Earthlink goes VOIP…
For now, Earthlink’s phone service will only allow its customers to call one another via their computers instead of through their regular phones. That means they need a headset, or a microphone and speaker, and will have to dial an Internet address instead of a normal phone number. As a result, avid technology users are likely to be the only ones to take advantage of EarthLink’s offer. (EarthLink also offers Internet phone service through Vonage.)
But in the next 12 months, the company expects to offer its own expanded service that allows people to use their regular phones and call anywhere, though that service won’t be free. Earthlink’s service is similar to one offered by Skype Technologies SA, a Luxembourg-based Internet phone company that offers free computer-to-computer calling and recently began allowing its customers to make calls to regular phones for a low fee. [WSJ.com]