Web Phones Hit The Road

CBS' Larry Magid Tests Phones Which Go Global, But Seem Local

(CBS)  Other companies that offer similar services include Lingo ($19.95 a month with unlimited free calling to the U.S., Canada and Western Europe) and AT&T CallVantage ($29.95 a month). In addition to providing outgoing and incoming calls, these services have advanced features such as free voicemail and Vonage's "Simulring" that can be programmed to simultaneously forward your calls to up to five phone numbers so that you never miss a call. If you don't pick up your regular line, you can take your calls on your cell phone, another phone in your home or office or even a hotel phone.

With all these services, you need a high-speed Internet connection, and the quality of the call can deteriorate if the connection gets too slow. In most situations, it sounds as good as a regular phone line.

The Vonage adapter is smaller than a video cassette and easy to transport, but it does require wired Ethernet which is increasingly hard to find now that a lot of hotels (along with other public hotspots) are switching over to wireless "WiFi" technology.

Vonage this fall will introduce a portable phone that works over WiFi networks. The phone, which looks pretty much like a standard cordless phone, will place and receive calls as long as it is near a WiFi adapter.

There are also ways to make free or low-cost calls from your PC regardless of whether it has a wired or wireless Internet connection.