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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.

21 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
    1. Re:GSM/GPRS by jpetts · · Score: 4, Informative

      This is coming: I have already seen and tried out devices that have VoIP and GSM capability in the same unit. The acronym you need to watch out for is UMA - Unlicensed Mobile Access. Look here for basics.

      --
      Call me old fashioned, but I like a dump to be as memorable as it is devastating - Bender
  2. Verizon.... by 10101001011 · · Score: 4, Funny

    Can you hear me n.....

    No carrier detected

  3. Old News by jpetts · · Score: 4, Informative

    This is not new

    --
    Call me old fashioned, but I like a dump to be as memorable as it is devastating - Bender
  4. 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.

    2. Re:I have an open access point at my work by user9918277462 · · Score: 4, Informative

      SIP-based VOIP services like Vonage use UDP ports 5060, 5061 and the UDP range 10000-20000 (inclusive). TCP is not used.

    3. Re:I have an open access point at my work by jonbrewer · · Score: 5, Informative

      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.

      This depends entirely upon the codec used. 90kbps (full-duplex) would be G.711, while G.729 uses about a third of this:

      http://www.terracall.com/FAQs_white_1.aspx

      I haven't figured out why so many people use G.711 - voice doesn't need this much bandwidth, and we all know this from years of working with mp3.

      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.

      This can be very tricky. SIP uses UDP 5060 to negotiate calls, then picks variable high ports (~16000 I think) but can be run pretty much anywhere.

      I have been playing with a WiFi VoIP phone from ZyXel at home for the last few weeks & the performance has been adequate. It really depends heavily on the quality of your Internet connection. Unless you have consistent ping times of 50ms and close to zero jitter to your call termination point, you won't enjoy the experience.

    4. Re:I have an open access point at my work by user9918277462 · · Score: 4, Informative

      Regardless of the RFC, I can verify that Vonage at least does not use TCP currently in its hardware applications.

  5. Still lame... by WIAKywbfatw · · Score: 3, Funny

    OK, wireless but still less space than a Nomad. I guess that still makes it lame in some people's eyes...

    --

    "Accept that some days you are the pigeon, and some days you are the statue." - David Brent, Wernham Hogg
  6. Good by doombob · · Score: 5, Interesting

    This will be a wonderful alternative for many people. Right now, the company I work for is setting up various hotspots on the selling point that you could bring in Vonage, and this will be one more great selling point. It's amazing how many people despise phone companies.

  7. Been using Vonage by kvsnut · · Score: 4, Informative

    I've been using Vonage and I dig it so far - altough I'm hoping the international rates come down further.

    I have Verizon for land line and they charge 2.57 per minute to france. I'm not signed up for an international plan but I do have a $60 per month plan. They are shooting themselves in the foot by charging so much for basic line, vmail and international.

    This idea is cool but I don't think it would be an immediate threat to the wireless carriers.

    1. 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...

  8. More detail, please. by Moby+Cock · · Score: 4, Interesting

    Can the phones be used to receive incoming calls? If so, how does Vonage "know" where to address the messages to? Is there a persistent forward channel giving Vonage the phone's location?

    1. Re:More detail, please. by Sialagogue · · Score: 5, Informative

      Incoming calls would be no problem, just as they aren't with their modems or softphone. The phone is basically a shrunken VoIP modem with a mic and a wireless card, so I'd assume that the phone declares its IP address to Vonage Central once it logs on to the local network. Vonage then maps your local number to that IP and your on your way.

      Their modems and softphone work the same way. Once they navigate the firewall they log into the Vonage servers and your number is mapped. We use both all the time internationally - we've sent modems to our European offices which has made them accessable with a local New York call, and we use the softphone on business trips to Hong Kong, which has turned a multi-hundred dollar phone bill per trip into nearly zero.

      If you're involved in international business, VoIP is the biggest cost-saving measure since e-mail.

      --
      The only acceptable defense of scientific results is to say that they were the product of the Scientific Method.
    2. Re:More detail, please. by cavemanf16 · · Score: 4, Informative

      Vonage's current units work by having a unique identifier that they send back to Vonage to identify which "number" the call is coming from or going to. In other words, if I take my Vonage unit with me on the road and have a hotel with broadband available in the room, all I have to do is plug the unit in and I could make calls from it back to my area code as a "local" call. I could also receive calls in my hotel room from people trying to reach me at my "home" phone number. I assume their WiFi phone would work the exact same way.

      I know some /.'ers may poo-poo this idea, but I think it's got some real sticking power. The whole "college kids making free calls" thing mentioned in the article is just one use of many. In the approx. 1yr that we've had Vonage at my home, neither my wife or I have been displeased with the service. Yes, my wife gets displeased when I'm trying to d/l all three Mandrake 10.1 ISO's and she's trying to talk to her mother because I'm swamping the cable connection with my d/l's, but I simply delay the downloads... no big deal.

      I'd also like to mention the sheer joy you will receive when telling your local and long distance telemark-a-droids that there is no way they can beat the price you're currently getting for phone service. When you tell them: "I'm getting every single service you offer PLUS long distance PLUS Canada calls PLUS $0.05-$0.15/min. for International calls for $29.99", you can hear their jaw hit the desk as they say: "Oh. Have a nice day." True, we're not factoring in the price of broadband to that dollar amount, but hell, I'd have broadband whether or not I needed phone service anyways so that doesn't matter.

  9. Net2Phone Has Had This For A While Now ... by charyou-tree · · Score: 3, Informative

    First used their XJ100 on their VoiceLine service a few months ago. Worked great. Battery life was pretty good too - a couple hours of talking before it had to be recharged.

    Only disadvantage ... 802.11b only. No WPA.

  10. 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?
  11. 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.

  12. The phone in question apparently by General_Corto · · Score: 3, Informative

    So, based on the articles, Vonage will be selling this handset (PDF of details available from page).

  13. Great idea! by word+munger · · Score: 4, Funny

    Combines the crappiness of VOIP voice transmission with the unreliability of cell phones! Now we just need to get Microsoft in on this to really ruin it!

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    ScienceSeeker.org