CES: Given how it shatters long distance costs, maybe the ChatterBug should be called the shatter bug

Update 4/11/2007:  Since originally posting this blog, it has come to ZDNet's attention that LagunaWave, the manufacturer of the Chatterbug, has run into some serious difficulties and engaged in some questionable business practices. I have therefore removed the video from this blog post and would recommend staying away from this product and its associated service. For more details, see a blog I posted on April 11th.

As you can probably tell from my other Consumer Electronics Show coverage, one of the categories where I'm on the hunt for new or interesting products is the Voice over IP (VoIP) hardware category. Here in Las Vegas at an after hours event that actually took place in advance of the show's opening, I spotted two versions of something called a Chatterbug that does something I don't beleive I've seen before. The $20 Chatterbug hardware (pictured right) is relatively small and plugs into a regular phone jack in your home or small business (larger businesses tend not to have regular phone jacks). Then, you take a regular phone into the Chatterbug and, as long as you're paying Chatterbug $10 per month for its service, you can make an unlimited number of long distance calls in the US.

That's it. It's that simple. 

No Internet service is required (making this VoIP over a landline solution great in rural areas where there is no internet). No Ethernet connections. No special VoIP telephone. No special software like Skype running on your computer.  In fact, no computer either. Just a landline and a plain old phone and a little bit of money. For $30, there's a business version of the ChatterBug that turns your landline into two VoIP lines: one for voice, the other for fax. The cost of the monthly service for the $30 Chatterbug is $24.95 and you get all the free calling and faxing you want.  Here's the video from the show: