Internet and VOIP phones

You know something’s gone mainstream when corporate giants like Thomson and GE get involved, and these two are presumably validating the internet calling craze by teaming up with Skype to release a GE-branded VoIP / conventional landline phone. The GE 28300EE2 isn’t too much different than the other computer-free units we’ve seen, and sports the DECT 6.0 protocol as well as a color LCD screen to view Skype messages and traditional caller ID data. Aside from handling both VoIP and landline duties, the device sports speakerphone, conference calling, a 100-name address book, and 10 hours talk / 120 hours standby time.

Source and more info: engadget

At IFA, Philips promised to introduce before Christmas a phone that regular Skype users will lust after mightily. The VOIP841 combines a DECT phone for wireless landline calls along with Skype WiFi functionality that allows VoIP calls to be made and received wirelessly without needing a PC to be switched on or even present. Likely VAT-inclusive retail price, we were told, is €199 (£136).

This news – including the price – is likely to come as a nasty shock to Netgear and Belkin. Each company has made quite a bit of noise about its own Skype-only WiFi phone in recent months but these products have been delayed and were far from prominent at the Berlin show.

And, discussions we had with the two companies at IFA – about launch dates and pricing – were rather woolly, too.

Source and more info: hexus

NETGEAR’s Skype WiFi Phone (model number SPH101) is a handheld device that somewhat resembles a typical cell phone (though it does not flip open). Rather than placing calls through cellular networks, however, the Skype phone connects to WiFi networks and allows the user to place and receive Skype VoIP calls without requiring direct access to a computer, speakers, and headset.

Specifically, the device is an 802.11g client, able to connect to 802.11 b or g networks. The user can stash their user id and password for networks directly on the phone as well as any required security keys. Note however, that the phone can only be used with open or direct-connect (via user-id/password) WiFi networks; WiFi networks or hot spots that require browser-based access and authentication are not supported by the phone. Communications over the phone can be protected via hardware-based WEP (40/64 and 128-bit) and WPA-PSK (assuming a connection to a WEP/WPA-PSK comatible AP/router).

Source and more info: enterpriseitplanet

It may not be Sunday! Sunday! Sunday! but the big showdown between Netgear and Belkin is going down today, via their respective WiFi Skype phones. Who will walk out of the arena bloodied, but victorious? And who will lie there, clutching their gonads like a man who got kicked…in the gonads? Count along as the champion of each category is noted in bold and italicized.

Note: This may be a bit unfair, as the version of software on Belkin’s unit is pre-release and Netgear’s is release. We’ll do another match-up once Belkin releases a final version of the firmware.

Source and more info: gizmodo

I got to play with the NETGEAR (not shouting, that’s the way they spell their name) Skype WiFi phone at the Von show in Boston last week.

As you can see on this photo from Engadget, cool, yes, but I like to think I am mature enough a consumer to be able to separate the “cool” from the “practical.”

Practical, as in, do I really need this?

Release price as quoted on the Skype site is $299.99.

I have this saying: “El Paso ain’t just a city in Texas.”

In other words, I’ll pass.

I can handle the sticker price, but that’s not the issue.

If I want mobile Skype, I can easily do it over my EV-DO enabled laptop. I already have Skype loaded, and traveling with a headset isn’t a problem.

So what about WiFi? I pay $59.99 a month for EV-DO. While EV-DO isn’t as fast as WiFi, I am not ordinarily in one place when I am out and about. I’m moving around. Plus, EV-DO’s monthly price is about the same as six WiFi sessions a month. Why bother?

And there’s this device I have in my pocket called a BlackBerry. It has cell. I’m four months into a two year contract. And since I rarely hit my alloted minutes, why should I pay extra minutes for SkypeOut?

Source and more info: zdnet

The Intel Universal Phone Device Interface (UPDI) aims to establish a uniform interface specification between ’softphones’ – software-based phones installed on PCs – and peripheral phone devices.

