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DENNIS ODA / DODA@STARBULLETIN.COM Pacific LightNet Inc. has launched an Internet-based telephone service that lets residents use the 808 area code. Above, Ray Drzymala, Pacific LightNet marketing manager, demonstrates the service in the Honolulu Cafe in the old Dillingham Transportation Building downtown.

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Answering the call

Hawaii's consumers get new options
for Internet-based telephone service

CORRECTION Thursday, March 10, 2005 » The first name of Pacific LightNet Inc. marketing manager Rae Drzymala was misspelled as Ray in a photo caption and story on Page C1 yesterday. The name of Pacific LightNet's Internet phone service, 808NetFone, was also misspelled as 808NetPhone. The Honolulu Star-Bulletin strives to make its news report fair and accurate. If you have a question or comment about news coverage, call Editor Frank Bridgewater at 529-4791 or email him at corrections@starbulletin.com.

Two companies surfing the new wave of Internet-based telephone service have started offering plans that allow local consumers to keep their Hawaii 808 area code.

QUESTIONS FOR CONSUMERS THINKING ABOUT VOIP Before switching to Internet-based telephone service, people should ask themselves several questions about what best fits their needs: 1. Where do you need the greatest telephone savings? Interisland calls? Mainland? International? 2. Is saving money for calls made to distant loved ones a top priority? If your VoIP account has an out-of-state area code, local calls to you from family and friends will be long-distance calls, even if your caller lives across the street. 3. What kind of taxes and government fees will be included on the bill? 4. Can you use your current phone, or will a new one be provided with the service? 5. Do you want to be listed in the phone book? Ask the provider if listing or delisting your number is possible and whether there is a cost.

Pacific LightNet Inc. is the first local company to secure use of the 808 area code from federal regulators for its residential Voice-over-Internet-Protocol, or VoIP, service. The company's 808NetPhone program provides telephone service through the World Wide Web.

Pacific LightNet's packages cost $19.95 a month for unlimited local and in-state calls and $34.95 a month for unlimited local, statewide and national long-distance service. Subscribers must have high-speed Internet access and must pay a one-time $45 setup fee. A package that includes wireless Internet service costs $69.95, with no setup fee.

Meanwhile, the local cable company, Oceanic Time Warner Cable, is offering a digital phone service, starting at $39.95 a month plus tax, that allows consumers to keep their existing phone numbers, starting with Oahu. Oceanic is offering the new service first to people who already subscribe to its cable television and high-speed Internet services. Residents can join a waiting list at www.twcdigitalphone.com/oceanic/earlybird.

Local phone company Verizon has offered VoIP service since a nationwide rollout in July, but it does not offer the Hawaii area code.

"We were pushing very hard to try to be first to market with an 808 VoIP service," said Ray Drzymala, marketing manager for Pacific LightNet. "We have got a fair amount of takers."

None of the three companies would say how many people have signed up for their Internet telephone services.

Verizon offerings

Verizon's three options for its VoiceWing service are: a yearlong introductory price of $29.95 a month when combined with Verizon's high-speed Internet service; $34.95 a month for VoiceWing alone; and a yearlong introductory rate of $29.95 for VoiceWing and $29.95 for Verizon Internet. The company will waive its $39.95 setup fee for customers who sign up online.

Verizon markets its out-of-state area codes as a way for Hawaii residents to keep in touch with family members clustered in a mainland market without having to pay long-distance charges.

"What we see more often are people getting a second phone number in a different area code ... so it's a local call for the mainland relatives," said spokesman Jonathan Davies.

Baby steps

Consumers take note: The new Internet telephone service is still in its infancy, and not yet regulated by the Federal Communications Commission, said Mark Wigfield, spokesman for the FCC's Wireline Competition Bureau.

"But we are exploring what needs to be done in some critical areas," he said. For instance, how should the phone companies deal with emergency 911 calls? A regular telephone number bares a fixed address that appears on an emergency dispatcher's computer screen.

Oceanic's digital phone service supports 911 calling that offers the same address information as a regular phone line, said Allan Pollock, vice president of marketing for Oceanic Time Warner Cable. So does Pacific LightNet's service.

The federal commission also is monitoring the issue of number portability, which enables customers to keep phone numbers when switching companies.

Confusing bills?

Phone bills have historically confused many consumers because of the various regulatory fees they include, and that poses a competitive advantage to Internet telephone companies.

The VoIP phone bill issued by Pacific LightNet lists only a monthly fee and state tax. "That is it," Drzymala said.

The company does not charge customers for the Universal Service fund, which is assessed by the FCC on regular phone bills to help pay for service in rural areas and other places. For now, there is no mechanism for government regulators to assess such fees for VoIP service.

Complications in life

Everybody's getting into everybody else's business these days.

Phone companies want to provide consumers with Internet access and, in some cases, video service. Cable companies want to provide video service, Internet access and telephone service. Hawaiian Electric Co., experimenting with technology that can run Internet service over power lines, says it has enough bandwidth on Oahu to offer consumers video and telephone service. However, Hawaiian Electric says it is is not yet ready to provide the service.

"All the companies are vying to get all the services they can into the household. The more, the happier or more loyal you'll be; that's our goal," Oceanic's Pollock said.

"The bad news is, life is getting more complicated."