Net2Phone, CommTouch Start Low-Cost Internet Phone Service

Internet telephony pioneer Net2Phone is pairing with free e-mail
provider CommTouch to offer
low-cost PC-to-phone service directly to Commtouch users.

The new service allows consumers with e-mail accounts with CommTouch
partners to click on a Net2Phone link inside their e-mail user interface
and make inexpensive calls thorugh the Internet to any phone in the world.
The e-mail interface also includes an address book with both e-mail and
telephone contact information.

CommTouch President Isabel Maxwell said the new service is part of the
company’s desire to make its users Web e-mail accounts their first stopping
point.

“For the first time, users have a home telephone that lets them call anyone
on the planet for a lot less than Ma Bell charges,” she said.

Net2Phone, a division of telecommunications provider IDT, charges 4.9 cents
a minute for domestic calls, 10 cents a minute for calls from the U.S. to
Europe and Australia and 20 cents a minute to Japan.

“Not only is Net2Phone the inexpensive way to make a phone call, it is now
more convenient than ever,” said Johnathan Reich, Net2Phone’s senior vice
president of marketing and business development.

“Whenever people send a message from their free e-mail account, they can
also choose to dial a low-rate phone call. With an integrated e-mail
address/phone book, the user has all their options a single click away.”