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To: Jim Oravetz who wrote (164)	12/4/2003 4:38:03 PM
From: Luce Wildebeest	Respond to of 211

Thanks Jim...good one!

To: Jim Oravetz who wrote (164)	12/11/2003 12:49:47 PM
From: Jim Oravetz	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 211

AT&T to Launch Internet-Based Telephone Service By SHAWN YOUNG Staff Reporter of THE WALL STREET JOURNAL AT&T Corp. is joining the rush to offer consumers phone service using Internet technology. The technology, known as voice over Internet protocol, or VOIP, will allow the company to sell cheaper local and long-distance service without having to rent local-phone lines from its archrivals, the regional Bells. AT&T, based in Bedminster, N.J., expects to register more than one million consumers in the next two years, according to people familiar with the company's plans. The company plans to have the service available in 100 markets, starting with three on the East Coast, and also plans a major expansion of existing phone programs for businesses that rely on VOIP. David Dorman, chairman and chief executive of AT&T, the nation's largest long-distance carrier, announced the VOIP initiative Thursday. VOIP, which sends phone calls as bits of digital data over the Internet or privately managed data networks, is already shaking up the phone business by allowing a wide range of competitors to sell phone service without having to recreate elaborate and costly telephone networks. VOIP service is targeted at consumers who already have high-speed Internet connections. A range of companies including upstarts such as Vonage Holdings Corp. and Time Warner Cable, a unit of Time Warner Inc., have unveiled a slew of VOIP initiatives in recent months. The Bells themselves, seeking to hang onto customers and take advantage of the features and lower costs associated with VOIP, are planning their own offerings. Qwest Communications International Inc. Wednesday began offering the service to some customers in Minneapolis and St. Paul, and plans to expand the offering in coming months. "VOIP is the most significant, fundamental new technology shift in telecommunications in decades, and will deliver tremendous value to all customers," AT&T said in a statement. Some analysts fear that the price-cutting that VOIP makes possible will worsen deflationary trends in an already weakened industry. Most VOIP plans available offer consumers rates of about $35 a month for unlimited local and long-distance calling, along with features such as voice mail and caller ID. Advanced features -- such as being able to choose whether to receive messages as voice mails or e-mails, or programming the phone automatically forward calls to several alternative numbers -- are also possible, said Cathy Martine, a senior vice president of AT&T's consumer division, who is in charge of the VOIP program. Offering VOIP to consumers will help AT&T bypass the regional Bells and save on the cost of access to Bell networks, which is the company's largest single expense at about $10 billion a year. Regulators are still wrestling with thorny questions about how to define, tax and regulate Internet-based calling, which is free from many of the rules and levies that apply to traditional phone service. Ms. Martine said she is confident the current freedoms will be maintained. Write to Shawn Young at shawn.young@wsj.com