We don't cover residential telecom services a lot here, but I try to post and keep current with what's going on and share updates. Here's news about expanded coverage from 8X8.

8x8 Adds Eight Countries to Packet8 Freedom Unlimited Calling Area and Lowers Cost of Freedom Global Plan

SANTA CLARA, Calif., Aug. 22 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- 8x8, Inc. (NASDAQ:EGHT), provider of Packet8 (http://www.packet8.net/) residential, business and video Voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP) phone services, today announced it has expanded the calling area of its Packet8 Freedom Unlimited residential calling service and reduced the monthly fee for the Packet8 Freedom Unlimited Global international calling plan.

The Packet8 Freedom Unlimited VoIP calling plan, which previously offered unlimited local and long distance residential calling in the United States and Canada, now includes unlimited calls to regular, non-mobile phone numbers in Puerto Rico, Guam, U.S. Virgin Islands, France, Italy, Ireland, Spain and United Kingdom along with unlimited in-network calling to other Packet8 subscribers worldwide. The monthly service fee for the expanded Freedom Unlimited calling plan remains unchanged at $24.99.

The Packet8 Freedom Unlimited Global international calling plan, previously priced at $49.99 per month, is now available at a reduced cost of $29.99 per month. Freedom Unlimited Global offers unlimited local and long distance calling to any number in the United States and Canada plus unlimited calling to regular, non-mobile numbers in the following countries:

• Europe: Austria, Belgium, Czech Republic, Denmark, Estonia, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Ireland, Italy, Luxembourg, Netherlands, Norway, Poland, Portugal, Moscow-Central, Moscow-Suburb, St. Petersburg, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, and United Kingdom.
•  Asia: Australia, Japan, Malaysia, New Zealand, South Korea, Taiwan, China, Hong Kong, and Singapore.
• Latin America: Chile, Sao Paulo, Caracas, Mexico City, Monterrey and Guadalajara.
• Middle East: Israel.
• US territories: Puerto Rico, U.S. Virgin Islands, and Guam

All Packet8 residential service plans come with an unconditional 30-day money back guarantee and include robust calling features such as Call Waiting, Call Forwarding, 3-Way Calling, Voicemail to Email, Simultaneous Ringing, Caller ID with Name, Follow-Me/Find-Me and more.

About 8x8, Inc.
VoIP service provider 8x8, Inc. offers internet-based telephony solutions (http://www.packet8.net/) for individual residential and business users as well as small to medium sized business organizations. In addition to regular Packet8 VoIP service plans priced as low as $24.99 per month for unlimited anytime calling to the U.S., Canada and eight additional countries, 8x8 offers the Packet8 Tango Video Terminal Adapter and DV 326 VideoPhone along with accompanying monthly service plans also priced at $24.99 per month.
Packet8 Virtual Office, 8x8's VoIP phone system for small to medium sized businesses, is a hosted PBX solution comprised of powerful business class features. Companies subscribing to Virtual Office pay just $49.99 per month per extension for enterprise class PBX functionality along with unlimited local and long distance calling in the U.S. and Canada. The Packet8 Complete Contact Center™ is a hosted multimedia call center distribution and management platform that works with any broadband Internet service and provides enterprise class contact center functionality combined with Virtual Office hosted iPBX calling features and business calling plans. Packet8 Softalk Office™, 8x8's PC-based soft phone client, offers high quality voice and video in-network calling as well as outbound calling to the PSTN. For additional company information, visit 8x8's web site at http://www.8x8.com/.

NOTE: 8x8, the 8x8 logo, Packet8, the Packet8 logo, Packet8 Virtual Office, Packet8 Softalk, Packet8 Tango and Packet8 Complete Contact Center are trademarks of 8x8, Inc. All other trademarks are the property of their respective owners.