Stevo,
The more that cellular companies adopt 1 price systems, or offer more minutes and free LD for a decent price then the more people will drop land lines.
Cellular prices were insane in the States, they are getting better. Compare Cellular prices in Canada or better yet the Mid East, they are way ahead of us.
I'm happy with my pricing currently, free LD, free nights/weekends, 3000minutes split between 2 phones and 2 numbers, for $127 with taxes. Thats 60ish per phone, no worries just pick up and dial.
Now with SBC's current pricing it costs me 30 bux just to have a line sitting there without placing a single call.
I'm looking forward to the trend in the south to offer DSL without a phone requirement, wiring is there but you do not require local phone service...why is that? Because more people are moving to cable for broadband and going cellular.
Broadband is a bigger requirement in the US right now I bet than HDTV and I bet its not far behind cellular...availabilit of broadband from another medium and cellular means local bell's really need to adjust.
I would even argue that the Voom box dialing out to verify its existance and as an anti-piracy device is possibly illegal or can bring legal problems to Voom. If its not for PPV but to 'spy' on the consumer, regardless of the reasons why it'll be a problem.
There are issues like this with software, it would be amazingly simple for every software manufactuer to setup a internet verification of itself. Adobe does this with Mac products, they keep a running list of illegal serials and at install the Adobe installer checks. This is not on the PC versions. So why isn't it? Because of the turmoil it would create in larger community. If they are checking this, what else are they checking, what information are the taking in? Even the software packages that do this, Nero comes to mind, it just gives a warning, even though it could gather enough information to go after an individual but it brings a host of legal problems, invasion of privacy, entraptment, etc...
Personally I think thats a pretty out there theory but it can be a valid concern for some and something that Voom needs to consider. Most of us bought Voom because of what we read on sites like this, not because of the commercials or for sure not because of Sears. We are seeing more and more often that consumer feelings on boards like this drive consumer direction more so than all the advertising in the world.
Go back to the consumer base for Voom, I bet a large percentage of it is based around sites like this, no one at work I've talked to had heard of Voom, I've gotten 5 people to sign up in 2 weeks....based on my opinion...and they would not have signed up....based on my opinion....
If information flows from sites like this and we all get a bad taste in our mouths over this, it goes from there, goes back to Voom needs to understand its consumer base and where it grows from.