“VoIP applications will be the value-add that consumers are seeking to justify their investment in broadband. We expect that broadband Internet access and our VoIP applications will fuel each other's growth, so we're in for an exciting time in the next few years as consumer and business telephony services shift towards this new method of delivery for familiar services."
So said John Todd, CTO of VoIP Inc., regarding the company’s announcement hailing the roll-out of residential VoIP phone service, called eGlobalphone, to consumers throughout Florida.
The company has plans to expand its service footprint to Texas, Ohio, Washington, Pennsylvania, North Carolina, Michigan, Minnesota, and Missouri next week. The service will be expanded to other areas in the nation over the coming months.
Much like their competition, eGlobalphone Service requires that customers have a high-speed Internet connection to the home or business. As I alluded to yesterday, competition is just heating up and we can expect a vast number of new entrants into the Consumer and Business VoIP Service provider space.
eGlobalphone Service offers consumers a number of features including:
• Call Logs, which track incoming and outgoing calling;
• Do Not Disturb, which allows customers to receive calls only when they want, while letting emergency calls ring in;
• Personal Conferencing, which enables users to set up a meeting with up to nine additional callers;
• Locate Me, which enables home phones to find customers by ringing up to five phones in sequence;
• Voicemail with eFeatures, which allows customers to hear their messages from any phone or PC and forward the voicemail to anyone on the Web via e-mail.
Service requires a plug-in Multimedia Terminal telephone adapter (MTA) provided by VoIP, Inc., and a broadband Internet connection and regular telephone supplied by the customer.
Residential plans start at $29.95/month and feature unlimited calls to the continental United States and Canada. Business plan pricing begins at $49.95/month and also feature unlimited calls to the continental United States and Canada. All basic features are included, and customers should be aware there is a one-time $29.95 activation fee.
The eGlobalphone Service works with most cable modem or DSL broadband connections. The MTA is compatible with most home computer networks and may be used in conjunction with various home networks. And, the adapter can be used from almost any location where there is a telephone and a broadband connection. That gives customers the ability to stay connected when they travel.
The company's stated goal is to sign up 2.3 million business and consumer customers by 2007.
