Voip phone call

His computer makes the call. It also checks his voice mail and forwards calls when he leaves the office. On the road? He plugs his laptop in and when someone calls him, it rings. It's voice over Internet protocol, otherwise known as VOIP, and it turns voices into data, making the telephone another application on the computer. Eventually all new phones will come with VOIP technology; this year about 20% will, and sales of VOIP lines doubled last year. Moving employees to another location? Just unplug the phones and carry them along. Conference calls? Point to the names you want included, click and drag. Phone calls cost the same as e-mail, and one firm says their long-distance bill dropped so drastically that AT&T called to see if they had switched to another carrier. VOIP will mean big changes in the workplace, say telecom experts, one of them being that more companies will follow the lead of JetBlue, and send their call center workers home to telecommute.

# 18624 New York, NY, THE WALL STREET JOURNAL 1-12-04