"`You may get a perfectly good call if things are working fine," said Alec Henderson of Cisco's voice technology center. "But if everyone is trying to download the Victoria's Secret show, your call may not go through at all."
The key is giving voice packets priority over those containing e-mail and Web data. Companies can do this now only with close monitoring.
Despite these hurdles, the home market is growing as high-speed Internet access reaches more residences.
DSL and cable providers, meanwhile, are trying to set up phone service on their own data lines.
Ultimately, new telephone services will have to offer more than just a reliable and cheap line, said David Neil, an analyst at Gartner.
"Right now, there isn't a tremendous amount of benefit to be gained from going with the new telephony," he said. "We think two or three years down the road, you're going to start to see power coming from voice and data convergence."
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