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15/5: VOIP on the move
I currently use Vonage for my phone service. For £8 per month I can make unlimited calls in the UK at no additional cost and get good rates for international or mobile calls. I also forward calls to any landline or my mobile which is useful when I'm travelling. They supply a router that I plug into my network and the calls use my broadband connection - hence Voice Over IP. I have never actually taken the router with me abroad but it would give me free calls back home when I stay in hotels abroad that have an internet connection.Vonage now sell the WiFi UTStarcom F1000 IP phonethat will make this a lot easier.
It costs £90 after a rebate and will basically link up to any open wireless hotspots as well as all The Cloud's 7000 hotspots. These include all major UK airports, First Great Western train stations, Coffee Republic outlets, Little Chef cafes, Swallow Hotels, as well as over 4,000 pubs and regional hotels across the country. Here's the press release.
This would definitely save a lot of money for those of you who do a lot of travelling especially in some of the hotels that charge a fortune for international calls. And if you know that you're not going to be in range of a hotspot, you can have your calls forwarded to your mobile or a landline phone nearby.
The only thing that might stop me buying it is the availability of a phone that combines this with the more traditional mobile cellular phone capability. I heard from somewhere that Nokia had/were launching something January 2006 but I haven't seen it yet. Even when they do, it may not work with Vonage's service.
Anyone know?
