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Vonage to Produce a WiFi Phone

Posted by michael on from the convergence dept.

EvilStein writes "Vonage is announcing plans for a WiFi phone that will allow Vonage subscribers to make VoIP calls from any WiFi hotspot. The phones are said to cost about $100. This looks to be a pretty cool setup and might rattle the wireless industry quite a bit if they pull it off." Another story notes that battery life won't be as good as existing cell phones.

10 of 213 comments (clear)

  1. GSM/GPRS by wdd1040 · · Score: 5, Insightful

    Now, if it could seemlessly integrate with the GSM/GPRS setup already in place with most providers, I'd be all over it.

    --
    wdd
  2. I have an open access point at my work by way2trivial · · Score: 4, Insightful
    and at my home... both on consumer grade broadband connections..

    widespread wifi voip will force me to close them. the bandwidth potential is to severe....

    --
    every day http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Special:Random
    1. Re:I have an open access point at my work by dresgarcia · · Score: 5, Insightful

      When researching VOIP this weekend (I am thinking of nixing my home phone for a cell phone and a voip) I found that a call requires 90Kbps of bandwidth.

      Isn't there a port or something you could block to disable VOIP services? I don't know a whole lot about it but I assume it must use a port that could be firewalled out.

  3. Hurdles by Bronz · · Score: 2, Insightful


    Forgive my ignorance of the product, but won't it need to continually poll a server to find out if it has an incoming call due to firewalls? Also, does it expect to be able to seamlessly jump wifi networks -- transparent to the user anyway?

    I see the use of using it in a Starbucks, or whatever, but it would hardly make a practical mobile phone. And I doubt people would bother carrying two phones around.

  4. Hotspots? Not really..... by djrogers · · Score: 5, Insightful

    Granted there are many open hotspots out there, but the easiest to find and most predicatable for the road warrior are all pay-for-play (iPass, tmobile, wayport etc). Given that there's no standard for authenticating to these networks, this kind of thing won't be useable there. Now for home/office use, it looks great!

    --
    Think outside the... Hey, where'd the friggin' box go?
  5. Not time yet by drivinghighway61 · · Score: 5, Insightful

    This is a nifty gadget, but it really isn't functional. VoIP is fine for home use, but at this point there's no reason to choose a portable VoIP phone over a cell phone. There simply isn't a large enough network of WiFi connections yet, not to mention the fact that many of them are personal networks. I'm sure the owners of said networks do not want random passersby using up their bandwidth. If anyone wants one of these toys, fine, but I'm sticking with my cell phone. I can actually make calls without reliance on an internet connection with it.

    1. Re:Not time yet by CKW · · Score: 2, Insightful

      > I'm sure the owners of said networks do not want
      > random passersby using up their bandwidth.

      Not true *at all*. I and friends run WiFi connections explicitly so people can do stuff like this. Laptops on the park bench below me, disabled guy down the hall barely making ends meet gets to use an old/donated system, friends/strangers walking or driving by who pull out their high-end PDA to refer to something online, WiFi p2p/sharing networks, etc etc.

      What's the old saying? Information wants to be free?

      New saying - Bandwidth wants to be free!

      Seriously, the above two sayings are closely related. The effective "cost" of many types of information is near zero due to the ability to replicated it among 6 billion people for near zero cost. And that's because bandwidth is so cheap. Bandwidth *and* information want to be free!

    2. Re:Not time yet by MarkGriz · · Score: 2, Insightful
      What's the old saying? Information wants to be free?

      New saying - Bandwidth wants to be free!
      Newest saying - WiFi phonecalls want to be free.

      ...which of course they will be once someone captures enough WiFi packets to crack the encyption and clone their own phone to someone elses Vonage account.

      --
      Beauty is in the eye of the beerholder.
  6. Deja Vu by Hognoxious · · Score: 2, Insightful
    will allow Vonage subscribers to make VoIP calls from any WiFi hotspot.
    Deja Vu, but for once, not about the article. Wasn't there an outfit called "Rabbit" when mobile phones were kind of taking off (late 80s) in the UK? IIRC you had to stand within 20 yards of some antenna contraption to use them. It was a dismal failure, possibly due to the fact that the only places that had the antennas seemed to be railway stations - right next to a bank of payphones. If this phone doesn't (as TFA suggests) do normal GSM too, then it'll go the same way.

    As to making a voice over wifi call at home, I suppose it means I don't have to swith the pooter on (yeah, like it's ever off).

    --
    Confucius say, "Find worm in apple - bad. Find half a worm - worse."
  7. Re:Been using Vonage by steeleweed · · Score: 4, Insightful

    Ever consider Skype? PC-PC free internationally, PC to phone also available: PC in US to phone in France would be 0.017 Euro/minute...