AOL now wants to capitalize on the increased popularity of AIM, their instant messenger service. AOL will soon announce the launch of AIM Phoneline service that provides a free local phone number to AIM users to receive free calls. The service will allow users to call free if they are online.

Skype charges about $4 a month for a similar service. Yahoo also provides a personal phone number for receiving incoming calls to their PC from any regular phone lines or mobile phones for a price.

Even Other available services charges anywhere between $30 to $40 a year for a telephone number to receive incoming calls, and about 2 cents a minute to place phone calls from a PC to an ordinary telephone line.

AOL is joining a growing list of companies that are attacking the traditional telephone market with the aid of the Internet. There are now about five million subscribers to so-called Voice over Internet Protocol, or VoIP, communications services, according to International Data Corporation, a market research firm based in Framingham, Mass. Because cable and Internet companies are aggressively marketing the service, that is expected to increase to about 30 million subscribers by 2009.


Sorce: NYTimes


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