Intel’s goal is to make it easier to integrate phone devices from a range of device providers and service providers while making the PC a more accommodating platform for these types of VoIP applications.

UPDI is designed to speed product development and testing for independent software vendors (ISVs) and independent hardware vendors (IHVs), while lowering costs.

With UPDI, softphone ISVs no longer have to implement proprietary interfaces and instead can provide ‘plug-and-play’ support for various phone devices, the company says. The UPDI was also designed to facilitate a broader supply of softphones and devices for service providers.

The UPDI Software Developer Kit aims to provides documentation and reference source code to accelerate software and hardware vendor implementation of UPDI-compatible VoIP components.

Source and more info: mybroadband

Based on its UniFi-1 portable chip, CSR’s 802.11b/g single-chip WiFi technology, UniVox enables designs for phones with domestic cordless connections to WiFi access points.

CSR believes that manufacturers will be able to produce wireless phones for residential use at the lowest cost, and lowest power with up to 20 hours talk time and 400 hours standby time from typical handset batteries, using latest generation access points.

Source and more info: cieonline

Mobiboo, a UK startup, is launching a WiFi-based VoIP service in the UK that is designed to work via any accessible WiFi hotspot. Mobiboo is using a WiFI service provider called The Cloud and all of The Cloud’s hotspots will be available to subscribers. In addition, subscribers can use home WiFi services.

As part of the deal and to make it more attractive to consumers, Mobiboo is also supplying a second generation WiFi-based VoIP phone from UT Starcomm, the F3000. The F3000comes in a clamshell-design handset that measures 85 x 43 x 22mm and weighs approximately 90g. It features a full-color, 1.8” LCD screen, polyphonic ringtones, text messaging capability, talk-time of up to three hours and stand-by time of approximately 75 hours. The F3000 also features an Auto-Search capability, enabling users to locate WiFi networks within range and store these profiles for later use. Moreover, the handset can be programmed with three separate SIP accounts, providing both service provider and access point flexibility for the end user.

“The cost-savings of VoIP have already been proven by companies such as Skype. Mobiboo has gone one step further to replicate a true mix of traditional mobile, DECT and landline phone services to provide both residential and business customers with a credible alternative, thus giving real value for money. In a nut shell, a mobile number, DECT functionality and landline pricing with the additional coverage available with WiFi.” explained Richard Newsome, Commercial Director at Mobiboo.

Source and more info: voip-news

The UTStarcom F3000 WiFi Phone doesn’t work on Skype, but it does the next best thing, SIP. It supports SDP, RTP/RTCP, RFC2833/inband DTMF, and supports the G.711 and G.729 codecs. Both these codecs are higher quality codecs than standard landline phones, which means there’s actually a benefit in using VoIP other than for the cost.

The phone itself has 802.11b/g, supports WEP and WPA, and comes in black and gold. It has a 1.8-inch LCD screen, polyphonic ringtones, text messaging, and a talk time of three hours. Kind of skimpy, but alright if you’re just using it around the house or the office. Not a bad phone for Asterisk users.

D-Link has reportedly launched its new VoIP USB phone, called “DPH-10U”, which plugs to a USB port of a PC.

The company says that DPH-10U is designed for use with any desktop, notebook, or laptop computer running the Internet telephone software Skype under Windows XP or 2000.

Besides, this phone allows making Internet phone calls from one PC to another or from one PC to any ordinary analog phone, with great convenience. And as a comprehensive unit complete with a dialing keypad, function keys, a built-in speaker, and microphone; this VoIP USB phone is quite easy to operate just like any regular telephone.

According to reports, DPH-10U has a built-in ringer, so that one can pick up the phone to answer phone calls from any Internet caller in the world. Moreover, four user-selectable ring tones have been provided to customize incoming calls, allowing one to instantly identify the caller by listening to the ring tone.

Source and more info: techtree