With the exception of people that literally talk on the phone all day like customer service reps and some salespeople, It seems like there’s less of a need for desktop phones and an increase of smartphones with apps on them to make your cell phone act as your desktop phone.

Unlike the PR people and movie agents on TV, not everyone wants to be on their cell phone all the time. I for one have been using my Polycom IP 450 from Phone.com for over 2 years and it’s a real experience to use. Having a phone with heft and thick enough to rest on my shoulder when I need to type is nice plus the speakerphone is bar none the best I’ve ever used. It’s about the experience.

What’s really holding people back from going mobile only and losing the desktop phone? I’m not sure… Maybe it’s tradition, I like having a phone on my desk, in the movies every proper work station has a telephone on it. Is it call quality? I get crystal clear calls when I’m using it. Are we waiting for docking stations for our smart phones? I know I’d love to dock my phone.

The thing is, I’m just attached to my desktop phone like I imagine many other people are as well. Yes I can make calls with our Communicator on PC’s and Mac’s or either of our mobile apps. This all works great and I use it all the time but a desktop phone just has a different visceral appeal.

If there is going to be a decline in desktop phones in the near future, I don’t think it’s going to be grandiose.

Are you keeping a desktop phone or going mobile only with one of our apps? Tell us on Facebook or Twitter.

With surprisingly little attention the FCC a week ago released almost half a billion dollars – to me that’s a lot of money – to help connect rural homes and businesses to high-speed broadband.

The money, some $485 million, came from the Connect America Fund – what used to be the Universal Service Fund in the days that the goal was simply to provide traditional analog phone service to every nook and cranny of the United States. The latest tranche is the last in Phase I of the fund. In Phase II, even more cash is on the line, with some $1.8 billion annually available to service providers to underwrite building high speed fixed and mobile broadband to unserved communities. Total FCC investment in expansion and support of rural fixed and mobile broadband and voice through the Connect America Fund is budgeted at $4.5 billion. The FCC also estimates that untold millions more will be invested by carriers from their own funds in the effort.

“Without broadband, consumers and small businesses are cut off from the $8 trillion global Internet economy, severely limiting opportunities for jobs and economic prosperity,” the FCC said in announcing its release of the funds. Full details of the latest FCC action, including a history of the program, can be found here.

What the FCC is doing can’t help but be a boon to companies such as Phone.com, which stand ready to provide VoIP services to small businesses and residential users in rural areas the minute they do get adequate broadband. The FCC estimates that market represents about 15 million people, which one suspects translates into millions of small businesses, creating a fertile new market opportunity for VoIP phone service providers.

A week ago I wrote about my broadband service quandary. As some readers may recall, the $20 a month I had been paying my broadband provider was about to soar to $50 (or maybe it was $60, it depended on which customer service person you spoke with). What happened was my customer loyalty discounts had expired.

Now $30 a month, (for six months only), would have gotten me cable-based broadband service, but the cable company added to that an unstated installation charge. And taking the charges out a year or more, the cable-based DOCSIS broadband would have cost a little more than VDSL from the phone company  – but maybe not depending on the upload and download speeds.

To make a long story short, I’ve decided for now to stay with VDSL, after an agent magically came up with a $10 a month loyalty discount, so my bill will only double starting this month.

But that agent then said “plus tax.”

“What tax?” I asked. The $20 was the total price I paid, and I was shocked when he said the new $40 was “plus tax.”

The tax is on the line on your bill that says taxes, he blithely replied. There’s Federal Tax and local taxes.

No such line on my bill, I replied. There is no Internet tax, I said.

Yes there is, he insisted. The computer says so.

Read my bill, I replied. Show me.

Finally, after talking to a supervisor, the customer service rep admitted that there really was no tax. But, he added, the phone company’s computers had automatically added tax to his quote, even though by the time I got the bill there wouldn’t be any tax.

So, it seems I’m facing incompetent computer programming along with very poorly trained customer service reps (gee, last month one rep couldn’t tell the difference between upload and download).

Now I try really hard in my blogs for Phone.com not to diss the competition, but why am I happy that I don’t get my phone service from these guys any more, although for now I don’t have a choice about the broadband over which my Phone.com service flows? 

But looking on the brighter side, every report and study shows that people are fleeing traditional phone service to both VoIP and wireless (or both). The means that inevitably, the traditional phone companies are going to have to spiff up their broadband act, to the benefit of we VoIP users.

Buying our supported devices is so important. We have a variety of hardware for you to use from ATA’s (allowing you to use your old traditional phone) to the top end desktop IP phones with HD voice that sounds like you’re talking to someone across the table from you. You can even choose to use your cell phone or our computer app called Communicator.

I’m pointing this out because recently we had a customer try to use a non supported VOIP phone and it was hard for them to provision it. Once they decided to return it and use one of our supported desktop IP phones it was a matter of just plugging it in and waiting a few moments for it to boot up. They had a dial tone and were happy again.

If you’re considering getting a phone to work with Phone.com then please take a look at our Phones and Devices page and pick something from there alternatively you can use the Communicator PC app (Windows and Mac supported) or a cell phone app. These may be a good option if you’re constantly mobile or just like minimalism.

How do you connect to our service? IP phone, Communicator or mobile app? Tell us on Facebook or Twitter.