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Technology Stocks : IDT *(idtc) following this new issue?* -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?


To: SouthFloridaGuy who wrote (2437)3/8/1999 6:42:00 PM
From: Andrew H  Read Replies (2) | Respond to of 30916
 
>> Absolutely the cheapest INTERNET stock out there<<

Agreed. Also it may be that the timing is very good for us, with the Dow threatening 10,000 and the move up by internet stocks today--it will beinteresting to see how the rest of the week plays out.

If we get bondholder approval, a big time corporate investor and an IPO spinoff underwritten by Alex Brown and perhaps MS, IDTC could easily double from its current levels.



To: SouthFloridaGuy who wrote (2437)3/8/1999 9:11:00 PM
From: Secret_Agent_Man  Read Replies (1) | Respond to of 30916
 
Ringing Endorsements: Now for Some
Real Online Chat

By David Stires
SmartMoney
Page 124
(c) 1999 SmartMoney. All rights reserved.

At first, when Brent Budowsky of Washington, D.C., read
that a little-known outfit named IDT would begin offering
long-distance service over the Internet in his area, he was
skeptical. The 46-year-old business consultant figured the
sound quality would be questionable at best. And besides,
there was no need to switch phone companies -- he was
already getting a pretty good deal from Sprint.

But then something changed his mind: "You can't beat five
cents a minute," Budowsky explains.

Indeed, the nickel-a-minute rate Budowsky now pays for his
"Internet telephony" from IDT (800-225-5438) has cut his
monthly long-distance bill to just $50 --half what it was
before.

Why so cheap? The major reason is that Net phone
companies don't have to pay access charges to other carriers
for the use of their lines. Here's how it typically works. You
dial up a local-access number on your home phone (no, you
don't even need a computer). Then you input a personal
authorization code and the number you're calling --up to 32
digits in all. When the call goes through, you talk into the
receiver as you normally would. The Net provider turns your
voice into digitized data and shoots it through its network,
before converting it back to voice on the other end. (Bills are
generally paid in advance by credit card.)

So is this the wave of the future? Maybe -- but "future" is the
operative word here. In addition to all that tiresome
number-inputting, glitches such as echoes and transmission
delays continue to plague the system, experts say. Even
Budowsky, who swears by his Internet-calling routine, isn't
all that enthusiastic about the sound quality. "It's getting
there," he says, a year after signing up for the service. "Now
I don't have any calls that are horrendous."

Sarah Hofstetter
VP, IDT Corporate Communications
201-928-2882

idt.net