Vonage to sell Wi-Fi phone | Tech News on ZDNet

Vonage to sell Wi-Fi phone | Tech News on ZDNet: "Vonage to sell Wi-Fi phoneBy Marguerite Reardon, CNET News.com

Forward in EMAIL Format for PRINT ZDNet Tags: Mobile/wireless VoIP and IP telephony 802.11/Wi-Fi
Vonage will announce on Tuesday the availability of its long-anticipated portable Wi-Fi phone that allows users to use their Vonage IP telephony when they're connected to any public hot spot.
Vonage already offers a softphone client, which users can download from the Web site to turn their laptops into Vonage phones. But now the company will sell a handset called the F1000 manufactured by UTStarcom, which will offer Vonage's voice over IP (VoIP) service over any public 802.11b network.
The phone is configured to allow customers to use existing Vonage call features, such as three-way calling, caller ID and voice mail. Phones will also have phone book favorites with distinctive ring options including silent, vibrate and selectable ring tones. Users will also be able to configure and save Wi-Fi profiles for easy connectivity. The F1000's battery offers about five hours of talk time and up to 50 to 100 hours of standby, Vonage said.
The service will be available for free to any Vonage customer. Handsets can be purchased starting Tuesday from the Vonage Web site for about $80 after an instant rebate.
Wi-Fi phones combine two very hot technologies--Wi-Fi and VoIP, which lets Internet connections double as extremely inexpensive phone lines. Typically, VoIP subscribers use a wired phone line, whether a home phone or any number of phones in an office setting. But many service providers, such as Vonage and EarthLink, see an opportunity to create wireless versions of their services using Wi-Fi. Introducing the appropriate VoIP serv"
Wi-Fi phones.. nice in hot spot areas and VOIP. The next thing is - can I use SKYPE + Video Conferencing. Making such a phone is good. I think the NEXT THING OF COOL will be a VOIP with 3G video messaging capabilities.