Summary
Qwest Communications finally re-entered the home internet phone service market this week with the sale of its new "OneFlex Premier" product, which allows internet connections to double as inexpensive phone lines. Ironically, Qwest once led that very market before it ran into high-volume product consistency problems and fell out of it. Now back in, Qwest will have to play catch-up with companies already offering such services, such as the popular voice over internet protocol (VoIP) provider Vonage.
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http://news.zdnet.com/2100-6005_22-5698199.html
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Qwest Communications, the fourth-largest phone company in the United States, this week began selling a $30-a-month home Internet phone service, quietly reentering a market it once led but in which it since has lost significant competitive ground.
The service, marketed as OneFlex Premier, uses voice over Internet Protocol, or VoIP, software, which allows Internet connections to double as inexpensive local phone lines.
By waiting until now to deliver OneFlex Premier, Qwest must play catch up to cable operators and third-party vendors, such as Vonage, that are signing up tens of thousands of U.S. households a week to VoIP service.
Qwest was the first major telephone operator to sell VoIP, debuting a trial in Minnesota in August 2003.
But, as Qwest executives recently disclosed, further rollouts stalled as the company struggled with problems of "scalability," or ensuring the service is reliable no matter how many people are using it.
With those problems apparently now solved, the operator expanded the service throughout its 14-state territory on Wednesday.
VoIP calls are unregulated in the United States, so plans such as OneFlex Premier aren't saddled with as many of the state and federal telephone strictures that drive up the cost of traditional phone service.
VoIP operators also can offer free voice mail and other services for which providers of traditional phone service typically charge premiums.
About the author: Mike Adams is a natural health author and award-winning journalist with a mission to teach personal and planetary health to the public He has authored more than 1,800 articles and dozens of reports, guides and interviews on natural health topics, and he is well known as the creator of popular downloadable preparedness programs on financial collapse, emergency food storage, wilderness survival and home defense skills. Adams is an honest, independent journalist and accepts no money or commissions on the third-party products he writes about or the companies he promotes. In 2010, Adams created TV.NaturalNews.com, a natural living video sharing site featuring thousands of user videos on foods, fitness, green living and more. He also launched an online retailer of environmentally-friendly products (BetterLifeGoods.com) and uses a portion of its profits to help fund non-profit endeavors. He's also a noted pioneer in the email marketing software industry, having been the first to launch an HTML email newsletter technology that has grown to become a standard in the industry. Adams also serves as the executive director of the Consumer Wellness Center, a non-profit consumer protection group, and practices nature photography, Capoeira, martial arts and organic gardening. He's also author of numerous health books published by Truth Publishing and is the creator of several consumer-oriented grassroots campaigns, including the Spam. Don't Buy It! campaign, and the free downloadable Honest Food Guide. He also created the free reference sites HerbReference.com and HealingFoodReference.com. Adams believes in free speech, free access to nutritional supplements and the ending of corporate control over medicines, genes and seeds. Known by his callsign, the 'Health Ranger,' Adams posts his missions statements, health statistics and health photos at www.HealthRanger.org
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Sunday, May 29, 2005
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