Is this call for you?
Net phones cost less, but that's not the only factor
Rachel Parnes, who lives near Albany, N.Y., calls her mother in Natick almost daily, instead of weekly, because the price is so cheap. Kevin Clougherty of Chelmsford has friends in England on his speed-dial list. And Raj Sathyaraj of Hudson estimates he's saving $150 a month on calls to India and Australia since moving from AT&T to Vonage Internet phone service.
But for all the people whose calling habits -- and social lives -- are being transformed by cheap, fixed-price Net phone plans, many still aren't willing to plunge in.
"I just think there's more potential for outages than you'd have with the telephone," said Andrew Devlin, a self-employed consultant in West Roxbury with five kids who are nearing peak yakking age.
The Internet phone revolution is gathering steam, though.
Yankee Group, a Boston market research firm, estimates the number of US "voice over Internet protocol" customers will jump to nearly 1 million by the end of this year, from 131,000 in December 2003. Yankee predicts there will be 17.5 million Internet phone users by the end of 2008.
Old-line phone giants like AT&T Corp. and Verizon Communications Inc., cable TV companies, and start-ups like Vonage have stormed into the market in recent months.
But all projections indicate that by decade's end, Internet phone plans will still lag far behind the 100 million-plus regular US phone lines.
What sells Internet calling more than anything else are unlimited domestic phone calls for $30 or $35 a month, and international rates such as 3 cents a minute to London and Rome and 4 cents to Tokyo. For someone already paying $35 to $45 for a broadband Internet connection, plus the same amount in phone bills, Internet phone may be an especially easy choice.
"You just don't worry about how long you're on the phone, and you don't hesitate to pick it up," said Anne Mantegani, a surgical nurse from Quincy who has been saving $100 a month since moving to Vonage Holdings Corp. last year. Vonage has dropped the monthly price by $5 twice since then, to $30.
In March, when planning a trip to the Bahamas, Mantegani had no compunction about calling resorts with questions rather than struggling through websites.
Her partner, Mike Sullivan, said Vonage helped him rekindle a friendship with a college classmate from 20 years ago who now lives in Rochester, N.Y. "The only reason I first called him was because I knew it was free," Sullivan said.
Among the many features offered by Internet phone plans are super-cheap second numbers that ring the same home line.
Eric Kristoff, a computer programmer from Leominster, credits VOIP with the fact that he's probably talking on the phone two hours a week more with his father than he ever did. Kristoff pays $15 a month for 500 minutes, plus $5 for a phone number in the Hartford area where his father, sister, and other relatives work.
Before, his father would call him only on the 800 line at his workplace, Kristoff said, but now that reaching him in Leominster costs no more than a local Hartford call, he's far more willing to pick up the phone.
Still, there can be plenty of reasons to hold off on ordering Net phone service.
Evan Belansky, town planner in Danvers, investigated AT&T's CallVantage service, figuring it could save him $15 a month. But it turned out he would still need a standard phone line for his home security system, erasing any savings.
Adam Beatham of Dover, N.H., and his wife, Laura, would like "the huge savings" Net calling would offer. But they can't transfer their current Comcast-issued home number to Vonage, a big disqualifier for Laura, a telecommuting computer programmer who has scores of people calling her at home.
Others, like Devlin, have concluded VOIP still isn't reliable enough. Because the calls run through a computer and a broadband modem, any power failure shuts down Net phone service.
And 911 operators won't automatically see the VOIP caller's address unless it's been properly programmed.
"If they have a voice line in a store you could try out, it would be different," said Janice Tsai of Exeter, N.H. "I want to save money and also justify going with a cable modem. I also couldn't get a clear answer anywhere on whether a fax machine works" on VOIP.
Jacob Walker of Beacon Hill, an otherwise satisfied customer, wound up disconnecting his fax machine because none of the troubleshooting tips from Vonage worked. He now uses an electronic fax account for incoming faxes and heads to a copy shop when he has to send one.
Julie Scofield installed an Internet phone line at her Smaller Business Association of New England office in Beverly. "What I've experienced is that people I'm calling hear beeps or clicks or something. I don't hear it. It's a minor distraction, but in the back of my mind, it's a consideration when I'm going to make an important call," Scofield said.
"I'll use a cellphone for a conference call because if it's clicky then I'm going to be a nuisance for everybody else."
Peter J. Howe can be reached at howe@globe.com. 