It launched with a whimper (can you remember it?) now Freetalk, the VoIP service from Dixons, is shutting up shop just less than a year later.

Next month all Fretalk customers will be moved across to Vonage, after the rival service snapped up the customer base. It all sounds so different when the service was launched in September when we were told that it was "the most significant development in the telephone market since the launch of the mobile phone" and would  "transform the way we use phones", quite.....

It seems jumping on the VoIP bandwagon isn't as easy as new players are finding it harder to compete with existing providers.

Vonage said Freetalk customers will be able to keep keeping their existing telephone numbers and contract price, with the transition finished by 12 September.