VOXILLA.COM News Report
America Online (AOL) will officially launch its Voice over IP service called 'AOL Internet Phone Service' Thursday, the company announced in a press statement released late Wednesday night.
The service, to be bundled with access to AOL's internet content and including unlimited calling to the U.S. and Canada, is being offered in 40 U.S. markets and will carry a price of $39.99 per month, significantly higher than most existing VoIP services.
During the first six months, new customers will be offered a $10 discount. But, even reduced to $29.99, the AOL price will be higher than services such as BroadVoice, Packet8, VoicePulse and Vonage, each of which has a significant head start on the Time Warner-owned internet service giant that has fallen on difficult times of late.
Currently, AOL has about 22.6 million internet customers, having lost about 4.5 million over the past two years. Existing AOL customers will pay between $13.99 to $29.99 per month to add the company's VoIP service, though those rates will increase by $5.00 in three months. For a limited time, the company will give current AOL members who sign up a free wireless home network base station.
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