Vonage debuts wi-fi phone

Vonage is set to announce 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 website 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 voicemail. Phones will also have phone book favourites with distinctive ring options including silent, vibrate and selectable ringtones. 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 today from the Vonage website 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 EarthLink and Vonage, see an opportunity to create wireless versions of their services using wi-fi. Introducing the appropriate VoIP services and technology could turn hot spots into giant phone booths.

There are a few aspects of the Vonage wi-fi phone, at least in its initial release, that may hamper adoption. First, the phone works only with public wi-fi hot spots, which means that users wandering into a Starbucks or in an airport hot spot where they're required to pay for network access won't be able to use their phones. And second, the mobile nature of the device makes it nearly impossible for emergency operators to automatically get the address of callers using a wi-fi VoIP phone away from home.

But Louis Holder, executive VP of product development for Vonage, believes these issues will eventually be resolved. As cities, like Philadelphia and San Francisco, start blanketing their cities with wireless internet access, users will have access to wider wi-fi coverage.

Holder said: "The trend is definitely moving in that direction where more cities will offer free and open wi-fi in a lot of public areas."

Even with citywide deployments, wi-fi won't be everywhere. A phone that can switch between the cellular network and a wi-fi network could be more useful. Cable operators Comcast, Cox Communications, Time Warner, Advance/Newhouse Communications, which have joined Sprint Nextel in a new joint venture, plan to come up with a wireless solution that allows mobile phones to roam in and out of wi-fi hot spots and the cellular network.

Marguerite Reardon writes for CNET News.com