Pulver The 'Voice' Of VoIP

The relentless force that is Jeff Pulver refused to rest on his laurels Tuesday, instead exhorting the crowd at the VON show to think bigger and work harder.

In a keynote presentation titled "Nothing is Impossible," the most-recognized person in the Voice over IP arena told attendees at his conference that they should set their sights higher than merely providing voice services over the Internet.

"We're still in the early adopter phase of this market," said Pulver, who gained mainstream notoriety earlier this year when the FCC granted his petition to keep his company's Free World Dialup service free from regulatory constraints.

Among VON regulars and the VoIP community, Pulver is a known quantity, and blends in well with the geeks-r-us mentality of the nascent market (how many other conference organizers and CEOs give keynotes in summer-of-love shirts and take digital pictures of the crowd at their own speeches?). If you're tapped into Pulver's world you probably already follow his personal blog, where you can hear not only about his Capitol Hill travails, but also about side trips to the Rock 'n Roll Hall of Fame ceremonies.

With such boundless energy, it's no surprise that Pulver sees a bigger world for IP communications than phones plugged into DSL lines. "There are lots of opportunities to make it [IP communications] better," Pulver asserted, adding that the VoIP world could use some Apple Computer-style marketing or product innovation.Just replacing switched phones with IP phones isn't revolutionary, Pulver asserted. Instead, VoIP providers need to think bigger, about new applications and more-ubiquitous, easy-to-use services.

"We need someone to come in and change the way we market [VoIP]," Pulver said.

And using himself as an example, Pulver said it is possible for individuals to make a difference and have a say in the way technology changes our futures. He urged attendees to "be passionate and become engaged," by participating in calls for comments (such as those now open from the FCC and the FBI), and to help educate legislators and state officials whose actions will necessarily intersect with the needs of IP communications.

Sometimes, Pulver said, "it's hard to believe your voice does matter." But it does, and in the world of putting Voice over IP, Pulver himself has shown the power that one person's voice can carry.