[Qwest's Internet Protocol Phone Service, Q.talk, Now Available in Nine Cities at 7.5 Cents a Minute; First State-of-the-Art Native IP Network to Deliver Telephony Service]
DENVER--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Feb. 10, 1998--Qwest, a multimedia communications company building the world's most advanced fiber optic network, today began commercial service for its phone-to-phone IP telephony service, Q.talk(SM), with customers using the service in all nine introductory cities.
Leveraging its high bandwidth, technologically advanced Macro Capacity(SM) fiber network, Qwest is the first company to deliver to customers a high quality phone-to-phone service at 7.5-cents per minute, 24 hours a day, seven days a week. Because of its enormous network bandwidth, Qwest is the only company offering uncompressed service, which allows the sound quality and reliability of each call to equal that of traditional phone service. Q.talk service began today in the following nine cities: Anaheim, Los Angeles, Oakland, Sacramento, San Francisco and San Jose, California; Salt Lake City, Utah; Denver, Colorado; and Kansas City, Missouri. "The advancement of Internet telephony is today being realized on the Qwest Macro Capacity fiber network," said Joseph P. Nacchio, president and CEO of Qwest. "We welcome our new customers and hope they enjoy the savings of Q.talk with all of their family and friends."
7.5-Cents a Minute - IP Voice Service, Q.talk
Qwest's domestic, long distance IP service, Q.talk, is now being offered to consumers, through a controlled introduction, at 7.5-cents per minute for state-to-state calls with no monthly fees, no hourly or daily restrictions, and no requirements for credit cards or pre-paid calling cards. Q.talk is available now in nine cities and will expand its service offering to approximately 25 cities by mid-1998, and will further expand the service in conjunction with the planned network buildout.
User-Friendly
To place a long distance phone call using Q.talk, a customer will make a local call to access the Qwest IP network, then enter his/her own password and then dial the destination number.
High Quality, Uncompressed Voice
A traditional phone call contains the bandwidth of 64 kbps. Most IP telephony services compress the voice to 13 kpbs in order to fit all the calls onto their networks, and this typically reduces the voice quality of the call. Due to the state-of-the-art architecture and high bandwidth of the Qwest network, the Q.talk phone-to-phone IP telephony service does not compress the user's voice. From the phone call's origination point to its destination point, the call will remain at 64 kbps.
CONTACT: Qwest Communications
Diane Reberger, 303/291-1662 (Corporate Contact)
dreberge@qwest.net
qwest.net
or
Lee Wolfe, 800/567-7296 (Investor Contact)
lwolfe@qwest.net
qwest.net
or
Alexander Communications (Media Contact)
Mary Stromberg, 303/615-5070
mstrom@alexander-pr.com
alexander-pr.com |
