For the first time, people living in two of Iowa’s four telephone area codes can now make calls through their computer’s high-speed Internet connection. A company called Vonage is now offering the service in the 5-1-5 and 6-4-1 zones, with plans to go statewide in the coming weeks. Spokesman Louis Holder says it’s easy to get hooked up. Holder says customers are sent a phone adapter that plugs into their broadband connection and then their regular phone is plugged into it. He says the service enables people to dump their current landline phone service for this one, which provides unlimited calling anywhere in the U.S. using a high-speed connection. Holder says there are many unusual features. You can check your voicemail messages online or have voicemail messages emailed to you. You can also have multiple phones, including your home phone and cell phone, ring at the same time. Holder says customers in Iowa can also have a phone number assigned to them in virtually any other area code. He explains why someone in Iowa would want an area code in California or New York.If someone just moved to Iowa from L.A., their friends and family back in L.A. can call them in Iowa and not be calling a long-distance number. Iowa businesses that want a bigger presence can do the same thing — and have customers in Chicago or New York calling them on a local number. For more information, surf to “www.vonage.com”.
