Skype, the Web's most popular Voice over Internet Protocol provider, and NetGear, a maker of networking products including wireless, are banding together to create a Wi-Fi-enabled VoIP phone. The
Wi-Fi phone allows Skype users to access the service and call anyone in the world from any wireless network by punching in a user name and password on the phone. The system works with encrypted
networks--as long as users provide a network ID--but does not work on paid Wi-Fi systems at franchise locations like Starbucks or McDonald's. Pricing was undisclosed for the service, which should be
available in the first half of the year. As wireless network penetration proliferates and Skype is able to secure better VoIP reception, it will pose an enormous threat to the major phone companies
because its communications services are substantially cheaper. According to JupiterResearch, 20.4 million U.S. households are expected to subscribe to one form of VoIP service or another by 2010.
Skype is not the first VoIP provider to offer a wireless phone--Vonage is--but it
is the first to offer the service for free within its network. The company only charges for services like voice
mail and for calls outside the network to land lines and cell networks.
Read the whole story at Cnet News.com »
