This CNN story demonstrates perfectly why the telcos are terrified of cheap community broadband. The story highlights a businessman who cut his $800/month business phone bill by 80% and is able to give better service to his customers at the same time--cheaper and better with VoIP. And he now has an extra $640/month to plow back into the business itself.
The article is worth a read just to get an insight into how VoIP is fundamentally changing businesses for the better. Startup VoIP companies like like BroadVoice, SunRocket and VoicePulse are adding millions of subscribers a year, and many of them are businesses that want to save money and offer better services to customers--bottom line economic development.
What is your community doing to make sure every business in your area knows about the advantages of VoIP and how to get it? Are your economic developers holding short courses and seminars on the topic? And what is your community strategy to get affordable broadband, which you have to have to use VoIP?