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AT&T Extends Internet Phone Service to Milwaukee

Posted on: Tuesday, 13 July 2004, 06:00 CDT

AT&T extends Internet phone service to Milwaukee

Company one of most aggressive in marketing alternative technologies

By JASON GERTZEN jgertzen@journalsentinel.com, Journal Sentinel

Tuesday, July 13, 2004

AT&T announced Monday that it would offer Internet phone service in Milwaukee, Kenosha and Racine, as a growing number of customers turn to alternative technologies for calls.

With the addition of the markets in Wisconsin and six other states, AT&T now offers Internet calling in 100 metropolitan areas in 29 states and Washington, D.C.

Customers who want to switch to the new AT&T service must have a separate high-speed Internet connection from a cable or local telephone company.

Wrangling in Washington over the rules that require Baby Bell companies to share their traditional telephone networks with rivals such as AT&T is speeding the move toward new technologies such as Internet telephone service.

AT&T is one of the most aggressive participants in this expanding consumer market, Jeff Kagan, a telecommunications industry analyst, said in a report last month.

The number of Internet phone services available to Milwaukee- area residential consumers has been limited, but is expected to grow.

Vonage, a New Jersey technology company, has offered Internet calling in this region since at least last summer. Time Warner Cable has said it is pursuing a national expansion of its Internet telephone service, and SBC Communications Inc., the dominant local telephone company in Wisconsin, is developing a similar service.

The AT&T package announced Monday sells for a $19.99 monthly promotional price for six months, then increases to $34.99 a month. The service includes unlimited local and long-distance calling.

AT&T will provide customers with a plug-in telephone adapter that connects to their high-speed line.

The requirement that consumers have a high-speed Internet connection will limit the number of households than can sign up, but AT&T and other telecommunications companies expect this market to expand rapidly. About 19% of Wisconsin households now have such high- speed connections, according to research cited by AT&T.

"This is not a substitute for traditional telephone service," because not all homes have high-speed service, Cathy Martine, AT&T senior vice president for Internet telephony, consumer marketing and sales, said Monday during a conference call with reporters.

Even more consumers might sign up for high-speed Internet service because they are attracted by the chance to sign up for the new phone service, Martine said. "Voice may well be the killer application that consumers have been waiting for," she said.

AT&T and other companies offering Internet telephone service are relying on prices that undercut flat-rate packages for traditional land-line service.

The new technology also could win Internet telephone converts with special features. A consumer, for example, could program do- not-disturb periods that block calls during dinner. Another "Locate Me" feature would allow certain calls to be forwarded to a person's cell phone, office number or up to five phones until the call is answered.

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