Long-distance telephone company IDT will blanket an area of New Jersey with Wi-Fi and test low cost voice over IP: The service could cost just $2 per month and 5 cents per minute prepaid, and might be a tool to bring phone service to the cell-less -- or even the wireline-phone-less.
IDT is using a VoIP delivery service from Net2Phone, which was also announced today. Net2Phone will route calls for its wireless operator customers to its SIP-base platform, which does call management, billing, provisioning, and handles interconnecting with the PSTN. Net2Phone expects a variety of customers might be interested in the offering, including wireless ISPs, hotspot operators, cell phone or PDA makers, or anyone with a broadband connection. If the service is priced right, this could make it easier for service providers to offer voice over WLANs and could encourage more services to roll out.