Today Packet8 announced their rollout of some new features, as well as the Packet8 BPG510, a new terminal adapter with an integrated router.

The new Packet8 features include::

• Voicemail to Email Notification – Packet8 subscribers can now receive an email notification each time a voicemail message is left. The email can include an attached audio file of the actual message which can be forwarded to another email address or saved for future reference.

• Find Me, Follow Me – This combined hunting/multi-ringing feature allows subscribers to enter up to five phone numbers to ring in sequence. For example, users can specify that after a designated number of rings on their Packet8 home phone number, incoming calls move on to ringing their mobile phone and then their office number. If there's still no answer, the call is then guided to the subscriber's Packet8 voicemail box.

• Simultaneous Ringing on Multiple Phone Numbers - The Simultaneous Ring feature permits an incoming call to ring on any number of Packet8 phone numbers as well as a standard PSTN number. This convenience helps ensure that incoming calls will not go unanswered.

• 7-Digit Local Dialing – Packet8 subscribers no longer need to dial their area code when calling a number within the same area code as their primary Packet8 line. 11-digit dialing is still required for calling outside of the subscriber's Packet8 area code.

• Network Unavailable Forwarding – This feature allows subscribers to automatically forward incoming calls to an alternate phone number if their Internet connection goes down.

• Call Waiting Disable – Subscribers can disable call waiting two ways. On a per call basis, dialing *70 before making a call disables the call waiting for that call and sends all new callers to voicemail. To disable Call Waiting for all calls, subscribers can activate/deactivate this feature after signing in at their account details page.

Many of these features are simply "catch up" features to what AT&T CallVantage and Vonage have had for quite some time. Stiill, nice to see Packet8 making progress. I just hope their subscriber numbers are making similar progress. Last time I saw their subscriber numbers I wasn't that impressed.