VOIP is Great, except when it's not

Forbes.com has a nice article about the risks of VOIP: "The benefits of Internet phone calling are easy to understand and seem like a marketer's dream. How can you argue with no more phone bills? Or long distance and local calls that cost the same? Or keeping your phone number regardless of where you live, whether New York or New Mexico? But what's less clear, and certainly not mentioned in all the advertisements, is the fact that Internet phone calls, because they depend on the Internet, are susceptible to the very same security and virus problems that frustrate, even infuriate, PC users. " And there have been many blog entries about problems getting VOIP to work over cable modem service, including this one from Tom's Networking. It is clear that port blocking, security, and SPIT are going to be hurdles that consumers are not going to like.