Vonage: Dial 311 for city info

Subscribers of Net phone service Vonage can now dial 311 to get information about a city's amenities such as park locations, public transit and garbage collection schedules, the company said Wednesday. The 311 service is available for free to Vonage subscribers in New York, Los Angeles, Chicago, Detroit, Baltimore, Dallas, Washington, D.C., and six other markets.

By adding such features to their dialing plans, voice over Internet Protocol providers like Vonage hope to better compete with traditional landline phone companies. VoIP calls use the Net instead of the heavily regulated and taxed local phone networks.