Watch out, Vonage — there’s a new VoIP company hoping to get its share of the telecom market.
Phone.com launched quietly on Thursday, a Boston-based company among the firms backed by D.C.-based investment group WashingtonVC.
Phone.com is hoping to break into both the Internet-based calling market and new services such as virtual offices.
Phone.com’s VoIP service costs $18.88 per month for unlimited service, and $10 a month for a more limited package.
The company developed the technology it uses in-house, according to President Ari Rabban, a veteran of the early Internet phone business Vocaltec.
The firm’s virtual office product allows an individual or business to set up a way for all calls to be routed through one toll-free or local number — so if someone calls the number, cell phones, house phones and other communication devices can allring at once, Rabban explained.
It also sets up business calling features, such as directories and extensions.
“There’s Vonage out there and there’s Skype, but there are so many cool applications and practical services that are still in the innovation phase,” Rabban said. “That’s where we are right now.”
The company’s strategy is to first target the consumer voice market and then concentrate more heavily on business voice services, according to Michael Mann, founder of WashingtonVC.
“All of these services are really huge growth areas,” Mann said.
