The launch of Datafast Communications' Flatworld service brings voice over Internet Protocol telephony back to public attention.
VoIP provides low cost long distance and international phone calls by digitising the sound and forwarding it across an IP network (which may be a private managed network or the Internet).
The data is converted back into an analogue signal at the destination city, where it rejoins the normal phone system.
"For our customers, it's a phone-to-phone service. They simply use their existing telephone to get the same high quality of call," said Kimley Wood, managing director of Datafast.
Initially available from Sydney, Melbourne, Brisbane and several Victorian centres including Geelong, Ballarat and Warrnambool, Flatworld offers long distance calls from 4.9 cents per minute and international calls from 9.9 cents per minute. The national roll-out will continue during the next several months.
Calls to Sydney, Melbourne, Brisbane, Adelaide and Perth attract the lowest per-minute charge, with a minimum of 25 cents and a maximum of 99 cents per call. Other national calls are charged at 16.9 cents per minute.
Flatworld's cheapest international rate is 9.9 cents per minute to the USA, UK, Canada and New Zealand. Calls to most European countries cost 15 cents per minute, and the highest rate to a fixed phone is AU$1.99 to countries such as Afganistan, Senegal, Tuvalu, Vietnam and Yemen.
These rates do not vary according to the time of day, and are billed in one-second increments after any minimum call duration. A local call charge is also incurred when accessing the Flatworld network.
Some public VoIP services, such as InterLine, require the user to dial a full access number, enter a PIN, and then dial the required number. Flatworld skips the PIN stage by using caller ID to identify registered phones. A PIN is only necessary when making a call from hotel rooms, pay phones and so on.
"Using VoIP, Flatworld is able to compete with low cost, new generation technology. It means a small company can effectively compete on a level playing field with larger telcos," said Wood.
