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Vonage Testing Mobile VoIP Service Routers
kamikaze-Tech writes "In a Vonage VoIP Forum article
titled
Vonage Testing Mobile VoIP Service Routers
we learn that Vonage is doing customer trials involving a new Linksys Wi-Fi mobile service router. From the article comes the claim: "With the special router and handset, individual customers would be free to roam about their home or office, untethered from a modem or phone jack and without a connection to a laptop or desktop computer."
Suggesting the new routers are geared for installation in Wi-Fi hot spots: "In theory, someone should be able to walk into a Wi-Fi-enabled cafe, fire up a laptop, log on to the Internet and start dialing. But that now requires technical know-how and configuration hassles that most consumers don't want to deal with. The new routers are designed to do most of the heavy lifting.""
Out in public? What happens when this becomes popular and there are a few people using up all the bandwidth at these hotspots? VoIP isn't exactly the least demanding application ever.
If it becomes that popular, I can see places that offer free wireless access blocking VoIP access.
I've already been testing a handset that lets me hop on an 802.11b network... Only thing it's missing is a web interface to permit me to click the "I Agree" button on some captive portals, and I've been told its "in the next release" (snicker). It's decent, but still B. I'm looking forward to the G version I can give my boss instead of his desk phone (since he's prone to wandering the office instead of sitting in a chair). I'd be curious to see how this does with consumers, though I think most of us are going to opt for a headset and softphone while at Starbucks, if we even bother using VoIP on a shared connection like that. ;-)
Besides, with mobile carriers like MetroPCS (South FL and some of NC) offering no-limit use for $40, and carriers like Nextel offering unlimited incoming calls for $59, why would I wander around looking for a hotspot? I don't like coffee shops *that* much.
I already use Vonage and think VOIP is great. Not quite "Mom-Easy" to setup but otherwise my complaints are few.
That said,I'm still struggling to see the market for these mobile versions. How is a VOIP phone through a WiFi hotspot superior to my GSM cell phone? I've got both VOIP and cell service and I don't see the former replacing the latter for mobile communications. VOIP is cheaper sure, but WAY more limited for mobile communications. Much better suited for office work IMO. Even assuming these new devices work reasonably well, my DSL service gets overwhelmed pretty easily if I'm using Vonage and doing pretty much anything else at the same time. I can easily see two or three of these things being brought into a coffee shop and soaking up all the bandwidth.
All the WiFi phones I've seen are ridiculously expensive. Maybe if the price on these types of phones comes down it will be worth it. Otherwise it's a better deal to get an ATA for your home/office and use a regular cordless phone--and all your phones can work off the ATA instead of just one phone.
Being able to walk into a hotspot to use it would be nice I guess, but why not just use a cell phone for these occasions? The good thing is I could see this driving down the cost of WiFi phones.
I currently use my laptop and softphone from Vonage quite frequently at the local coffee house that offers free wi-fi and have tried to use it at panera bread which offers free WI-FI. However, I have been able to get it to work rather infrequently at Panera. At the local coffee house I open up my laptop, load the softphone, and then attach my headset. The question people typically ask is why not use your cell-phone.
I can receive calls for free which would otherwise use my minutes, I can dial 1800 numbers which is what my university uses for its conference calls for free, and most importantly, it is the best way to have office hours when I am away from the university. I recently did my dissertation's first defense using the softphone and system to connect to all my committee members and did not have an issue. Recently, at a conference the second author of the work was unable to attend but had some new data that he wanted to present. I loaded the softphone and dialed into him and using the conference system called raindance and the conferences system, he was able to present the data without an issue.
I see the progression of Vonage being very useful for those of us that for work have seen our laptops becoming more important then the air we breathe.
while this might not be too practical right now, consider what happens when WiMax becomes available almost anywhere. no need for a separate internet and cellphone account - its integrated! Vonage seems to be planting the seeds so they are ready when wireless internet is available anwhere.
I'm looking forward to the day where I can use my $30/month wireless phone w/3G service to connect to a VOIP gateway over the data channel and chat with my buddies overseas for some rational fee. As things stand now, you either need to use a phone card or allow your carrier to drive a VW microbus up your nether regions to make international calls.
When I hear "mobile", I think of traveling inside a vehicle. 802.11(*) wireless works like crap when you're trying it from a vehicle moving greater than about 20-30 MPH. Every test I' ve done, we've had to pull over and stop to get the damn thing to lock onto the signal again, and the connection will drop out as soon as we start driving again.
Other wardrivers might say, "I can find dozens of hot & open access points while driving around". Yep, airsnort can certainly find them ok while moving, but you sure can't *use* them worth crap until you stabilize your receiving platform... i.e by pulling over to the side of the road.
What we really need is true *MOBILE* wireless networking that can keep the bitrate up and constantly flowing to moving vehicles at full highway speeds.
Meshed 802.11 almost held promise, but I think there's just too much moving chunks of metal reflecting the microwave freqs around when in a road environment. I think a lower freq spectrum, prolly closer to 700-800 MHz would be much more viable for mobile use.
Once they get all the kinks worked out, I'd *much* rather have a VOIP phone than a POTS phone.
Having IP opens up all sorts of options. With POTS, you're kind of limited in what functionality you can offer. With VOIP, you've got IP, so the sky's the limit.
This sounds like the first time I showed my dad a spreadsheet -- um, yeah, it does pretty much the same thing you do with a piece of paper and a calculator, but think of all the things it *will* be able to do Real Soon Now...