WiFi Phone Heats Up

Voice-over-WiFi is one of the hottest markets in telecommunications, predicted to more than double this year, according to a report released today by Infonetics Research Inc.
The report says that worldwide revenues from WiFi phone service (also known as "voice over wireless LAN," or VOWLAN) hit $102.5 million last year -- up 76 percent from 2005 -- and will reach more than $205 million in 2006.

WiFi Phone Market Jumps 76% to $102.5M in 2005, Will Double in 2006

The worldwide WiFi phone market jumped 76% between 2004 and 2005 to $102.5 million, and is projected to more than double in 2006 as enterprises slowly but steadily continue deploying voice over wireless LANs, according to Infonetics Research's latest report, WiFi Phones Biannual Worldwide Market Share and Forecast.

WiFi provider offers free service in several Silicon Valley cities

Mountain View's MetroFi, which offers wireless Internet connections across multiple Silicon Valley cities -- much like a coffee shop ``hotspot'' -- announced today that it will offer its service at no charge.
The catch? Customers surfing the free network will have to view banner advertising on their browsers. MetroFi's business-model change offers a look at a large-scale wireless Internet -- or WiFi -- system in action at a time when governments across the country are considering bringing the technology to their citizens.
MetroFi now offers WiFi to residents across 25 square miles of Santa Clara, Cupertino and Sunnyvale. Since MetroFi launched its networks about a year ago in Santa Clara and Cupertino, residents could subscribe to the service, which did not include advertising, for $19.95 a month. Customers still have the option of paying for the service to keep it advertising free.
Both paid and advertising-supported services offer the same data transfer speeds of 1 megabit per second downloads and 256 kilobit per second uploads, comparable to DSL speeds, according to MetroFi Chief Executive Chuck Haas.
The company, which is private, began offering free, ad-supported WiFi in certain parts of Sunnyvale last month and found that the business model was effective. More new customers joined the free service in Sunnyvale in just a few weeks' time than joined the fee-based service in the other cities in an about nine-month period, Haas said. The company therefore decided to invest in expanding a free network rather than in marketing the fee-based service.

Vonage UTSarcom Wifi Phone

As Voice over IP (VoIP) continues to grow in popularity, you can expect to see a raft of new related products hitting the shelves over the next few months.
Vonage is keen to promote its VoIP service as a viable alternative to traditional landline calling and is about to launch the Wifi Phone in conjunction with handset manufacturer Utstarcom - it’s actually been available in the US for some time now.
The Wifi Phone is about the same size as most mobiles and features a Nokia-style button layout.
Since many people buy mobile based on looks as much as functionality, the Wifi Phone is badly in need of an updated design. Similarly, the low-resolution mono screen isn’t particularly impressive.
That said, all the usual features are present, such as call waiting, three-way calling and call transfer. You can also set profiles, alarms and use a very crude calendar. You’ll need a wireless router or access point and a broadband Internet connection to use this phone.