Talk is cheaper

Entrepreneur, June, 1998 by Heather Page

Originally, the Internet was developed for university and government use, primarily to facilitate the transfer of text-based documents. That all changed in 1992, when the National Science Foundation took the first step in opening the Internet to private commercial development. The commercial sector expanded past simple e-mail and file transfers into multimedia applications that allowed Internet users to play music and view video clips on the Web.

Today, the Internet has advanced even further. It's now used for a variety of communications - everything from making long-distance phone calls and sending faxes to broadcasting live TV and radio programs. While some tools may seem frivolous at first glance, many have surprising relevance in today's business environment.

One main benefit to using the Internet for long-distance phone calls and other communications is cost, says Nathan J. Muller, author of The Totally Wired Web Toolkit: How to Use the Internet and World Wide Web as a Phone, Fax, Pager, Radio and More (McGraw-Hill). With traditional phones and fax machines, per-minute charges and high volumes lead to skyrocketing costs. But for some Internet telecommunications, the only charge is your monthly Internet access fee. "Now you can reach out globally, send information anywhere and not have to mentally tally the costs," Muller says.

Privacy is another advantage. Sensitive information sent through a standard fax machine is out in the open for all to see. Some Internet faxing services, on the other hand, send faxes straight to users' desktops, so they're only viewed by the intended recipients. Internet technologies can also bring your voice, fax and e-mail communications onto the desktop for easier access and improved collaboration among distant employees.

GOING THE DISTANCE

The main attraction of voice transmissions over the Internet, known as Internet telephony, is the promise of lower rates on long-distance calls. To get up and talking, you need a multimedia PC with a microphone, sound card and speakers (or headset), and the proper Internet telephony software installed on your computer, or a telephone connected to an Internet Protocol (IP) telephony switch.

A popular program, available in Macintosh and Windows versions, is VocalTec Communications' Internet Phone ($49.95). Internet Phone's PC-to-PC capabilities allow you to make an unlimited number of long-distance calls to other PCs that have Internet Phone for the cost of your monthly Internet access fee. Internet Phone also boasts the ability to send and receive video over the Internet (a parallel port camera or video camera with a standard Windows-compatible video capture device is required) in addition to its various document-sharing and audio-conferencing capabilities.

Perhaps the best feature of Internet Phone is its new PC-to-phone capability for making calls over the Internet from your computer to standard phones. To do this, you must first sign up with an Internet Telephony Service Provider (ITSP) that offers service to the regions you'll be calling most frequently; some ITSPs charge an initial sign-up fee. Choose from the software's list of ITSPs, then click on the link to the ITSP's Web site and subscribe. (A user name and password will be provided.)

You'll then have access to the VocalTec Telephony Gateway, which bridges the gap between the Public Switched Telephone Network (PSTN) and the Internet so your Internet call can be sent over the PSTN to a regular phone. Unlike PC-to-PC calls, PC-to-phone calls do have a charge - but it's a reduced rate.

Keep in mind that Internet telephony has been plagued by poor voice transmissions over IP networks. On the Internet, data is broken down into "packets" that are sent separately and reassembled at the receiver's end. Unfortunately, this means voice conversations on the Net are often subject to delays because of high traffic volumes, and sentences can get clipped or jumbled when put together on the other end. "The quality of voice conversations is still a big concern today and remains one of the major downfalls [of Internet telephony]," Muller says.

That's why some companies are creating their own high-bandwidth networks that carry voice, data and other traffic, and promise to deliver better sound quality. You'll have to pay for these services, but they're offered at discounted prices. Qwest (www. qwest.net) offers a new service called Q.talk for phone-to-phone IP telephony service carried over its advanced fiber-optic network. To place a long-distance call, a customer must first make a local call to access the Qwest IP network, enter a password and then dial the destination number; calls run 7.5 cents per minute - a rate considerably lower than those generally offered by standard long-distance carriers. Q.talk is only available in nine cities so far: Salt Lake City; Denver; Kansas City, Missouri; and Anaheim, Los Angeles, Oakland, Sacramento, San Francisco and San Jose, California. Qwest plans to expand its Q.talk service to 25 cities by mid-1998.