ANTenna Blog -- Networking & Communications

The Internet makes it possible for companies to open up their Web sites to visitors located across the ocean. However, communicating with potential customers has not been as easy because of complex dialing sequences and the hefty rates often found with international calls. Phone.com, a Voice over IP (VoIP) service provider, has tried to address those issues with an enhancement to its service portfolio.

Phone.com now offers customers a single number that can be used for international calls. Small and medium businesses receive a number with an 883 prefix that can be used in 4,000 cities in 49 countries. Also these conversations flow over the Internet and avoid the high prices typically charged for international Public Switched Telephone Network calls. The connections are either billed as local calls or are free when used in conjunction with VoIP services, such as Skype and GoogleTalk,

The new service stems from a partnership between Phone.com, and Voxbone, an international telecommunications service provider, with headquarters in Brussels, Belgium. Calls are routed to Voxbone’s network and delivered to Phone.com's Virtual Office PBX, which greets a caller with a company's personalized auto attendant, requests the called person's extension number, and then connects the call.

Voice services have been slow to migrate from the customer premises to the cloud because they are complex and often difficult to implement. Recently, vendors, such as Phone.com, have been addressing those limitations and offering small and medium businesses a wider array of voice services.