The Call Of The Web Phone

Just a few years ago, using the Internet to make cheap phone
calls was better in theory than in practice. Connections were often crackly and
had echoes, and households that traded landlines for the Internet could find
themselves unable to call 911 or without service in a power outage.

Those problems haven't totally been solved, but the providers
of Voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP) are trying to make their service
indistinguishable from landlines. Consumers are responding enthusiastically,
with 3.25 mn estimated to be buying VoIP phone services by the end of the year,
says researcher Yankee Group-nearly three times as many as in December, 2004.

Certainly, you have plenty of choices. Monthly rates run from as
little as $19.95 at Lingo and Packet8 to as much as $54.95 for Comcast Digital
Voice for unlimited local and long-distance calls. (With most VoIP services,
international calls are actually more expensive than using a calling card.)
There are also activation, shipping, and modem-lease fees. Still, for a
household spending an average of $53 a month on traditional local and
long-distance calling, VoIP can translate into more than $300 in savings a year.

With most VoIP services, you have to install phone adapters-modem-like
boxes acting as intermediaries between a phone device and your broadband
connection-on your own or with a bit of over-the-phone tech support. With
Comcast Digital Voice, you get a service call with professional installation.
With AT&T CallVantage, it's a $140 option.

The beauty of VoIP is that it will generally work with your
standard wired and cordless phones. Of course, you can splurge on new
video-calling gear. The Motorola Ojo PVP-1000, for example, sports a striking
futuristic design and is a great way for family members to stay in touch-provided,
that everyone in the family has one.

VoIP has lots of other cool features. Because they are Web-based
services, Vonage and AT&T CallVantage can notify you of new voice messages
and e-mail and send along an audio attachment. VoIP services can also usually
provide you with a phone number with an area code outside of your city, state,
and even country of residence. You could get a New York VoIP number so your
college kids in the city can ring you up free of charge-even though you happen
to live in Florida. VoIP service providers may be able to use your existing
phone number, so you don't have to call all the people you know to have them
update your address book entry.

Before you join the VoIP revolution, bear in mind that most
services fall short of traditional phone service in several ways. Skype
Technologies, the world's most popular VoIP calling service, mainly
facilitates free calls between computers, so your phone won't receive these
calls when your PC is shut down unless you forward them to a regular phone for a
small fee. Since VoIP operates through your broadband connection, any disruption
will cut off your phone, too.

COOL TOOLS Internet telephony gives you the ability to make video calls. Here is some of the gear that can help you do it.		Motorola Ojo PVP-1000 $450 motorola.com With its Space Age look and video compression technology, Internet telephony never looked so good, but you'll need two to talk to a friend or loved one.		Logitech QuickCam Fusion $99 logitech.com A 1.3 megapixel camera, the QuickCam includes software to track facial movements and cool technology to add digital avatars and other video effects.
		Packet8 Videophone $99 with Packet8 Plan packet8.net Video chat with friends and family who are also Packet8 customers. You can also plug your camcorder or camera into the device to show video and photos of your latest trip.		Apple iMac With iChat AV Free with Mac OS X Tiger apple.com Ring up a buddy or relative with this Mac-only software that makes multiperson video and audio confabs a snap over a Web connection.

Doubling Up

Many customers choose to retain their traditional landline for local calls and
use VoIP for long distance. After all, if your neighborhood loses power, most
VoIP services will go dead as well-not the case with traditional phone
service, which is supported by back-up batteries. One of few notable exceptions
to this rule is VoIP service offered by cable companies like Comcast. Comcast
provides a back-up battery that keeps your phone functioning for five to eight
hours during power outages.

Some other VoIP services can't patch a 911 call through at
all. Or, if you have a VoIP phone number with a different area code from your
place of residence, the call might be dispatched to the wrong location (say, to
a New York emergency center rather than to Florida, where you live). That's a
big problem, considering that the number of residential 911 calls placed through
VoIP will rise from 370,000 in 2004 to 3.5 mn in 2006, according to Intrado,
which provides 911 services to public safety groups and telecom companies.

US telecom regulators have taken these concerns to heart. The
Federal Communications Commission has set a Nov 28 deadline mandating that all
service providers aiming to displace traditional phone service give
emergency-response workers the names and locations of their subscribers. This
rule does not apply to outfits, like Skype, offering mostly PC-to-PC calling.

You might also run into problems if you have a home security
system. VoIP may not work with your alarm set-up, so you might ask your security
company to tune your system or even install a cellular back-up system. That
could run up charges of $200 for the installation and $10 extra in monthly
payments.

Clearly, VoIP is a young technology, with lots of technical and
regulatory knots still to be worked out. But it has a lot to offer: increasingly
crisp call quality at a low price, which features traditional phone service
providers often lack. Since most providers let you sign up without locking
yourself into a one- or two-year contract, VoIP may be worth a try.

By Olga Kharif