It took Peter Wilson only 20 minutes to install his Primus Internet telephone system and then make a call to his daughter.

CREDIT: Mark van Manen, Vancouver Sun

The package from Primus arrived in mid-afternoon on a Friday. Less than 20 minutes later I was making my first Internet phone call from my home office to my daughter in Kitsilano.

The line was clear. There were no delays, no garbled words, no pings or whooshes. In fact, if anything the connection was better than I normally get.

And not only that, but I could make the call on my ordinary office portable phone.

Unlike the bad old days of Internet telephony, no headset was required, no computer software had to be installed and, best of all, I wasn’t tethered to the computer. I could wander freely, phone in hand.

And had I wanted to sit in front of the computer and send e-mail or surf the Net I could have done so without problems.

It was, all in all, quite an impressive introduction to TalkBroadband, Canada‘s first VOIP (voice over Internet protocol) phone service aimed at the home user — launched last month for $19.95 a month by Toronto-based Primus Telecommunications Canada.

Not that Primus expects to be alone in this market for long. Bell and Telus and Rogers and Shaw are all expected to enter the home VOIP market soon.

If I had been a real customer, and not just testing the service for this story, I could also have taken my Telus phone number and switched it to the TalkBroadband service.

As well, if I wanted to take the VOIP box with me on a trip, I could plug it in anywhere there’s high-speed Internet and, because it would carry a Vancouver number, phone home without running up long distance charges.

And people could call me on my home number, also without extra cost.

A disadvantage, of course, is that if I were to lose my high-speed Internet connection, I’d lose my phone. As well, you can’t make 911 emergency calls on a the TalkBroadband service.

Now, while it’s true that installation might not go so quickly for those less used to connecting devices to the Internet, my experience was basically, glitch free. And I’d had no coaching from Primus. I just just the same set of instructions everyone gets.

Really, if you’ve already run an Ethernet cable from your ADSL or cable modem to your computer (or to a router for a home network) and you can read directions, then installation should be a relative snap.

So why, you might ask, would anyone want such a thing? Sure, it’s fun to play with new technology (even to tell people you’re calling them over the Internet) but what are the advantages from the aspect of the home consumer?

After all, those are the people, and not businesses, at which Primus is aiming its initial pitch. So maybe the travelling advantage isn’t that important.

Not unexpectedly, the biggest push by Primus has been to emphasize the possibility of saving money.

Not only is the initial outlay $19.95 a month for a basic phone line but you can add call answer, call waiting and call display for $29.95 a month. What Primus calls its ultimate bundle — with call answer, visual call waiting (including call display), five-way calling and call forward is $34.95 month.

Primus compares these charges with what it calls traditional phone service at $23.50, $44 and $47 a month, respectively.

TalkBroadband long-distance calling to Canada and the U.S. costs $2.95 monthly for 60 minutes; $10 for 250 minutes and unlimited for $20.

(Keep in mind that you need a high-speed Internet connection — whether broadband cable or ADSL — on top of these charges, but many households and businesses pay for these services separately from their phone service already.)

Primus Canada’s director of technology and services planning, Matt Stein, said the overwhelming majority of people who have signed up so far are residential or home office users, although there have been enquiries from smaller businesses.

“It’s going very, very well for us,” said Stein, who, for competitive reasons, didn’t give specific numbers. “I think it’s safe to say that it’s going at least as well as expected, if not substantially better.”

He said that a large percentage of customers were also opting for second and third numbers in other area codes. That means that those living in other cities, say Calgary or Toronto, can call without running up long-distance charges.

“I don’t have the hard numbers in front of me, but I would say it’s probably 40 per cent that are doing that.”

Stein said that he wouldn’t go as far to say that everyday wireline telephone service was dead.

“But I would say that telephone service, more and more, is going to be piped to your house much like the way cable TV is now. You’ll see the early adopters drifting more and more to this sort of a service because the features are easier to roll out.”

In fact, said Stein, with VOIP the old 12 button phone — zero through nine, plus star and pound — will be a thing of the past.

“If I started pressing digits now over a normal phone you’d be annoyed because you’d be getting it in your ear. But with voice over IP I can press all sorts of buttons, modifying the call flow or adding people to the call without your necessarily being inconvenienced.”

Stein said that his own office VOIP phones have about 20 buttons with ones for things like voice mail or e-mail or browsing the Internet or turning on do-not-disturb.

As for the threat of others entering the market, Stein said that Primus is prepared for that.

“I think being first into the market gives us a bit of an advantage, but I wouldn’t say we were going to rest on our laurels. the market is riddled with people who were first in and first out.

“We consider this a very key part of our business and we’re going to make investments and make effort to make sure it stays that way.”

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TALKBROADBAND BASICS:

How much? $19.95 a month for basic service. Rises to as much as $34.95 a month with six features, including call answer, visual call waiting, five-way calling, call transfer and call forward.

What kind of Internet connection do I need? Cable or DLS or DSL Lite. Does not work on a dial-up connection.

How long does it take to install? After reading and understanding instructions, no more than half an hour.

Is it hard to use? No, you just attach a telephone to the voice over Internet Protocol (VOIP) box and use it the way you did before.

What’s the voice quality? As good as, if not better than, your home phone’s today.

Can I switch my present home phone number to this service? Yes.

Do I need to have my computer running? No. All you need is a high-speed Internet connection. However, you can do anything you want to do, including surf the Net, without causing problems with your phone service.

Can I use the service on a wireless home network? Yes, but the box still has to be connected to your router with an Ethernet cable. However, you can use portable phones with the system, so you’re not tethered to your desk or computer room.

What happens if my high-speed Internet service goes down? You lose your phone line.

Can I call 911 in emergencies? No.

Can I get multiple phone lines? No, but you can have additional numbers attached to the same phone. Each number will trigger a specific ring. You can even get an alternate number with a different area code so that, for example, people could call you from Toronto without running up long distance charges. Outgoing calls, however, are charged to the main number.

© The Vancouver Sun 2004