US Net2Phone to Debut Mobile Phone-Like Handset
December 20, 2003 (NEW YORK) --
Net2Phone Inc, a US-based IP phone service provider, is planning to launch a new IP phone service in January 2004 called "Net2Phone WISIP IP Phone," which will allow subscribers of the service to use handsets similar to mobile phone handsets.
neasia.nikkeibp.com
Bart Bartolozzi, director of the Strategic Development of Net2Phone (photo)
The handsets will be connected to the Internet via an access point (AP) using the IEEE802.11b (11b) wireless LAN standard. Bart Bartolozzi (photo), director of the Strategic Development of Net2Phone, said, "Users can enjoy an extremely inexpensive IP phone service wherever they are if an AP is installed there. We would like to introduce additional terminals in the future that will be compliant with other wireless LAN technologies, including IEEE802.11g or IEEE802.11a."
The new terminal will be made by a Taiwan manufacturer (photo). "We will sell the terminal for less than US$200," Bartolozzi added. Initially, the service will be limited to placing calls only since no telephone numbers will be assigned to terminals. The company, however, is planning to provide a call receiving service as well in April 2004 by assigning phone numbers for the United States. The call control protocol adopted for the service is the session initiation protocol (SIP) technology, the standard signaling protocol for establishing sessions over the Internet.
The call procedure will be as follows: A user is supposed to go to a place where an IEEE802.11b-compliant AP is installed and set up his/her terminal with wireless LAN parameters, including the extended service set identity commonly known as ESS-ID. After being connected to the Internet via the wireless LAN, the user will enter the callee's number to begin talking. The service will utilize APs already deployed in hotspots in cities or in company offices. Net2Phone itself will not take care of APs.
The call rates will be based on the company's existing pricing scheme for the IP phone service. For instance, one-minute call in the US will cost US$0.02. A one-minute call to a mobile phone will cost US$0.029. A call from the US to Japan will cost US$0.059 for one minute and a call from the US to a mobile phone in Japan, US$0.29 for one minute. The call rates within Japan will have about the same pricing structure.
Taiwan-made IP phone
Net2Phone offers the IP phone service to those users who access the Internet by using a dial-up line, CATV or digital subscriber line (DSL). The number of users has not been made open. The firm is driving its business more actively in Central and South America or India, where telephone fees are relatively high, rather than in the Unites States. The Softbank group was investing in this company until 1999. |
