Small firms shun VoIP

Over half of those surveyed said they had not yet deployed VoIP – citing their main reasons as unreliable call quality when running VoIP over traditional broadband and the high price of leased lines that would ensure this reliability.

However, 95 per cent of SMEs that have not adopted VoIP said they were keen to do so.

Alastair Buck, director of voice for Viatel, which conducted the survey, argued that the industry needs to educate the smaller end of the corporate market to show that business-grade VoIP need not be prohibitively expensive.

He highlighted uncontended ADSL services as a good compromise, providing stability without costing as much as a leased line solution.

"Smaller businesses are looking for cost-effective solutions going forward, and this is even more important in the current climate," he added. "You get what you pay for, but you don't have to go for very expensive technology to get a good quality service."

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