Monday, July 28, 2008

Vonage Trumps New Services, Maybe New CEO

Paying for things is for suckers. Okay, that's not entirely true. But paying for traditional services when you can get a cheaper deal thanks to emerging technologies is a much better idea.

In my home, I haven't paid for cable in nearly a year, but I still watch cable thanks to Hulu.com, a streaming video service (with commercials) and most networks, which stream their shows (with commercials) on their site. With two cables, I hooked up a spare computer to my television -- and bingo, no more cable bill.

The same holds true for my telephone. It's true I spend way too much on my cell phone -- what with all the data plans and anytime minutes -- but for my home phone, I use Voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP) services that let me use the Internet to make calls.

Vonage (you know the commercials) is one of the most recognizable names in the business, but recently it's been as much bad news as good thanks to some debt refinancing and a potential shift in upper management.

But the company is trying to use the Web for what the Web does best: follow you anywhere. Think of their MyVonage service, which creates a virtual home phone that follows you anywhere as the one number to rule them all. The service lets people consolidate their phone lines into one and offers conference calling and recording for just $35 per month.

That's not bad a deal for those who have work that requires mobility, conferences and the occasional recording.

For most people though price should be enough of a reason to switch from traditional phone companies to VoIP services, particularly now that the president signed a law that will make it much easier for 911 services to sync with these networks.

Posted By Brad at 11:38 AM
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