Cable operators want to be able to offer the "quadruple play" of communication bundles--Internet, television, voice-over-IP and wireless telephony.

FORBES: Cable Finds Its Voice

Now, eight months after the voice-over-IP company was officially integrated into Microsoft, a critical mass of privacy activists are demanding answers.

FORBES: Letter From Forty-Four Digital Rights Groups Demands Skype Detail Its Surveillance Practices

Cisco's gateway, which underwent a trial in Honolulu, functions similarly but is more hardware-based, complementing its line of network routing equipment and voice-over-IP telephony.

FORBES: Crisis Communicating

"Voice-over-IP is a critical component for us, " says Steve Gorman, Cox Communications ' (nyse: COX - news - people ) vice president of product marketing and management for high-speed Internet.

FORBES: Cable Finds Its Voice

By 2012, high-speed Internet over a cable connection which supports voice as one of several IP-based applications was available to 93 percent of U.S. households.

FORBES: It's Time to Modernize Communications Policy

The company saw a 14.3% drop in primary residential switched-access phone lines, as consumers continued to move toward voice over IP and mobile devices for most of their voice calls.

FORBES: Connect

The delivery of voice calls using VoLTE is similar to the voice over IP, or VOIP, phone services offered by many cable and Internet-service providers.

WSJ: U.S. Wireless Carriers Move to New Technology��for Voice