Dixons launches Internet phone service

By Steve Malone

Posted on 28 Sep 2005 at 17:45

The Dixons Group which revolutionised the ISP business with the launch of Freeserve in 1998, now hopes to play the same trick with the telephone business. The company is launching a 'Freetalk` all-in-one unit which is aimed at transforming the telephone business.

Freetalk, which will be sold in DSG 1000 PC World, Dixon, Currey and Link stores throughout the UK is based on VoIP technology developed by 8x8 Inc, one of the US's leading suppliers.

Before you can use the system you have to have a broadband connection. The adaptor that comes with the system either plugs into your PC or Macintosh if you have a USB adaptor or into a spare socket on a router.

Once plugged in, customers can make free calls to the UK. The service offers fixed rate to mobiles and 'substantially' lower cost international calls than the prices offered by BT. Calls to the US are 2p per minute, Australia 3p a minute, France 2p and South Africa 6p.

For a one-off price of £79.99, customers will receive the adaptor and access to free unlimited calls to UK landlines for a year. After the first year, customers will be charged a £6.99 per month for unlimited calls to any landline in the UK.

Among the other benefits being offered by Freetalk are free voicemail service, a choice of area code, regardless of where you live - choose Aberdeen or choose Penzance - or anywhere in between.

Dixons is entering a rapidly crowding market with its Freetalk VoIP product. While Dixons has a strong footing in retail, it is up against the likes of ISP Wanadoo, which sells a similar service off the back of its broadband products - a necessary part of the VoIP set up. Then there's Vonage, the pioneer of this type of service which has recently launched into the UK, and Skype, a software application that allows you to make cheap calls across the Internet and was recently bought by eBay for $2.6bn.