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Remember the home phone? It's back.

Cable companies and wireless carriers are attempting to reinvent residential phone service by infusing new features into those old-fashioned landlines which used to be a part of every U.S. household.

The basic premise behind the new products and services is this: wireless phones aren't perfect replacements for fixed lines. Due to many of the perceived short comings of wireless phones, customers may cling to the landline. For many people, it represents a reliable piece of engineering which has stood the test of time.

Analysts also say some younger adults, who might have dropped their landlines during their college years, are signing up for landlines again as they get married and set up households.

Though touted as a landline, many of these new options actually utilize the Internet. There are a wide variety of Internet phone services, such as Vonage, which make use of a customer's broadband connection.

Cable companies have been able to attract customers through the offer of digital telephone service bundled with high-speed Internet and cable television. Many consumers find the idea of paying one bill attractive.

In addition to one-stop shopping, cable companies are beginning to tie service together in a better way. With a bundled package, users can allow caller ID information to display on their TV screen, giving the viewer the option to answer the phone or stay on the couch. Users can even turn off the notification if they don't want to be bothered during certain programs.

Another trend in this area is the "enhanced cordless telephone" which assumes characteristics of a mobile phone, such as the ability to send and receive email, instant message, and access local weather and news.

According to Cathy Avgiris, Comcast's senior vice-president, "the Holy Grail is to combine the home phone with the wireless phone." She says the next generation of home phones could resemble a BlackBerry and might even double as a remote control.

Other foreseeable innovations include visual voice mail, an address book stored online, and access to local directory information. Most of these ideas are attempting to bring the functionality of the wireless phone back to the landline.

On the other side of the fence, wireless carriers see the trend towards wireless use and are coming up with ways to make wireless phones mimic the reliability of landlines.

Several devices have hit the market already which boost wireless signals in homes and offices which have spotty coverage. These devices act like a cell phone tower, effectively creating miniature networks within a building. These networks are even able to transfer calls from the local network to the regular nationwide network so users can continue talking, even if they leave their home.

While the handset may continue to look the same and the average caller may notice no difference in how their call is handled, communication technology is evolving very quickly. Wireless phones and the Internet have become a vital part of how we live, work, and play. The challenge to 9-1-1 continues to be the ability to locate a caller anytime, anywhere, and from any device.

SOURCE: Chicago Tribune & NENA website

Significant strides in technology and the rapid infiltration of broadband Internet connections into many homes, has made VoIP a viable competitor to traditional "Bell" company voice services.

To take advantage of VoIP services, all you need is a broadband Internet connection and a special piece of equipment which connects your phone to your broadband connection.

This equipment is often a separate device provided by the VoIP service provider, into which your existing telephone connects. However, many providers are starting to offer phones with this equipment integrated into the telephone.

VoIP, in many ways, looks and works just like a regular phone. The primary difference between the two is how your voice is transported from "here to there."

With traditional telephone service your conversation, for the most part, is analog and is connected over a single static pathway over the Public Switched Telephone Network (PSTN).

In contrast, VoIP telephone conversations are almost entirely digital and may take one or more different paths over the Internet, or private network, to reach the called party. At the other end of the line, the packets are reassembled and converted back into analog voice signals, then sent over the PSTN to the telephone device. If everything works as it should, the call participants will never be aware of the dynamic call routing and audio conversion that is taking place.

SOURCE: http://www.911voip.org

The pricing for text messages has doubled among the major American carriers since 2005 & the industry has consolidated from six major companies to four.

There has been a 32% increase in volume of text messages sent during 2008.

3.3 trillion messages are expected to be sent in 2009.

Text messaging files are small, 140 characters, and cost little, if nothing, to transmit. There is a space in each call reserved for the operation of the wireless network. Text messages are sent inside this space.

SOURCE: http://www.nytimes.com