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Some Georgia Businesses Adopt Internet-Based Telephone Services

Posted on: Friday, 8 October 2004, 06:00 CDT

Oct. 9--Some say talk is cheap, but an emerging technology is likely to make it cheaper.

Voice over Internet Protocol, known in the industry as VoIP, takes the human voice and converts it into bits of data sent over high-speed Internet lines, such as cable. This eliminates most long-distance telephone charges.

The technology has been around for years but only recently has started to attract interest.

The Augusta-based Advanced Technology Group has been offering forms of VoIP to businesses since 1998.

"We were what we call pioneers," said Graham Ellison, senior vice president, adding that the company has installed such systems for more than 100 companies nationally and in the Southeast, including the local John Deere plant.

Since the late 1990s, VoIP has matured to the point where the voice quality is high and the technology is more accepted, Mr. Ellison said.

Many telecommunications providers offer VoIP to business clients. Fewer companies offer the phone-over-Internet technology to residential customers.

"(Residential) customers don't seem to really care what technology is being used to deliver dial tones to homes," said Todd Smith, a spokesman for BellSouth, which offers VoIP to business clients.

The technology is attractive to business clients because it is cheaper, more flexible, and easier to use than traditional phone systems, said Hartie Cliatt, the vice president of Augusta Telephone.

Augusta Telephone has installed VoIP systems for dozens of clients, including Gerald Jones auto dealers and the McDuffie County school system.

Because VoIP largely bypasses the labor-intensive telephone network, the result is a cheaper system, said Philip Kent Jr., the vice president of marketing and sales for AccessOne, a startup VoIP provider in Columbia County.

AccessOne's first client is QVS Holdings, an Augusta-based company that employs 225 people and owns the 20 area Pump 'N Shop convenience marts and Culligan Water Distribution. Company officials discovered the phone system while hunting for ways to cut costs, said Jerry Jeffers, the vice president of administration.

"We spent a ton on our phone systems with the local Ma Bells," Mr. Jeffers said, referring to BellSouth.

QVS' phone system, which comprises at least 100 phone lines, is scheduled to make the change next week, Mr. Kent said.

VoIP will slash QVS' monthly phone bills by 25 to 30 percent, Mr. Jeffers said.

And by hooking the phone systems into a digital system such as the Internet, users can greatly expand their capabilities, Mr. Jeffers said.

QVS company officials set up dozens of phone system options, such as call forwarding and voice mail setups, by using their computers.

VoIP systems are also going into each of QVS' convenience stores, where they will be used for dial-up ATMs and credit card readers, Mr. Jeffries said.

Most employees and customers at QVS convenience stores won't even know there's been a change, he said.

Within two months AccessOne plans to offer the service to residential customers, Mr. Kent said.

AccessOne will charge $29.95 for unlimited residential U.S. local and long-distance calling, he said.

Recent price wars between VoIP pioneers AT&T and Vonage have led those companies to cut their monthly unlimited VoIP calling plans to $30 and $25, respectively.

AT&T and Vonage offer the system to both business and residential clients, and are widely considered industry leaders among the bigger telecommunications companies.

Other telecommunications providers such as BellSouth and ITC Deltacom currently offer VoIP only to business clients in the Augusta area, but company officials say residential VoIP is being looked into.

Comcast announced that it will begin offering residential service in some places over the next two years.

Residential VoIP will come to the Augusta area, but it's unclear just how soon that will happen, said Bill Botham, a Comcast spokesman in Augusta.

Knology offers VoIP only to commercial customers.

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