Net2Phone drops prices, gets credit for breaking Kuwait VoIP blockade

Net2Phone [1] has dropped prices on its VoiceLine resident broadband phone service to $19 a month and is waiving all activation, equipment and shipping charges.  VoiceLine provides unlimited local and long distance calling within the U.S., Canada, and Puerto Rico. For another $15, customers can add unlimited calling to more than 60 countries, including Argentina, Brazil, China, Ireland, Italy, Spain, and the U.K.  Customers can even get their current phone number transferred to VoiceLine at no additional charge.

Of course, there's an "early deactivation fee" of $39.99 if you cancel service within one year of activation and a monthly enhanced service fee for "recovering costs incurred by Net2Phone" to maintain and connect a phone number with the PSTN, plus taxes and a universal service fund surge in the fine print.

Next2Phone is also getting some buzz with the lifting of an Internet telephony ban in Kuwait. About a year ago, the Kuwaiti Ministry of Communications blocked access to VoIP websites and stated cracking down on pre-paid (VoIP driven) telephony cards in order to boost the ministry's revenues (Hmm, and the price of oil is now how much?).  Net2Phone is getting mentions for participating in the undermining of Kuwaiti phone rates.

For more:
- Net2Phone's announcement on lower VoIP pricing [2]
- VoIP Lights up in Kuwait [3] Again
- Arab Times report on reopening of Net phone sites [4] in Kuwait.

Related articles:
VoIP competition drives African [5] telecom prices down
90% of Irish users find VoIP cost effective [6]