INTERNET PHONES LATEST `TOY' IN COMMUNICATIONS

The Internet hit Cape Girardeau full swing about one year ago, local communications consultants say. Now this new world of information transmission is making live voice communication possible.

Internet phones, also called Web Phones and I-Phones, are "just a new toy for Internet users," said Kevin Goodier of Clas Computers in Cape Girardeau.

Internet phones, which work much like walkie-talkies, allow a home computer user with Internet access to talk live to other Internet phone users around the world.

"Anyone with Internet access, a sound card and a small $10 microphone can use an Internet phone," said Goodier.

The popularity of different kinds of Internet communication became obvious to local businesses like Long Distance Discount (LDD) and MVP Communications in Cape Girardeau several years ago.

"It was such a huge nationwide trend and there were no other Internet providers," said Patti Wix, manager of customer relations at LDD. "There were other on-line programs here, but no raw access, and that's what people were wanting."

Rozan Bonsignore of MVP said access to the Internet was simply "the next logical step after radios.

"Today, however, local communications businesses that offer Internet access have to deal with the effects of Internet phones.

"The quality of Internet phones is still so poor that it's comparable to ham radio communication," Wix said. "It hasn't hurt our long-distance business yet, and won't in the next few years. Here at LDD, Internet phones kind of augment Internet calling, and we provide circuits for both."

Bonsignore said Internet phones are too new in the area to have a substantial effect on their long-distance sales. "People who are into technology use them, but most people are still scared of them," said Bonsignore.

However, Bonsignore admits that "Internet access is so cheap that when people really start using the Internet for long distance calls, long distance businesses will have to compensate."

Shannon Hamra, Internet consultant for LDD, said that no one really knows what direction Internet phones will take. "It's an evolving process," said Hamra. "I think that soon, you'll see them affect other markets like long distance calling."

Hamra thinks that some kind of regulation of Internet calls will occur soon.

"It's just another form of communication, and it will probably eventually be regulated by the FCC," said Hamra.

However, neither Hamra or Bonsignore believe that Internet calling will make long distance telephone calling obsolete. "It's a lot like a fax machine," said Bonsignore. "Fax machines didn't make the mailing system obsolete, and Internet phones won't make long distance calls obsolete."

According to Hamra, the next "status quo" in long-distance communication will not be Internet phones at all, but a new kind of digital transmission called an ISDN. Goodier explained that ISDN as "an Integrated Services Digital Network that allows people to transmit the same kinds of data, except up to four times faster."

ISDN lines, which are installed by telephone companies, have not become inexpensive enough or easy enough to understand for them to be popular yet, said Hamra. "On the coasts, you can get an ISDN installed for about $25 a month. Here, the phone companies charge around $140."