Voice-over Internet Protocol (VoIP) darling Vonage has clinched a deal to hawk broadband phone service to Armstrong Cable television subscribers in five U.S. cities.

The Edison, N.J.-based Vonage, which offers SIP-based local and long distance calling throughout the U.S. and Canada, said the Armstrong Cable deal was the first MSO (define) to sign up for its VoIP flat-rate phone service.

The plan is to market Vonage's $39.99 per month Residential Premium Unlimited and the $49.99/month Small Business Unlimited plans to Armstrong Cable subscribers in Pennsylvania, Ohio, Maryland, West Virginia and Kentucky.

It is the second major customer win for Vonage, which also inked a deal with Atlanta-based ISP EarthLink to sell VoIP minutes to high-speed subscribers.

Unlike the EarthLink arrangement, where users must have a computer with broadband service to access the Vonage Session Initiation Protocol (SIP) network, Armstrong cable television subscribers would simply plug an ATA (analog telephone adapter) box into the cable box and then use a regular telephone to make calls.

The ATA box converts the digital signal to an analog telephone signal, allowing a regular home phone to be plugged into the ATA to deliver dial tone and a high-quality connection.

Vonage, which completes about 1.5 million weekly calls to more than 18,000 subscribers, recently added emergency 911 calling capabilities to its network.


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