In my opinion, yes. Someday, sending voice messages over the Internet may be as convenient and reliable as today's fiber optic system. But unfortunately, VOIP isn't there yet. There are many companies in the voice broadcasting business that use VOIP (Voice Over Internet Protocol) to send their customers' messages. And since it's cheaper to use VOIP, their customers think they are getting a better deal. Yes, it's cheaper all right, but there's a price to pay in the end. The problem is reporting. VOIP's reputation as a reliable platform to properly record and time delivered messages is questionable. So if you are paying per minute, or per call, you may want to think twice about the report you get back if you're using VOIP.
There's plenty of doubts and you won't have any trouble getting second and third opinions by Googling "VOIP reliability" or "VOIP dependability". In a new book that will be released this summer (Summer '08) by Himanshu Dwivedi, entitled Hacking VOIP, he says, "administrators must contend with eavesdropping, audio injection, Caller ID spoofing, VOIP phishing and other unique exploits. All of these security holes can result in the leakage of information and in unreliable phone calls." In the voip lowdown blog, one commentator admitted, "all we hear about in the mainstream media is how vulnerable and unreliable VoIP is. And let's face it... until people start taking the steps to safeguard their networks, this technology isn't going to go places."
There's a lot of work to do to get VOIP up to the standards that fiber optic customers can take for granted. Until that day comes, your best bet is to use "old fashioned" fiber optic telephone lines to get your messages out and properly reported.
