Make Internet calls from your regular phone

By Maria Trombly

It sounds like a scam, or a come-on for one of those dirt-cheap calling cards. But it is possible to make your regular telephone make its calls over the Internet instead of the phone network. It's a lifesaver for a freelance writer who makes his or her living on the telephone.

In fact, I've been conducting most of my interviews overn an Internet telephone since last fall. But before you start to feel sorry for the folks I talk to, you should know that there was no echo, no lag, no dropped calls and no problems with sound quality.

Those were the old ways, when you had to get special software and talk into a mike attached to your computer, and nobody could call you unless they were very technologically inclined.

In fact, the only way to tell that I made all my phone calls over the Internet today is the skeletal appearance of my phone bill, which used to be fat and thick and caused me much gnashing of teeth.

These days, the only gnashing of teeth going on is probably at my phone company, which used to be a virtual monopoly.
Of course, I'm a rare beast, a technology columnist, and I have to have all the latest gadgets as part of my job. Not too many other people are hooking up their phones to the Internet yet.

But that's all about to change, as my Internet telephone provider, a company called Vonage (you can find it at www.vonage.com) signs deals with cable companies and Internet Service Providers -- and competitors start to jump into the market.

You plug your phone into the ATA, using a regular phone jack. The ATA is a little device that's about as a big as a paperback book. Then you plug the ATA into your cable modem or DSL modem. If you don't have cable or DSL and still rely on a dial-up connection, this could be just the encouragement you need to upgrade.

Then you pick up the telephone receiver, dial "80#", and you've got a dial tone.

That's it. You don't need to install any special software. In fact, you don't have to have a computer at all. Moving is simple -- you just unplug your ATA from one location and plug it in at your destination. Your phone number travels with you. You can use it from a hotel room -- even from overseas.

Some Vonage customers already use it to make calls from Asia or Europe, avoiding international charges altogether, and keeping their US telephone number.

It's not quite a slam dunk, however.

For example, 911 service is still not available, though Vonage says they're working on it and it should be ready soon.

You have to choose an area code from over a hundred area codes. Yours might not be on the list. I live in western Massachusetts, for example, and the 413 area code wasn't available when I first signed up (though it is now). So I picked a 212 area code, and now I'm a local phone call for most of my editors.

Vonage is also working on other improvements to their service.

For example, right now you have to go to a Vonage website to get your voice mail. Soon, they'll be sent as email attachments. Another feature in the works is being able to call in and have your email messages read out loud to you over the telephone.

HOW IT WORKS

Cost:
* $40 a month for unlimited local and long-distance calls to the United States
* Low international rates, including 5 cents a minute to London and 6 cents a minute to Hong Kong.

Equipment: Your old telephone, an voice-to-digital converter box, and, if your cable or DSL modem only has one jack, a router so that you can talk on the phone while surfing the Net on your computer. The converter box comes with your Vonage subscription, and the router, if you need one, is

How it sounds: I can't tell the difference between an Internet phone call and a regular one.

Service quality: If my cable connection goes down, so does my Internet phone, so I haven't disconnected my old phone line.

Features: All features are free. They include voice mail with email reminders of when messages arrive, call forwarding, call waiting, repeat dialing, and Caller ID block.