Are All Phone Calls Phone Calls?

Though a federal judge recently ruled that Internet phone traffic is an information service rather than phone service, providers of this service require the use of a telephone and some also require a special adaptor to use with a phone.

For instance, the Internet phone service being offered by Cablevision Systems Corp. to customers in Long Island doesn’t use a computer at all.

Instead it uses a standard Touch-Tone phone to make and receive calls through a standard phone jack located on a voice-enabled cable modem that connects to a phone.

The service includes unlimited calls within the United States and Canada, but without time restrictions, and includes call waiting, caller ID, call return, three-way calling and call forwarding.

The company began selling the all-digital service, which it says offers better quality than Internet telephony, in September.