Phone calls through Internet connection fall short.

Byline: Mike Langberg

I really want to like Vonage, a fast-growing company that provides inexpensive phone calls through a high-speed home Internet connection, but I can't.

The service just isn't reliable. My voice kept fading or breaking up, so the person on the other end of the line either couldn't hear me or couldn't understand me.

Vonage (www.vonage.com) is a great idea in theory. The Edison, N.J., company sends you a small box that connects to your home computer network. Then you plug any regular phone into the box and start making calls. The box is even assigned a phone number in your area code and local exchange, making it possible to receive calls.

For $25.99 a month, you get unlimited local calling and 500 minutes of long-distance, with extra long-distance minutes at 3.9 cents each. For $39.99 a month, you get unlimited calling to anywhere in the United States and Canada. Either plan allows you to receive an unlimited number of calls.

This is considerably less expensive than regular phone…