Telstra has revealed the addition of almost one million new mobile services in the six months to December 2011, but Sensis revenues plummeted 24 percent in 12 months.
Four vendors - Belkin, Edge-Core, Netgear and SMC - have launched WiFi phones with an embedded Skype softphone enabling calls to be made from any WiFi hotspot to which users have access. Factor in Skype's deal with global hotspot operator Boingo, announced last July and things could get really interesting.
According to Skype, the new WiFi phones are easy to use, come with everything built-in to connect to Skype via any personal, business or free public WiFi access point that does not require browser authentication.
"The phones are extremely easy to set-up and use with automatic synchronisation to a Skype account and contacts. The devices support common WiFi encryption protocols including WEP, WPA, and WPA2 with PSK support."
However users will still need to be accredited for access to any hotspot they want to use, and this is where the agreement between Skype and Boingo could apply, although Skype did not mention this when it announced the new phones.
In July 2005 Skype announced a partnership with Boingo, to enable people using Skype on a Windows PC to make phone calls via Boingo's network of 18,000 WiFi hotspots worldwide, using a customised version of the Boingo software. The charge for unlimited Wi-Fi access for Skype Internet telephony calls is $US7.95 per month, or $US2.95 for a two-hour connection. The service is known as Skype Zones, and according to Skype's web site, it is still in beta.
The first WiFi Skype phone from Netgear was announced in May, with availability scheduled for late June At that time iTWire put in a query to Skype PR asking if the Boingo agreement would be extended to WiFi phones with Skype. We did not receive a reply.
The Belkin WiFi phone costs $US150, according to a Belkin press release, but is priced at $US190 on the Skype web site. Skype is also selling the Netgear WiFi phone for $US300. The other two were not listed.
David Bass
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