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AOL Enters the VoIP market

Posted by Zonk on from the gutsy-business-moves dept.

freitasm writes "AOL is entering the VoIP market with its new service entitled 'AOL Internet Phone Service'. The service will be available in 40 cities around the US and offer integrated IM presence indicator, voice/e-mail and features like Call Waiting, CallerID. As a bonus current AOL members wil receive a wireless AP when signing-up for the service."

21 of 168 comments (clear)

  1. lol i can phone!!1 by Dougie+Cool · · Score: 5, Funny

    If I get woken up at 6am by a phone AOLer wanting to know my ASL I'm going to sue.

    --
    ~~Every few years or so I'm accidentally fashionable!
    1. Re:lol i can phone!!1 by mysticwhiskey · · Score: 5, Funny
      Scenario: 3am at recipient's residence.

      (Ring, Ring)

      Recipient: Hello? (rubs eyes)
      Caller: Hi, did I wake you?
      Recipient: Whaaa...?
      Caller: I'm using VOIP, and it costs me next to nothing!
      Recipient: (blinks)... you A-Hole!
      Caller: Yep, AOL - how'd ya guess?

      --

      Stuck down a hole! In the middle of the night! With an owl!

  2. Knowing AOL by Bazunok · · Score: 4, Funny

    It would be really easy to use, but you can only call other AOL users on AOL's proprietory phones.

  3. It's as easy as point-and-click by dangitman · · Score: 5, Funny
    So, when the phone rings, will it play "You've got telephone"?

    And why isn't this thing being released in September?

    --
    ... and then they built the supercollider.
    1. Re:It's as easy as point-and-click by mekkab · · Score: 3, Informative

      And why isn't this thing being released in September?

      Golf clap for the Eternal September reference.

      --
      In the future, I would want to not be isolated from my friends in the Space Station.
    2. Re:It's as easy as point-and-click by bcrowell · · Score: 3, Informative

      More like "You've got telemarketers". I believe VOIP is not covered by the do not call list.
      Can you back up this statement? I have Vonage, and I'm on the do not call list, and it works -- haven't gotten a sales call in months.

      --
      Find free books.
  4. Emergency services by WeirdKid · · Score: 5, Interesting

    Notice that 911 isn't listed in the services offered. AOL's service likely suffers from the same deficiency as Vonage in this respect. Vonage's TOS says that if you cannot clearly state the nature of your emergency and your location, emergency services may not be dispatched. I'm sticking with my land line until the VoIP providers get the 911 thing figured out.

    1. Re:Emergency services by thing12 · · Score: 4, Informative

      At least Vonage will direct your calls to a local 911 dispatcher (based on the location you provide). Most VOIP providers don't even go that far. They're testing e911 service in Rhode Island... apparently it's working quite well.

    2. Re:Emergency services by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 4, Informative

      You can have your cake and eat it to. Keep your landline only for 911, they are required to provide it whether you have telephone service or not.

    3. Re:Emergency services by stecoop · · Score: 3, Insightful

      I think the 911 situations are starting to look more like FUD. Larger municipals have had 911 starting back in 1968; however, a large segment of rural America didn't get 911 finalized until late 1990s (had to look that up on wikipedia). I remember where I lived it did get come about really late too.

      Get this; America now has 911 since 1990 but there is a small problem with addresses. In rural America a lot of places don't (didn't?) have simple things like a street sign so for the last few years a names has had to be labeled to all streets just for 911. So the lets look at it this way; we have survived a large time without 911 as we know it and 911 dispatchers haven't been able to send emergency assistance to the right location; yeah were working on it but if there is an emergency you'll figure out something even if you don't have a phone.

    4. Re:Emergency services by Desert+Raven · · Score: 3, Informative

      Who said there was no dial tone?

      Most states require phone companies to maintain dial tone for 911 on any line connected to them.

      So, there is a dial tone, you just can't dial anything except 911. Dialing any other number will get you a nice recording telling you the line is not in service.

  5. meanwhile, in Canada by WormholeFiend · · Score: 4, Informative

    The CRTC Issues 911 Ruling for VoIP Providers

  6. Impossible to implement! by yotto · · Score: 5, Funny

    This will never work, because you can't talk on the phone in ALL CAPS.

    --
    Pulp Audio Weekly - Geek News and Reviews
  7. What about keywords? by jav1231 · · Score: 4, Funny

    "If you're too drunk to drive, just say AOL Keyword "Cab" and a taxi will pick you up!

  8. Shhhhhh! by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 4, Funny

    AOL users use AOL VoIP.
    AOL users don't have 911.
    AOL users die.
    No more AOL users!

    It's genius.

  9. Free Forever? by zoomba · · Score: 4, Interesting

    I wonder if AOL will treat its VoIP subscribers like they do normal AOL users when they want to cancel their account.

    About 3 years ago I loaded up an AOL free trial CD just for shits and giggles, and to see how much it had changed since I last used it (1.0). Well, I found the experience disappointing (as I expected though) and at the end of the trial went to cancel.

    What happened at that point was a 30min conversation where the sales rep practically begged me to keep the service. He offered me 6 months free and told me that if I make this same call every 5-6 months I could end up not paying for the service ever again. I think I said "No, just cancel the damn account, I DO NOT LIKE THE SERVICE" about two dozen times. Finally, defeated, the rep canceled the account. That was the most painful phone convo I've ever had.

    I'm wondering if I can pull the free-forever scheme with their VoIP service. Think they'll be desperate enough for subscribers to it?

  10. Hot damn! by alispguru · · Score: 3, Funny

    As a bonus current AOL members wil receive a wireless AP when signing-up for the service.

    Does this mean we'll see a bunch of new unsecured wireless APs soon?
    --

    To a Lisp hacker, XML is S-expressions in drag.
  11. Test your connection... by fiji · · Score: 3, Interesting

    If you are at all interested in this service (or one of the alternate offerings from the other VoIP providers) then make sure your line can support a VoIP call by using this free service: ahref=http://testyourvoip.com/http://testyourvoip. com/>.

    Also you can roll your own with the Asterix software, and some cheap hardware... (URL:http://asterix.org/). There are companies who you can pay to bridge to the phone network calls from an Asterix server.

    -ben

  12. Hhhmmm.... by Slashcrap · · Score: 3, Funny

    As a bonus current AOL members wil receive a wireless AP when signing-up for the service.

    Excellent! Everyone in their neighbourhood will be getting free VoIP as well then!

  13. Call Me Paranoid but by TooCynical · · Score: 3, Interesting

    AOL/TM knows my buddies, surfing habits, shopping preferrences, magazines subscriptions, TV and cable viewing tendencies - do they really need to know who I talk with on the phone???

    I am probably giving them more credit than they are due but knowing that much about 40+ million people cannot be good...

    --
    Homer: Facts are meaningless, you can use facts to prove anything that's remotely true!
  14. VOIP != computer phone by mamladm · · Score: 3, Informative

    You are mistaken.

    VOIP doesn't mean that your computer becomes a phone. All it means is that voice is encapsulated into IP packets. Period.

    In fact, a software that allows you to use your computer as a phone, a so called softphone is a very bad compromise.

    You will always get far superior quality if you use a real VOIP phone, that is, a device that looks just like an old fashioned telephone, but instead of a phone jack (RJ-11) it has got an ethernet jack (RJ-45) at its back and circuitry to convert between analog voice and IP packet encapsulated digitised voice.

    http://www.voip-info.org/wiki-VOIP+Phones

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    the macintosh asterisk mailing list http://www.astm