Dialing for No Dollars

Internet telephony promises a cheap alternative to traditional long-distance calling: Just as you can limit spending on postage by using e-mail, you can avoid long-distance telephone charges by routing calls over the Net. Actiontec's Internet Phone Wizard is a nifty new product that connects your telephone handset to the Net. With it, you can make free long-distance calls within the United States and Canada, and to selected countries (including much of Europe). The Internet Phone Wizard mimics a regular call's look, feel, and sound--when everything works.

I tested a $100, Universal Serial Bus version of the device (it also comes in an $80, internal PCI card version), and got mixed results. The green-and-gray box resembles an external modem, with modular jacks to connect an analog phone line and a standard telephone handset. You tap the phone's pound key twice to toggle between the Internet and analog modes. The Internet Phone Wizard sends calls through one of several Internet telephony service providers, which patch Internet calls through to anyone with a standard telephone connection. Currently the Internet Phone Wizard works with five ITSPs, but the bundled Actiontec software steers you toward the services of Deltathree.com.

The USB version of Internet Phone Wizard works with all versions of Windows 98; the PCI version will also work with Windows 95. Actiontec is currently working on support for Windows 2000 and Windows ME. The company is also considering supporting the Mac OS, but not Windows NT or Linux.