AT&T joins Internet call market
The humble home telephone took a major step into the digital future yesterday as telecom icon AT&T Corp. rolled out a new $40-a-month unlimited Internet calling plan in the Boston area.
Lending the Ma Bell brand and prestige to a market so far dominated by quirky start-ups, AT&T began selling its CallVantage service throughout the area inside Interstate 495. CallVantage is now available in 19 US metropolitan areas, with 80 more planned in coming months.
While AT&T is the first big name carrier to offer phone service via the Internet locally, other telecom giants are scrambling to offer similar plans. Verizon Communications Inc. is expected to roll out a comparable service locally within two months, and Comcast Corp. also is planning to move into Voice Over Internet Protocol, or VOIP, phone service over the next year.
Voice-Over-Internet service is available only in households that already pay for a separate, highspeed Internet connection, such as a telephone digital subscriber line or cable modem, that can cost $33 to $45 a month. But for those people who already have a high-speed connection, including nearly 30 percent of Massachusetts households, VOIP can offer a range of advanced services such as voicemail messages played as sound files through an e-mail account; conference calls set up instantly from a contact list on a computer; and in AT&T’s case, a ‘‘find me’’ service that rings up to five office and wireless numbers when a subscriber’s phone number is called.
‘‘It’s a great development from the consumer perspective to have another choice in service from a major carrier,’’ said Will Stofega, a senior telecom analyst with International Data Corp. in Framingham.
‘‘AT&T is coming in with their brand name, their reputation, and a very serious commitment, and they have all the things that a real phone company has to offer, like customer service and a network that they control.’’
Besides the potential for big savings, some early adopters of VOIP calling systems — primarily people using the technology at work rather than at home — rave about the enhanced features enabled by CallVantage-style systems.
Jim Barry, chief technology officer of OneUnited Bank, which has operations in Boston, Miami, and Los Angeles, said being able to merge voice mail with e-mail, and forward voice messages just as easily as e-mail, has been a big help.
CallVantage subscribers get a paperback-sized adapter to link their computer broadband modem to a normal phone. They can then make calls through the computer connection to any phone in the world. The calling service is limited, however, to the single phone connected to the computer.
For people who already have a broadband connection, the AT&T service — which it sells for $20 for the first six months — would cost about $15 a month less than comparable unlimited local and longdistance calling services from
Comcast, MCI, and Verizon that also include voice mail. It’s also $15 cheaper than AT&T’s own One Rate USA plan, which works on conventional telephone lines.
VOIP systems carry phone calls in the same format as e-mail and Web pages, which can make them far less expensive than conventional phone calls. Instead of creating two dedicated channels for talking and listening, as conventional phone service does, VOIP breaks conversation into tiny digital data packets that are zapped across the Net and reassembled in a fraction of a second to create continuous sound.
Verizon, the biggest US phone company, will offer a VOIP service within the next two months, and ‘‘it will be extremely competitive in features and price,’’ spokesman Jack Hoey said. Comcast spokeswoman Jennifer L. Khoury said the cable company’s $44-a-month Comcast Connections Any Distance plan for television subscribers ‘‘is a competitive service that has met with overwhelming success here in New England.’’
John S. Rego, chief financial officer of Vonage Holdings Corp., which is based in Edison, N.J., said, ‘‘We’re happy to have AT&T come in. It validates the market for this technology.’’
Among other special features, the AT&T CallVantage plan lets subscribers set up ‘‘Do not disturb’’ hours when they do not want to take calls except those from specially designated numbers and create online lists of dialed and received calls that subscribers can then click to call again. Subscribers can unplug the adapter and move it to another computer with a broadband connection anywhere in the United States and receive calls at their home number. AT&T spokeswoman Deborah Jones said CallVantage will be expanded across the state and New
England in coming months, though it is being marketed for now to residents of the metropolitan area inside I-495. Although people living on Cape Cod or in Worcester County could sign up for service now, they would get a phone number assigned to an area inside 495 that could be a toll call for neighbors calling them. CallVantage has several limitations.
For example, subscribers cannot use it to call 411 directory assistance, to receive faxes, or to connect a home security system, and lose phone service during power failures. AT&T also reserves the right to cancel service for subscribers making more than 5,000 minutes of calls per month.
Peter J. Howe can be reached at howe@globe.com.
