Augusta Chronicle, The
ATLANTA - In a computer lab in downtown Atlanta, Geoffrey Lin answers a ringing phone from a Web site.
With a click of the mouse, he forwards the call to voice mail and then checks the message as an audio attachment from his e-mail account.
Welcome to phone service in the 21st century.
"Your voice and e-mail are now together," said Mr. Lin, a senior member of BellSouth's technology staff, during a rare media tour of the telecommunications company's labs this week. "In the future, you'll have video. You can continue to think about all of these things that can work."
Mr. Lin is one of several researchers helping the telecommunications giant redefine itself in response to competition from cellular phones and cable-television companies.
It used to be that you'd call the phone company for a dial tone and the cable company to see Baywatch.
But as uses for broadband technology improve, the lines are becoming blurred. Cable companies such as Comcast are experimenting with providing phone service through its lines, and BellSouth is working on a project to feed television channels to customers.
The changes have prompted the traditional telephone companies to expand their interests.
"Some people refer to us as a telephone company, but the telephony is becoming less a part of our business," said Phil Jacobs, the president of BellSouth's operations in Georgia.
Today, the majority of the company's money does not come from landline phones - with 65 percent of its revenue flowing from wireless, high-speed Internet and Yellow Pages services.
Building on the company's investment in fiber-optic cable starting in the early 1980s and ongoing upgrades to its broadband network so that information can transmit faster, BellSouth researchers are trying to find out what else they can pack on their lines to net more customers.
One area is in Voice over Internet Proto-col, or VoIP, which other telecom companies and independent providers have used to gain a footing in the consumer market.
The technology allows people to use their computer lines to place and receive phone calls. Though one method has users speak directly into their computers, conversion boxes can let callers use phones.
BellSouth is looking to roll out its residential VoIP service early next year and already has a couple hundred business customers using the technology.
Another focus is in "seamless mobility," in which a single phone switches between functioning like a cordless phone inside a home or office to a cell phone when someone takes it outside. The idea is to include the best features of both - better voice quality inside with mobility outside.
But as the seams begin to disappear among televisions, computers and phone products, the issue of how to regulate these emerging technologies becomes a growing concern for state and federal regulators.
Cable companies have not been regulated to the same extent as traditional phone carriers. And the Internet and wireless products have gone largely untouched by government oversight.
Mr. Jacobs said BellSouth has worked with Georgia lawmakers to introduce legislation that would limit state regulators' role in some of these emerging technologies.
"We already have the legislation in six" of the nine states BellSouth operates in, Mr. Jacobs said. "We'd like to say next year we have them in all of the nine."
A study committee plans to meet Aug. 10 in Atlanta to discuss the Georgia Public Service Commission's role over wireless, VoIP and broadband, said Sen. Mitch Seabaugh, R-Sharpsburg.
There are concerns that leaving some of the services unregulated could hinder competition and customer service protections.
