VoIP gains traction, even as confusion abounds.(SPOTLIGHT)

Residential VoIP service is growing ever more popular. But customers appear highly confused about what they are buying and how the technology operates. Furthermore, significant security threats loom on the horizon.

A new report from research firm IDC predicts that U.S. residential VoIP subscribers will hit 27 million by the end of 2009, up from an estimated 3 million this year. Price will drive this high adoption rate, at least initially, but the more robust calling features VoIP offers will become a more dominant factor as carriers educate consumers about the technology.

Will Stofega, senior analyst in IDC's VoIP Services Research Program, notes that carriers and equipment vendors "need to plan for a marathon" because the market still is in an early stage of development.

Furthermore, carriers need to proactively educate and market the value of VoIP to avoid a bloody price war. So far, the technology is marketed primarily by price; Stofega notes that AT&T (with its ad campaign for CallVantage service) is the only VoIP service provider emphasizing features, not merely price.

"The winners will use the flexibility of IP to design services that differentiate themselves from their competitors," says Stofega. VoIP's main challenge, he adds, is to "prove that it is just a cheap replacement for POTS service."

All well and good. However, service differentiation might not prove so easy because there's already plenty of confusion about VoIP in the marketplace. A second research ...