Voice-over Internet Protocol (VoIP) darling Vonage has clinched a deal to hawk
broadband phone service to Armstrong Cable television subscribers in five
U.S. cities.
The Edison, N.J.-based Vonage, which offers SIP-based local and long
distance calling throughout the U.S. and Canada, said the Armstrong Cable deal was the first MSO
The plan is to market Vonage’s $39.99 per month Residential Premium
Unlimited and the $49.99/month Small Business Unlimited plans to Armstrong
Cable subscribers in Pennsylvania, Ohio, Maryland, West Virginia and
Kentucky.
It is the second major customer win for Vonage, which also inked a deal
with Atlanta-based ISP EarthLink to sell VoIP minutes to
high-speed subscribers.
Unlike the EarthLink arrangement, where users must have a computer with
broadband service to access the Vonage Session Initiation Protocol (SIP)
network, Armstrong cable television subscribers would simply plug an ATA
(analog telephone adapter) box into the cable box and then use a regular
telephone to make calls.
The ATA box converts the digital signal to an analog telephone signal,
allowing a regular home phone to be plugged into the ATA to deliver dial
tone and a high-quality connection.
Vonage, which completes about 1.5 million weekly calls to more than
18,000 subscribers, recently added emergency 911
calling capabilities to its network.