VoIP You

America seems to be a bit obsessed with surveys and polls. It's quite natural. If all of those years of math class taught us anything, it’s that you can try to boil almost any problem down to the numbers. Those numbers turn up in politics, sports, and pop music TV show contests. They can also give us insight into the current and future state of VoIP and telecommunications as a whole. In fact, there have been several recent surveys that give us a good idea of who is using what phone, how often they’re using it, and what they're using it for.

First, let’s look at the AOL mobile survey that focuses on all the things people can use their VoIP (and cell) phones for:

"Thirty-five percent of those surveyed say they send SMS text messages to friends, family and business colleagues, including 65 percent of those ages 18-29 and 37 percent of those ages 30-49…"

"Twenty-one percent of mobile users say they would like to have all instant messages (IMs) forwarded from their PC desktop to their cell phones. Meanwhile, 38 percent say they would like to have desktop IMs from select contacts that they choose automatically forwarded to their mobile device, including 50 percent of those ages 18-29.

"Eight percent of cell phone users currently access their email from their cell phones. At the same time, 24 percent of those who do not check their email from their phones say they would like to be able to do so.

"When asked about using their cell phone to search for movie listings, weather, stock quotes and more, seven percent say they do this already. One-quarter (24 percent) say they would like to be able to do this on their phone…"

The survey also highlights the number of people who use their phones to take photos, watch video, shoot video, and much, much more.

The second major survey that warrants attention is one from Harris Interactive (featured on webpronews.com) that focuses on the use of VoIP technology in the U.S. and the U.K.:

"British (28% vs. 57% of men) and American (34% vs. 62% of men) women are far less likely than men to have heard about VoIP. Among the general population, 41% of British adults and 36% of American adults have not heard of it. (The men vs. woman VoIP use gap and the findings of the survey are further explored on VoIP Now, and TMCnet, and Networking Pipeline.)

"Among those that were aware of the service but were not users, around half in both countries expressed at least some interest in the service…"

The final survey we suggest taking a look at was covered in full by Techdirt. It concerns rude people on their phones, many of who we are sure are on the road as we speak:

“A new survey has found that nearly 90 percent of people encounter annoying cell phone users, but just 8 percent say their own cell phone use is sometimes rude.”

As VoIP continues to catch on with people on either side of the pond and, yes, with both men and women, there will be new surveys to cover all of the new uses people have discovered. Until then, it is clear that breaking down the numbers at least demonstrates two things: interest in VoIP is up, and there are rude people on cell phones pretty much everywhere you go.