Residents in Saskatchewan's two largest cities now have a better choice when it comes to their phone service. Vonage Canada announced local availability of its flat-rate Internet phone service in Regina and Saskatoon.

With Vonage, local residents can enjoy unlimited local and long distance calling for one low flat monthly fee, and still keep their existing phone number they've had for years. Unlike services touted by big phone companies and cable firms, all Vonage's flat rate phone plans include 20 standard and non-standard phone features, including call waiting, caller ID, voice mail to email and much more. Also unique to Vonage and Internet phone service is the ability to travel anywhere around the world with your local phone number. As well, with Vonage there are no extra fees, no extra charges and no costly and confusing bundled offers designed to tether you to one service provider.

"Today's announcement represents our first foray into the Saskatchewan market and gives us a truly national footprint," said Joe Parent, vice-president of marketing and business development, Vonage Canada. "For years, residents of Regina and Saskatoon have been overcharged by their phone company. That's all changed with Vonage. Now people can enjoy greater savings and features with Vonage."

Vonage Canada's expansion announcement comes on the heels of a survey conducted with Decima Research that found that 53 per cent of Saskatchewan and Manitoba residents think bundled packages for Internet, cable television and phone service benefit the service provider more than they benefit the consumer. The survey also revealed that 63 per cent of residents feel that in order to get a discount on cable, Internet, mobile or home phone services, they must purchase more services than they want from a single company. As well, close to half (48 per cent) indicated a willingness to de-bundle their phone service from communication packages in return for better value and more calling features.

"Vonage Canada strongly believes that consumers should be free to choose best of breed suppliers rather than be forced into a service bundle. With our expansion, residents can now enjoy the flexibility and freedom that Vonage phone service provides without locking themselves into a bundle," added Parent.

Vonage also gives customers the added benefit of passing along long-distance savings to friends and family who aren't even Vonage customers. With V-Access anyone can call a Vonage customer anywhere in the world for the price of a local call simply by dialing a local Vonage access number. Because the call is treated similar to a toll-free call, no long-distance charges or international fees apply.

To get started using Vonage, all that's needed is a high speed Internet connection and a wallet size Vonage phone adapter. The adapter, which Vonage can provide free of charge, sends calls through the Internet instead of a regular phone line. People simply plug their existing touch-tone telephone and their high-speed Internet connection into their Vonage phone adapter, and they have dial tone. It's full-service phone service without using an old-fashioned telephone company.

Customers can choose from various flat-rate, feature-rich residential and small business plans to fit any lifestyle or budget, including these popular packages.

• $19.99/month - Residential Basic Plan - 500 minutes of local, toll and long distance outbound calls throughout the United States, Canada and Puerto Rico. Inbound calls are free and unrestricted.
• $39.99/month - Residential Premium Unlimited Plan - unlimited calling throughout the United States, Canada, Puerto Rico, France, Ireland, Italy, Spain and the U.K., anytime, anywhere.

VoIP 9-1-1 service has certain limitations versus traditional 9-1-1. See vonage.ca for details. Monthly rates exclude fees for premium services and taxes. International calls are billed per minute. Credit card & high-speed Internet required. Other restrictions may apply. See www.vonage.ca for complete Terms of Service & details.