SupportSoft today announced the results of an independent survey among "voice over Internet protocol" (VoIP) users in the U.S.

In the survey, conducted among VoIP subscribers representing both specialized VoIP providers and cable companies, customers of cable companies were the happiest with their service, with 61% expressing satisfaction. Despite this positive outlook, 34% of cable VoIP users said that a technician had to visit their home within 90 days of the initial service installation due to a problem. A full 16% had a technician visit their home two or more times.

VoIP customers of cable providers are almost twice as confident about the reliability of their VoIP service as the customers of specialized providers, which focus solely on VoIP delivery. The good news for U.S. cable providers offering new VoIP services to consumers is that the majority of subscribers prefer to receive multiple services from a single provider, such as a combination of VoIP and broadband access. In fact, 80% of cable VoIP customers surveyed said that they also receive their broadband service from their cable provider, validating the notion that receiving multiple services from a single provider is important.

Those who experienced problems with their VoIP service said that their "primary frustration" is recurring quality or reliability problems, accounting for 29% and 24% of responses, respectively. These issues can occur when cable VoIP users are trying to download or upload data with their Internet connection, while simultaneously talking on the phone. Of the 39% of users who expressed a problem during the upload or download of data, 59% said that the most common problem was that their voice transmission was hard to understand.

Industry analyst group Yankee states that there are many reasons why customers have problems with their VoIP service, but the number one reason is ineffective installation and preliminary testing procedures. Yankee Group analysis indicates that, "The most common cause of problems with new VoIP installs is a lack of initial testing to determine whether the service works properly." Moreover, Yankee estimates that technician visits to subscribers' homes for VoIP service after initial installation can cost service providers $130 each.