Net Phone Service Renamed, Revamped

Net2Phone is renaming its PC-to-phone software and adding a few improvements--along with a new pricing plan.

Effective this week, the voice-over-IP leader is changing the name of Net2Phone 9.0 software to CommCenter. A beta version of CommCenter 1.0 is available for download now.

The product name change is meant to reflect more accurately Net2Phone's intent to become a one-stop destination for communications and not just a company that lets you make inexpensive PC-to-phone calls, say executives.

Highlights of CommCenter include a simpler user interface, presence management features that tell you when other Net2Phone account holders are online, and improved echo-cancellation technology for better voice quality.

New Fees

Net2Phone is also updating the way it charges customers for PC-to-phone calls. Instead of continuing to kick callers off its network after five minutes of talk time, Net2Phone will let you keep gabbing--for a price.

Under its old pricing structure, Net2Phone let anyone place a five-minute domestic PC-to-phone call for free. But after five minutes the system disconnected you, even if you had a Net2Phone account with a billable credit card. International calls varied in price depending on the country, but started at 8 cents per minute.

Now, CommCenter lets you talk uninterrupted on domestic calls. The first five minutes are still free of charge. After that, the rate switches to two cents per minute on PC-to-phone calls. PC-to-PC calls remain free.

Bridging Rivals

Also new is CommCenter's Active Contact List, which lets you see that your Net2Phone buddies are online. America Online, Microsoft's MSN, and Yahoo offer rebranded versions of Net2Phone's Net telephony service. CommCenter can identify Net2Phone buddies who are logged onto any of those partner services.

Net2Phone doesn't solve the ongoing IM war among the three rivals. It can't help AOL's Instant Messenger users swap text messages with buddies using rival Yahoo Messenger service, for example. CommCenter 1.0 only supports instant voice messages, not text.

But it may someday help you skirt the messaging wars. If AOL, MSN, Yahoo, and CommCenter users are registered for the Net telephony service, they can share a master buddy list. And you can initiate an instant voice message with a Net2Phone buddy on any of those partner services. Net2Phone says the technical capability exists today, but business agreements among the companies prevent interoperability.

Another upcoming feature is a follow-me capability that lets the network track your location, whether you are at work, at home, or reachable by cellular phone.

Net2Phone also plans to offer a service that supports a sort of voice-input speed dial for Internet-based phone calls. The service will also feature a computer-generated voice that can read your e-mail messages to you, retrieve schedule information, and find other data.

More Charges

Net2Phone's introduction of CommCenter comes at a tough time for Net telephony firms. Many firms that once promised to revolutionize the way the world communicates have folded. Among the deceased are ZeroPlus.com, FireTalk Communications, and Lipstream Networks. Still others, such as PhoneFree, have stopped offering customer Net telephony services.

Exceptions are Deltathree and Dialpad Communications. Both are still around. However, Deltathree has revamped its consumer service as iConnectHere, and now charges two cents per minute for domestic calls.

Dialpad expects to move from an unlimited free service to a free-and-fee combination plan in September. Under the new plan, you'll get five minutes of free talk, then the service will prompt you to sign up for one of two pricing plans. The domestic plan charges a flat rate of about $10 monthly; an international calling plan starts at 4 cents per minute.

Both Yahoo and Microsoft have also raised the rates for their PC-to-phone services, which are repackaged versions of Net2Phone's service. AOL is the lone holdout, continuing to offer free unlimited PC-to-phone calls.

The Future Calls

Most computer users and telecommunication companies continue to view Net telephony services as curiosities. That's because Internet telephony is still inferior to traditional phone service, but as latency drops and voice quality improves that may change.

About 31.8 million people have placed a PC-to-phone call worldwide, according to iLocus market research firm. But only about 9.7 million of those who have tried Net telephony have gone on to actively use the technology, the researchers say.

Net telephony services get an unlikely booster in October with the launch of Windows XP. Microsoft says it will improve quality of Net phone calls by building Internet telephony technology into the core of the operating system. The company has also said it is working with traditional phone companies to take advantage of the technology, and is talking with AT&T, SBC Communications, and Verizon.