function similar to a cordless and can be used at hot spots or on wireless LANS.

Read more at MarketNews.

Several Minnesota government agencies appear to have recently decided to switch their phone system to utilize VoIP. This decision was made to allow all systems to use the same network and to make call routing a simpler task. This will lead to a reduction of roughly 15,000 phone line in the next couple of years.

vnunet reports that sales of VoIP equipment (to service providers) totaled $1.7 billion in 2004 and they expect these revenues to reach $5.9 billion in 2008.

Read the full article at http://www.vnunet.com/news/1161492.

So am I! The best suggestion is to read any and all reviews you can find on the different providers. Luckily there are a few sites out there that let users review their provider, so give them a try.

Consumers switching their phone service to voice over IP (VoIP) should evaluate their current calling needs to accurately identify what they require in a plan. They should compare features between VoIP carriers, and consider the possibility that small, new companies offering amazing deals may not be around later to fulfill them. Experts also recommend easing into the switch by adapting VoIP as a second line on a trial basis.

Net2Phone and Empresa Telecomunicaciones de Bogota (ETB), the largest telecom operator in Colombia, today launched a joint offering of a complete suite of co-branded consumer and corporate VoIP services across Colombia. ETB is the first and only Colombian telecom operator to offer a full suite of VoIP services to consumers and businesses, including Net2Phone's VoiceLine broadband telephony service and its MaxPVN corporate service.

Under the terms of a five-year definitive agreement, ETB, which dominates the Colombian marketplace with more than two million customers, will offer local, long distance and international voice services utilizing Net2Phone's VoIP services. The co-branded ETB and Net2Phone broadband telephony residential and corporate services come with local Colombian phone numbers and are also being offered as an integrated bundle with ETB's DSL service. Attractive pricing for packages, which ETB estimates can save consumers more than 50% on their existing phone service, includes pricing for calls to the United States as low as COP $285 (approx. 11(cents) USD) per minute.

VoIP services have made tremendous strides of late with cable MSOs and AT&T wholeheartedly jumping into the fray. Are consumers ready for VoIP? This report analyzes the opportunities and obstacles to VoIP adoption and how VoIP is being used to complement television and Internet services. It profiles VoIP service providers and consumers using VoIP services and forecasts VoIP adoption over the next five years.

"Historic consumer data indicate that the motivation for consumers to subscribe to VoIP is there but perhaps not the means or opportunity, To attract new customers in 2005, service providers will need to implement a strategy that includes continued aggressive rollout plans and more targeted awareness and educational campaigns."

Nimcat Networks, the premiere provider of embedded, peer-to-peer (P2P) call processing software, is announcing the availability of nimXTM for Windows. Showcased with nimPhoneTM, users can now experience all of the benefits of a nimXTM-enabled hard phone with the convenience of a PC-centric approach.

Popular Telephony, the telecommunications middleware company and creator of Peerio™ – the innovative technology for server-free, peer-to-peer communications, today at the Internet Telephony conference in Miami, FL announced that China-based Ewoophone will be the first VoIP service provider in Asia to offer PC-to-PC and PC-to-phone VoIP service using Peerio serverless technology.

VocalTec Communications Ltd., a leading telecom equipment provider offering carrier class packet voice solutions, today announced its presentation in a conference session titled "Mission Critical Considerations for Service Providers", at TMC's Internet Telephony(R) Conference & Expo Miami 2005, on February 25, 2005 at the Hyatt Regency in Miami, Florida.

SBC and AT&T are arguing that the break-up of the Big Bells 20 years ago is no longer viable and they have filed for a merger.

So which service provider is the guilty party trying to block Voice over IP services from Vonage Holdings? Not us, said two of the nation's largest telecom service providers, SBC Communications and Verizon Communications.

Pingtel is launching a new channel program, this week, as part of its plan to foster an open-source community around VoIP.

For customers, the benefit of using open-source VoIP tools is fairly straightforward, said Gary Scroggs, partner and owner of Innovational IP Solutions, a Pingtel partner in Bothell, Wash.