For example, Net2Phone charges less than 5 cents a minute for domestic calls, and 10 cents to 20 cents per minute for international calls. Worldwide, consumers will spend 6 trillion minutes this year talking on the phone. Making a simple phone call over a PC is just the first step, according to Net2Phone. As companies improve the quality of Net calls, other unique features may come into play, such as PC video conferencing and unified messaging, which allows faxes, phone calls, and email to be retrieved from a single source. That's the world we're in and Net2Phone's vision.
Some analysts think the vision is a pipe dream, however.
The concept of making phone calls through a PC may not appeal to many. What they've got is a niche market that they've dominated. Yet Net2Phone so far is ahead of the pack in the nascent Internet telephony market. Net2Phone has been very effective in cutting deals with people who have a lot of eyeballs. Today's Sprint deal comes a day after Compaq announced it was making Net2Phone's Internet phone services available to new Presario customers in Canada, Latin America, and Asia.