In “Consumers finally get a grip on VoIP,” USA Today highlights the rapid growth of residential telephone service delivered via Voice over Internet Protocol technology. According to the article, there were about 8.6 million VoIP users at the end of 2006, with 22.5 million predicted by 2010. As the article points out, those customers are attracted mainly by the robust phone features and lower prices enabled by VoIP. But the article also illustrates the continuing confusion between the two methods of VoIP delivery. One is Internet telephony, in which calls are routed over the World Wide Web and are therefore subject to the speed limitations of the user’s Internet connection and traffic on the public Internet. The other method is managed VoIP, in which calls are routed over private, managed backbone networks and are therefore not dependent on broadband connections or the vagaries of the public Internet. The millions of customers who get their phone service from cable companies (including Cox Communications) experience the managed method. Today’s article—indeed, most pieces about VoIP—didn’t make a clear distinction between the two delivery methods. But while customers ultimately don’t care how their calls are routed, the difference between the two is critical—as it’s ultimately a matter of quality and reliability.