VoIP and videophone service provider 8x8 Inc. announced on Thursday it unveiled new calling features for its Packet8 voice and video residential phone service and the Packet8 BPG510, a new terminal adapter with an integrated router.
The new features include voicemail to e-mail notification, find me, follow me, simultaneous singing on multiple phone numbers, 7-digit local dialing, network unavailable forwarding and call waiting disable.
With e-mail notification Packet8 subscribers can now receive an e-mail notification each time a voicemail message is left. The e-mail can include an attached audio file of the actual message which can be forwarded to another email address or saved for future reference.
With find me, follow me feature allows subscribers to enter up to five phone numbers to ring in sequence. For example, users can specify that after a designated number of rings on their Packet8 home phone number, incoming calls move on to ringing their mobile phone and then their office number. If there's still no answer, the call is then guided to the subscriber's Packet8 voicemail box.
The feature permits an incoming call to ring on any number of Packet8 phone numbers as well as a standard PSTN number. This convenience helps ensure that incoming calls will not go unanswered.
Packet8 subscribers no longer need to dial their area code when calling a number within the same area code as their primary Packet8 line with the 7-digit local dialing feature. 11-digit dialing is still required for calling outside of the subscriber's Packet8 area code.
The network unavailable forwarding feature allows subscribers to automatically forward incoming calls to an alternate phone number if their Internet connection goes down.
The call waiting disable feature will enable subscribers to disable call waiting two ways. On a per call basis, dialing *70 before making a call disables the call waiting for that call and sends all new callers to voicemail. To disable Call Waiting for all calls, subscribers can activate/deactivate this feature after signing in at their account details page.
8x8 also announced the release of the Packet8 BPG510, a new broadband phone adapter that eliminates the need for a separate router in a subscriber's home network. The BPG510 is equipped with two Ethernet ports (LAN and WAN) and one RJ-11 phone port for connecting a standard analog telephone. The built-in router prioritizes voice packets over data and manages available bandwidth. The LAN Ethernet port can be used to connect a PC or other networked device without adding any additional equipment.
The Packet8 BPG510 replaces the BPA410 in the residential offering. The device is available for $39.99, when purchased at retail (with a $40 mail-in rebate), and is offered free of charge to all new subscribers ordering direct from the Packet8 Web site. Existing subscribers wishing to upgrade to the BPG510 can do so by logging into their account details page to order the new device.
8x8 made news last month when it teamed up with SIP softphone developer CounterPath Solutions Inc. to introduce 8x8's latest VoIP service, Packet8 Softalk, a co-branded, video-enabled SIP softphone for use with the Packet8 residential, video and Virtual Office Internet phone services.
Based on CounterPath's software development kit (SDK), Softalk allows 8x8's subscribers to make and receive voice and video phone calls directly on their PC's, therefore eliminating the need for a regular analog phone. All that is required to use Softalk is a desktop or laptop personal computer running Microsoft Windows with built-in or external speakers and microphones or a computer headset.
8x8, Inc.
http://www.8x8.com
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Johanne Torres is contributing editor for TMCnet and Internet Telephony magazine. To see more articles by Johanne Torres, please visit Johanne Torres' columnist page.
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