Voice over IP prompts free, flat-rate calling

The age of free (or virtually free) voice has arrived. ePhone Telecom Inc., last week announced that it will offer unlimited free voice and fax calls to 25 frequently called numbers anywhere in return for carrying a company's long-distance traffic.

Not to be outdone, USATalks.com Inc. said it has completed the first phase of its nationwide voice-over-IP network and will market "all-you-can-talk" long-distance packages for between $25 and $90 a month.

Set to roll out in September, start-up ePhone's offer includes free installation of its iGate stand-alone router, said Jean Paul Langlais, vice president of marketing and sales for the European subsidiary of ePhone.

The company guarantees toll quality on all billable long-distance calls, which will be transmitted over either a public network or a managed IP network and discounted between 20% and 80%, Langlais said.

The free calls will be transmitted over iGate with no quality guarantee. "In general, we like to say it will be cell phone quality - quite a notch above PC-to-PC or PC-to-phone service," he said.

ePhone plans to deploy 10,000 communication devices from TEK DigiTel during the next six months.

For its offering, USATalks initially will target homes and home offices, then small businesses,said Allen Portnoy, chairman and CEO of the company.

The company's ATM network currently accommodates calls originating from more than 200 cities to anywhere in the United States. "We're aiming at having two-thirds of the population on by the end of August," Portnoy said.

Portnoy compared USATalk's system with toll-quality voice.