Home for the Holidays With AT&T CallVantage Service

Home for the Holidays With AT&T CallVantage Service

VoIP service helps manage the season and focus on what matters most

BEDMINSTER, N.J., Nov. 30 /PRNewswire/ -- With a whirlwind of family and social activities, the holidays can mix a lot of stress mixed in with the joy. Effective time management and communications are crucial to balancing the season's frantic pace.

AT&T's residential Voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP) broadband phone service, called AT&T CallVantage(SM) Service, can help manage the madness with features designed to help users take control of their communications and make the most efficient use of their phones, time and money.

With unlimited long-distance calling throughout the United States and Canada for only $29.99, AT&T CallVantage Service boasts innovative features above and beyond conventional phone service offerings.

"The holidays can be very challenging," said Karrie Hanson, a research engineer at AT&T Labs. "AT&T CallVantage Service can help manage all the tasks and simplify your life which is very important around the holidays."

Its Personal Conferencing feature can connect as many as 10 callers -- a great way to touch base with far-flung loved ones, plan holiday parties, and gather gift ideas -- much faster and more fun than 10 separate calls! When winter weather threatens to cancel plans, everyone can gather by phone to quickly modify the arrangements so you can still see each other.

According to AT&T market research, unwanted phone calls interrupt mealtimes about three times a week. That's three times too many when trying to spend quality time with family. The Do Not Disturb feature only allows wanted calls to get through, and sends the rest to voicemail. You don't need to worry about missing urgent calls because you can give callers the option of ringing through.

AT&T's Locate Me feature will ring up to five phone numbers at once ensuring that important calls won't be missed while you are out and about, juggling the myriad of events, activities and shopping trips that make up the holiday season.

Hanson, who championed the service's Personal Conferencing feature, and mother of three teenage girls, said her goal was to take a tool that saves time and increases efficiency for business, and make it available and easy to use for consumers.

"My friends and I often plans get-togethers on a whim during the holiday season," Hanson said. "From spontaneous dinners to afternoons ice skating -- we can get everyone together in minutes with a conference call."

AT&T CallVantage Service is different than traditional phone services because, through the use of IP-based networks, it can offer customers typical features such as call waiting, three-way calling, and call forwarding, and far more advanced ones as well. Indeed, consumers will get unprecedented convenience, cost savings and control with access to innovative features including:

* "Call Logs," to track incoming and outgoing calls;
* "Do Not Disturb," to receive calls only when wanted;
* "Locate Me," which rings up to five phones, all at once, or
sequentially;
* "Voicemail with eFeatures," to listen to messages from any phone or PC
and forward them to anyone on the Web;
* "Simple Reach(SM) Number, which enables AT&T CallVantage Service
customers to add up to nine telephone numbers with area codes anywhere
in the country where AT&T offers residential VoIP service for $4.99
each; and
* "Personal Conferencing," to set up meetings with up to nine additional
callers.



AT&T also makes a "Home Wiring Do-It-Yourself Guide" available that provides customers step-by-step instructions for connecting the service to multiple home phones to replicate the traditional home calling environment and make the most efficient use of their existing telephone equipment.

For those homeowners who prefer that a trained technician perform such work, AT&T has professional, fee-based installation options to support both simple and complex home configurations. This includes a simple inside wiring service to reconfigure existing lines and telephone jacks to work with the service. And, a recently introduced home networking solution that provides the installation, setup and activation of AT&T CallVantage Service, reconfigures existing lines and telephone jacks to work with the service, as well as the installation of a customer's network router to connect with PCs and printer.

To learn more about AT&T CallVantage Service, consumers can visit one of AT&T's valued retailers, visit AT&T online at http://www.callvantage.com/, or call 1-866-816-3815, extension 70339.

About AT&T

For more than 125 years, AT&T (NYSE:T) has been known for unparalleled quality and reliability in communications. Backed by the research and development capabilities of AT&T Labs, the company is a global leader in local, long distance, Internet and transaction-based voice and data services.

AT&T 'Safe Harbor'

The foregoing contains "forward-looking statements" which are based on management's beliefs as well as on a number of assumptions concerning future events made by and information currently available to management. Readers are cautioned not to put undue reliance on such forward-looking statements, which are not a guarantee of performance and are subject to a number of uncertainties and other factors, many of which are outside AT&T's control, that could cause actual results to differ materially from such statements. These risk factors include the impact of increasing competition, continued capacity oversupply, regulatory uncertainty and the effects of technological substitution, among other risks. For a more detailed description of the factors that could cause such a difference, please see AT&T's 10-K, 10-Q, 8-K and other filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission. AT&T disclaims any intention or obligation to update or revise any forward-looking statements, whether as a result of new information, future events or otherwise. This information is presented solely to provide additional information to further understand the results of AT&T.

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Photo: http://www.newscom.com/cgi-bin/prnh/19991018/ATT
Source: AT&T

CONTACT: Gary Morgenstern of AT&T, +1-908-234-6416,
gmorgenstern@att.com

Web site: http://www.att.com/


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