AT&T Launches Internet Phone Service in New Jersey, Texas

AT&T Corp. has introduced Internet-based phone service in New Jersey and Texas, kickstarting a plan to provide broadband-equipped consumers cheaper rates and new features in 100 major U.S. markets by the end of the year.

AT&T, the No. 1 long-distance phone company, on Monday introduced VoIP, in parts of New Jersey, including Hackensack, Newark, New Brunswick and Morristown. Consumers who sign up for AT&T CallVantage Service by May 31 receive unlimited local and long-distance calling, including calls to Puerto Rico and the Virgin Islands, for $19.99 a month for six months. The service is $39.99 thereafter.

CallVantage customers must have a broadband connection, a regular phone and a plug-in telephone adapter that AT&T provides.

The Edison, N.J.-based telecom giant introduced Internet-based phone service in Texas yesterday. It is available in Austin, Dallas, Fort Worth and Houston. The company will make VoIP available in San Antonio in a few weeks, a spokesman said.

With AT&T CallVantage Service, customers have access to new features, including personal conferencing, which allows a caller to set up a meeting with up to nine other people. Another feature allows customers to hear their messages from any phone or PC and forward the voicemail to anyone on the Web.

AT&T offers consumers unlimited local and long-distance phone service over the conventional phone network, but it costs anywhere from $49 to $60 a month depending on the state. The company reports that more than four million customers subscribe to local and long-distance service, but they are not all on AT&T One Rate USA, the unlimited residential calling plan.

VoIP has been all the rage this year as U.S carriers both large and small prepare to offer millions of Americans a cheaper, hipper way of communicating. Smaller phone providers such as Vonage Holdings Corp. have a head start over the likes of AT&T, but the percent of Americans talking over the Internet at home is minute.

In a lawsuit filed last week, Vonage sued AT&T, claiming the company’s “CallVantage” VoIP service is too similar to its own name and “Call Vonage” program and threatens to confuse customers, according to national media reports.

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