Yahoo and Microsoft offer Internet telephony services for users who want to communicate vocally via the Web. HearMe has licensed its voice applications for use in corporate learning and online education companies, through which students can join in class discussions using their Internet-connected personal computers. Voice, of course, lets users convey much more information in a shorter period of time and with inflexions or context. It's in allowing people to have voice conversations in the context of what they're doing over the Internet. But don't throw out your telephone just yet.
Internet telephony is still a technology in development.
A December survey by Jupiter Research found that online shoppers and e-retail sites that use voice interaction have been dissatisfied with the results. Only 18 percent of online buyers used telephony, and the majority of those users were not satisfied with the quality of the experience. Among the major hurdles for sites using Internet telephony, Jupiter's data shows, are proxy servers and firewalls. Proxy servers function as intermediaries in the path between user and Web site. The voice quality is certainly good enough for Zube.