Vonage Wi-Fi Phone in Action

Betanews.com ^ | 05/19/05 | Nate Mook

[KevinDavis]

While the company may not be exhibiting at E3 2005, Vonage met with us to give a short hands-on demonstration of its upcoming Wi-Fi phone. The phone uses a form factor similar to a standard cell phone, but connects to 802.11b Wi-Fi networks. Once connected to the Internet, the phone utilizes Vonage's voice over IP infrastructure to make calls. In tests by BetaNews, the phone performed admirably and automatically acquired network access without a hitch.

Vonage's Wi-Fi phone is currently in beta testing and is slated to launch by the end of the year. Pricing will be around $100 USD, and the phone will be sold via Vonage's Web site. The company says it is primarily targeting international travelers and tech-savvy customers with the initial version of the device.

[KevinDavis]

Going to give the cell phone companies some competition in the near future...

[bikepacker67]

Did they have the boy with the baseball bat?
How about the kid on the treadmill?
Surely... the dude with the rocket launcher??!

[SERKIT]

...and a 9-1-1 call goes WHERE?

[martin_fierro]

Surely... the dude with the rocket launcher??!

That clip is incredible.

The guy is so hapless that I swear it could've been intentionally done that way.

[FairfaxVA]

Man that is really cool. I can't wait to check it out. Imagine the possibilities...

[KevinDavis]

It is going to hurt the cell phone companies.

[bvw]

That's using what was once, itself, a new technology to hamper a new technology.

[cyborg]

This isn't good. I said I would not buy another gadget this year.

[Damocles]

...and a 9-1-1 call goes WHERE?

I saw this morning that the FCC has given them 4 months to fix that problem or face their wrath...

[dawn53]

Just MHO.

My husband's a network engineer and insisted that we try voice over IP through Vonage.

This was about 9 months ago, so maybe they've gotten better, but when we tried their service for about 6 months the best I could say about it was that "it's not ready for primetime."

Too many issues to go into, but we did cancel the service.

[sierrahome]

My wife and I had our home phone disconnected and went to cell phones only. I called ADT alarm to notify them of the change. They have informed me that they can connect to Vonage...pretty cool.

[bvw]

Wi-fi is not free. Some is, but as more people start using it more heavily -- you'll have to have some carrier who will pay the local wi-fi host for the bandwidth you use.

[off-roader]

The 911 call goes to the PSAP in the area where you told the system you are. You can do that via the web interface abd It's on your shoulders to do so. Imagine that?

You may also want to know that only a fraction of traditional wireless phone service providers offer accurate location definition for 911 calls.

Here's a question for you.. A typical "all you can eat VoIP" service plan sells for $25 a month. They closest level of service from the local Bell company sells for $40 and you can't move the service to wherever you want when you want to. So, with that in mind, are you willing to pay $15 a month extra for fixed, true E-911 service?

[cyborg]

ADT can't route over cable and I didn't know that till I already got the cable modem. I don't understand why they can't.

[off-roader]

Not an issue. I plan to make a lot of money on that FCC decision.

We provide underlying network connectivity and services to the "Vonage Types".

[1Old Pro]

Going to give the cell phone companies some competition in the near future...

especially when towns in suburbia are refusing to allow cell antenaas to be built leaving problematic dead spots.

[bvw]

Better that the FCC gets faced down on this one. Vonnage already provides 911 capability, btw.

[martin_fierro]

I dunno -- pricewise, it's still not quite there yet for me.

[off-roader]

My VoIP rocks.

I have symmetrical broadband at home and a small web farm so the line is busy all the time. I use a free firewall/router application called "m0n0wall" that lets me prioritize my voice traffic. It works perfect.

My DirecTV "pay per view" and Alarm System work just fine via VoIP.

[July 4th]

A few thoughts:

Something around $100 makes this technology reasonable and widely accessible to many. Wi-Fi "phones" already exist through other lesser-known providers, retail around $250-$300, and are often cumbersome to set up. Here is a currently available Hitachi model.



Also, while this article accurately targets what I would think is the best demographic - the business traveler - there is a problem. While the Wi-Fi phones have the capability to log into WEP-enabled hot spots, they do not have the ability to use hot spots in which you need to open a browser window to use their proprietary login system. (i.e. the systems found in many hotels, airports, etc.) This will seriously limit usage.

Finally, I hope that the phone comes with a dongle to use on hard-wired networks. That would broaden its range of use considerably, since many people (including myself) still run entirely on hard-line networks because it's more secure and we have no need to move our computers around.