By Jessica Hall

PHILADELPHIA (Reuters) — Shares of long-distance phone companies AT&T Corp. and MCI Inc. have plunged about 20 percent this year, but potential buyers seem to be holding out for clearance sales.

For now, Verizon Communications Inc., the largest U.S. telephone company, and its Baby Bell peers have dismissed the idea of buying a long distance carrier, quelling speculation of a long-awaited industry consolidation.

Hopes for the return of the telecommunications megadeal had been stoked at the start of the year by the auction of AT&T Wireless Services Inc., which attracted several bidders and a winning offer of $41 billion from Cingular Wireless.

[ read more ]

SYRACUSE, NY (Business Wire) Leading Voice Services Provider Leverages VoIP Network Success to Offer Turnkey Broadband Telephony for Carriers, Businesses and Residential Customers

USA Datanet Corporation, a Syracuse, NY-based provider of long distance voice, Internet access and enhanced communications services to over 480,000 residential and small business customers nationwide, today announced a comprehensive portfolio of broadband telephony products and services for residential, commercial and wholesale markets. USA Datanet is unveiling its SIP-based VoIP telephony services — delivered directly to residential and business customers as well as to other service providers on a wholesale, private-label basis — at the Fall VON Show in Boston, MA October 18th — 21st.

[ read more ]

OneChristianVoice Convinces AT&T to Reduce $1,800 Bill to $40.

When she got a long-distance phone bill for $600 in June, Barbara Jones was annoyed. When next month’s bill came in at $1,300, the mother of three was frustrated. And the next month, with a bill from AT&T topping $1,800 and a letter threatening to shut off her phone, Jones was desperate for help.

„AT&T had made a huge mistake, but they weren’t listening to me,“ said Jones, 37, a nurse from Angleton, TX. „They were polite to me on the phone, and said they would resolve the mistake. But then they threatened to shut off my phone if I didn’t pay for all the incorrect charges.“

[ read more ]

Feature-rich Unlimited Local Service for $19.99 per month

BEDMINSTER, N.J., Oct. 14 /PRNewswire/ -- Providing customers a choice in voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP) calling plans, AT&T today introduced an unlimited local version of its popular residential broadband phone service called AT&T CallVantageSM Local Plan.

For $19.99 per month, customers receive unlimited local calling and access to the entire AT&T CallVantage Service advanced feature set. All local toll and long distance calling in the U.S. and to Canada will be billed at $0.04 a minute. International calling will be billed by the minute at rates on average 50 percent less than the company’s leading offers. The new calling plan will become available October 17.

[ read more ]

TELEHOP REPORTS AN INCREASE IN LONG DISTANCE TRAFFIC IN Q3 2004

TORONTO, Oct. 13 /CNW/ — The total long-distance traffic processed by
Telehop Communications for the quarter ended Sep. 30, 2004, showed a
15 per cent increase over the previous quarter of 2004, and a 14.5 per cent
increase over the comparable quarter ended Sep. 30, 2003.

Telehop’s total long-distance traffic for the quarter ended Sep. 30,
2004, was 38.4 million minutes in 5.2 million calls, versus 33.6 million
minutes in 4.6 million calls in Q3 2003. This represents an increase of
14.5 per cent in total minutes and 12.7 per cent in the total number of calls.
This traffic also represents an increase of 15% over the 33.4 million minutes
carried in Q2 2004, and a 12.8% increase over the 4.6 million calls in Q2,
2004.

[ read more ]