Fergie's Tech Blog

Vonage given stick to beat BT

Peter Jidge writes on TechWorld.com:

Voice-over-IP (VoIP) provider Vonage has launched in the UK, with full approval from Ofcom to offer stiff competition to BT.

"We will offer call quality as good or better than BT," said chief executive Jeffrey Citron, at the London launch. The £9.99-a-month flat rate service allows customers to use any existing phone, which they plug into a Vonage-enabled broadband router. Calls are then free, except international calls and calls to mobiles. The Linksys-made routers will be available from Staples for about £25.

Vonage staff said that Ofcom had welcomed its arrival in the UK, and had gone to some lengths to allow it to make its service (which has been in tests in the UK since January) competitive. For instance, customers will be allowed to keep their Vonage number when they move house, severing the geographical link between dialling code and area. If a customer gets a "London" number, they call and receive calls on that London number, whether their router is connected to the Net in London or Cardiff.

posted by Fergie @ 5/21/2005 03:38:00 PM