Gillmor on VoIP

By at 12:27 pm Sunday, Aug 3

Dan Gillmor's column this weekend is a stirring appreciation of Internet telephony:
Previously, I had two phone lines into my house, each costing almost $20 a month for the dial tone plus local calls. One of those lines was split to also handle digital subscriber line (DSL) broadband data access. In addition, I paid a long-distance carrier per-minute rates and a monthly connection charge.

Today I have one phone line, split into voice and DSL services. But I also have a new box attached to the network that links my phone to the Internet.

The system converts voice into Internet data packets -- little packages of data that go to and fro on the Net -- and vice versa. For $20 a month, the box gives me unlimited calls inside the United States and Canada. International calls are extra, but at laughably low rates such as 5 cents a minute to Japan and 12 cents a minute to South Africa.

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Cory Doctorow

Upcoming appearances

* Feb 9, 2012, DeKalb, IL: Day of Doctorow, NIU
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