Phone calls without the phone company. (Up Front).(Vonage Internet phone service)

For some time, technical cognoscenti have been able to use a computer as a type of telephone or walkie-talkie, in a rather clumsy arrangement for voice calls.

Things are simpler now. With an adapter that lets you connect a phone to the Internet, you can make or receive local and long-distance calls using the services of a company called Vonage. It works, we found, and it's reasonably priced. But our tests turned up some shortcomings.

You need a black box available from Vonage (www.vonage.com) and high-speed Net access. Earthlink, the Internet provider, also offers Vonage. For calling and surfing the Net simultaneously, Vonage sells a $40 router.

The black box converts voices into a digital signal. Vonage equipment switches the signal back to voice and links the call to local phone lines. For the people you phone, a Vonage call is like any other. Calls to 911 also go through Vonage once you register your information; otherwise, 911 calls won't go through.

If Vonage covers your area, you may be able to use your current phone number. Otherwise, Vonage assigns a number. You can choose among area codes in more than half the states.

Our experts judged voice quality when we made and received Vonage calls. The voices sounded almost as good as on a regular home phone. More ...