Calling the future: Internet-based phones come of age
The new Internet-based telephones' voice quality is excellent according to Rafe Needleman in his latest Business 2.0 column:
Take Vonage. It offers a $40-a-month service that connects a regular telephone to a high-speed Internet connection via a small Cisco VoIP (voice-over-Internet Protocol) router. Vonage's value-add is the interconnection it provides between the Net and the global phone system. For the most part, the Vonage service doesn't require people to change the way they use the phone, and it offers some interesting advantages over the old systems. The monthly fee covers unlimited nationwide calls. And since Vonage phone numbers are assigned to routers, not buildings, if you move across the country and take your router with you, your phone number and area code come along too (just like with a cellular phone).