Qwest Offers Free Residential VoIP

RBOC Picks Lucent for TDM Today, VoIP in the Future

In announcing financial results in November, the carrier revealed plans to do a small residential trial of local IP-based voice service in Minneapolis — where startup service provider Vonage Holdings Corp. is already offering VoIP services.

Between 100 and 200 subscribers will receive the service for free, says Claire Maledon, spokeswoman for Qwest. The RBOC elected to make Minneapolis its first residential VoIP market since it is one of the company’s largest markets, Maledon adds.

A federal court recently ruled Minnesota regulators do not have the authority to treat Internet telephone companies, such as Vonage, the same as traditional phone companies.

However, the FCC has yet to rule on how, if at all, to regulate IP phone companies.

Qwest expected to provide consumers with IP phones for the service, which will include GUIbased features such as find me-follow me and conference calling, says Maledon, adding that the product is considered a secondary line offering at this point.

Although Qwest recently announced its selection of Lucent to provide it with nextgeneration 5E-XC switches and packet-to-circuit conversion gateways, Maledon tells xchange that equipment will not be used in the Minneapolis residential VoIP trial. Rather, existing equipment in Qwest’s network will support the VoIP trial, she says, declining to provide what vendors or other service providers are involved in delivering the trial service.

News about Qwest’s potential plans to offer Internet-based phone service first broke early in November, when the RBOC’s CEO Richard Notebaert reportedly mentioned in a speech in Arlington, Va., that Qwest plans to offer VoIP in Minnesota and possibly Arizona to save on regulatory expenses and other costs. “Our objective in offering voice over IP at the mass market level — because we already do it in the enterprise space — will be to explore this path, to take this journey as the path to deregulation,” the Minneapolis Star Tribune quoted Notebaert as saying. Maledon didn’t have any information on Qwest’s plans to offer residential VoIP service in Arizona.

As for Qwest’s deal with Lucent, that includes 5E-XC switching equipment used initially to upgrade the service provider’s existing local circuit-based voice network. In the future, Qwest expects to use the 5E-XCs as well as Lucent’s recently unveiled Intelligent Media Gateway, among other offerings, to support VoIP, says Maledon.

According to Lucent, Qwest will use Lucent’s 5E-XC switches to replace older technology, consolidate end-offices and lay the groundwork for migration of its network to VoIP. Following lab and field trials this year, Lucent says, Qwest plans to deploy the new Intelligent Media Gateway that will eventually connect existing customers to VoIP networks. Lucent says this will position Qwest for a smooth transition of its 5E-XC network to softswitch control and effectively transform its entire local network to VoIP in the future.

Share this article: Email, Slashdot, Digg, Del.icio.us, Yahoo!MyWeb, Windows Live Favorites, Furl
Add this article feed to: RSS, My Yahoo, Newsgator, Bloglines