The poor man's second phone line
Summary
For the communications have-nots, though, life is a solitary home telephone line, one that is increasingly tied up by modem connections as more people dip their toes into cyberspace. Enter eFusion Inc., a closely held company in Beaverton, Ore., that provides the technology behind a service some have called "Internet call-waiting" and others have dubbed "the poor mans second phone line." The service allows users to receive an alert on their computer screens about incoming phone calls as they merrily surf the Web on their sole telephone lines. So far, eFusions biggest coup was signing up U S West Inc., the regional Bell phone company that has tested Internet call-waiting in Omaha, Neb., and Minneapolis, with plans to widen the service to other big metropolitan areas. But according to Troy Alvarez, a group manager at U S West, the quality of phone calls routed over the Internet hasnt been a problem for its customers.