Originally published February 7 2005
Internet phone services growing in popularity; user base tops 1 million
by Mike Adams, the Health Ranger, NaturalNews Editor
More than a million people are using the Internet as their phone company using voice over IP (VoIP) technologies that let broadband subscribers use part of their bandwidth to carry phone signals. Consumer Reports recently tested a number of services, including AT&T, Time Warner Cable, Verizon, and Vonage, finding that call quality was good overall.
Internet phone service is growing in popularity, according to 12 On Your Side's Marilyn Moritz.
Moritz reported that about one million people are using the Internet phone service to connect with friends and family.
The technology is called Voice Over Internet Protocol, or VOIP, for short.
Internet phone service customers Joan and Andy Murphy, have their telephones connected to an adapter that sends calls over a high-speed connection.
They have a cable connection, but Internet phone customers can also use DSL.
Consumer Reports tested Internet phone service from five leading providers, including AT&T, Time Warner Cable, Verizon and Vonage.
"For the most part, quality was very good, although some of our panelists reported an echoy sound on some of their calls," said Consumer Reports' Mike Gikas.
In some cases, incoming calls didn't get through.
Some panelists also said they found it difficult to install the phone service by themselves.
Overall, Consumer Reports found cable connections seemed to have fewer problems than DSL connections, but found that neither type works in a power outage.
The magazine also found that dialing 911 can be a problem.
To solve that problem, Andy Murphy kept his regular line as a backup.
Even with the cost of the backup, Murphy said he has cut his phone bill by one-third since he switched to Internet phone service.
Internet phone service can be affordable, costing $25 to $40 a month for unlimited calling anywhere in the United States.
Consumer Reports said if you spend more than $60 a month on local and long distance calling, you could save money using an Internet phone service, even if you keep a backup line.
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