| BUSINESSWEEK ONLINE : MAY 1, 2000 ISSUE | ||||||||
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| SPECIAL REPORT
Telephones on Steroids Forget Caller ID. Routing voice calls over the Net opens up a new world of services--while cutting costs. Here are some examples: FASTER, BETTER, CHEAPER The telecom budget for School District 81 in Spokane, Wash., was rising by $100,000 a year until it switched to voice-on-the-Net. Now, costs will be frozen at the current $800,000 a year for the next five years and drop to $400,000 after that. And the new system can transmit data 15,000 times faster than before. SOUPED-UP CONFERENCE CALLS At engineering firm Parsons Brinckerhoff, managers hold conference calls on the Web using a service called Evoke. That has cut their monthly conference call bill in half, to $3,000, and lets them view the same PowerPoint slides while they talk. CLICK TO TALK In a bid to boost sales, many e-commerce sites are increasing customer service by adding click-to-talk buttons. For example, the online jewelry retailer Miadora lets customers with a question click on an icon on its Web site to speak to a live sales agent. VOICE-ENABLED CHAT ROOMS Many Web portals now allow people to talk to one another without a phone, using only a PC equipped with a microphone and a speaker. For example, Excite@Home has added voice capabilities to its formerly text-only chat rooms using technology from Lipstream. _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ BACK TO TOP |
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RELATED ITEMS The Talking Internet TABLE: Birth of a New Communications Network CHART: Booming Voice on the Net TABLE: Telephones on Steroids Yahoo! Look Who's Yakking Away Europe Swoons for Voice-on-the-Net Where the Money Will Be CHART: Investing in Voice on the Net TABLE: Stock Stars INTERACT E-Mail to Business Week Online | |||
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