The Change Mariner

AT&T Joins Fray for Cheaper Calls Through the Web

New York Times:

This certainly is a significant event," Kate Griffin, an analyst with the Yankee Group, a market research firm, said of AT&T's impending move, noting it may well be the most aggressive effort yet by a major telephone company. "We've been waiting for years for companies to announce their roll-out plans," she said. "Now everybody is jumping in."

The rush has been set off by sharp improvements in the technology that allows telephone calls to be carried over cable lines, and, in an unconventional and less expensive way, over existing telephone lines. What the technology does is change a voice signal into data -- resembling the form used to deliver e-mail messages, digital music and Web pages -- that can be sent across a variety of networks, including cable and telephone lines, satellite and even electric utility wires.

The Internet-based services allow customers to use their regular telephones, but plug them into boxes that translate voice traffic into Internet data packets. Callers would keep their existing phone numbers.

There are some substantial advantages to this technology. It not only is less expensive to install and operate, it can offer consumers the ability to manage telephone calls in new ways.

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