Love, VoIP-Style

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Dial 411, and CallVantage will offer you movie listings, horoscopes, and stock quotes, in addition to phone numbers. When I tried the service, my call went through immediately, and the person who assisted me retrieved movie times for Elizabethtown (I happen to be an Orlando Bloom fan) right away. A 411 call costs 99 cents.

While CallVantage has many attributes of good, old telecom service, it also offers lots of cool features that leave most VoIP outfits in the dust and can send a girl's head whirling. One example is the Do Not Disturb functionality. Most other VoIP providers offer DND, but they simply direct callers to voice mail when the feature is enabled.

CallVantage offers a twist: When you enable the DND feature, callers are sent to a special greeting, telling them that you're not taking calls. (You can create a schedule indicating specific time periods when you don't want your phone to ring.) But callers with urgent matters can choose a special menu option to get through to you.

Another feature I love, called Locate Me, forwards calls to up to five other numbers in order to find you. Here's how it works: You compile a special VIP list of people -- your mom, boyfriend, etc. -- whom you'd like to be able to reach you, no matter what. Then, if you don't pick up your CallVantage line (or if, say, your Do Not Disturb is on), your mom's call will ring at an alternative number, such as your cell phone.

IMPRESSIVE FUNCTIONALITY.

These and other features are extremely easy to set up through the CallVantage Web site. You can log on to add or remove features with a few clicks. All changes to your settings go into effect immediately -- there's no wait, as is the case with some VoIP services.

CallVantage manages to take full advantage of the synergies that exist between VoIP calling and the Internet, offering a ton of nifty functions. For instance, you can compile a 250-number address book on the CallVantage Web site, then click on a number. The system will dial your CallVantage phone (you'll pick up). Then, the system will patch through the caller you selected. How can you not love that?

Then there's Record & Send. Unlike most other features, it's not free, costing an extra $1.99 a month. It allows you to record a message and broadcast it to several phone numbers at once. To record the message, you simply click on a link on the Web site, and your phone will ring. Pick up the phone, record the greeting, and hang up. Then use the Web site to enter the numbers of people you'd like to receive the message. It could come in handy for customers at, say, New Year's, when you want to say hello to your extended family, but would rather spend your time sipping Champagne than talking.

HIGHWAY ROBBERY.

Keep in mind one drawback, though (let's face it, every relationship has its weak points): Your Record & Send message may not go directly to voice mail, so a few family members might be startled to hear your prerecorded voice when they pick up the phone. Furthermore, when I sent a prerecorded message to my cell phone, part of it got cut off. I'm not sure why.

Another feature I didn't like that much was Conference Calling, which allows you to set up a teleconference with up to 10 callers. You can start a conference from the CallVantage Web site or from your phone. (Indeed, most of these features can be programmed directly from the phone, but I found it more convenient to use the Web site.) The problem: For conference calls, you have to pay an extra 35 cents a minute, which is highway robbery -- most VoIP services offer the feature for free.

Plus, your conference must last at least 15 minutes, and you have to enter in advance the total time it will last. If your conference runs over, you must extend the time. This didn't agree with me at all. And with most people no longer counting their minutes even on their cell phones, I doubt this feature will be popular, though it works well.

OVERALL QUALITY.

All of CallVantage's basic features were spot on. You can listen to your voice-mail messages on the CallVantage Web site, through your media player. You can also get e-mail notifications whenever someone leaves a voice message on your CallVantage phone. You can even listen to the message when it's sent as an attachment. That means you don't have to mope around by the phone waiting for an important call. Instead, you can wait by your computer.

I've tried to have relationships with a bunch of VoIP services. Some of them were good-looking, but didn't keep their promises. Others were too geeky for me. But when the time came for me to return the AT&T adapter, it broke my heart -- something phones have been doing for lovers ever since they were invented.

Kharif is a reporter for BusinessWeek.com in Portland, Ore.