Telephones 2.0 -- the WiFi phone (09/12/2006)

Why would you need another phone in your house?

With wireless phones under $100 and cell phones everywhere, a lot of people think there's nothing new in telephones. Too many conjure up images of the black, rotary dial phone of their parents.

This changed when NETGEAR shipped its new NETGEAR Skype Wi-Fi Phone (SPH101). Unlike traditional telephones, this one works not with the plain old telephone system (POTS), but instead places and receives calls over the any wireless network connected to the Internet. But don't worry; you can, of course, still call any landline or cell phone on the planet for pennies a minute. It's just like any other phone, just with cheaper rates.

But as they say on late-night TV, "Wait! There's more!" This device changes the way you think about phones.

For one thing, this phone travels like a cell phone. You can get a SkypeIn phone number, and it will follow you wherever you go. So if you get a SkypeIn number for Boston, and you bring your Wi-Fi phone to Paris, your Boston friends will register a local call, even when your phone rings in Paris! And of course, the SkypeIn number has voicemail as well. So say goodbye to roaming charges when you talk to your friends when you are traveling.

Another great feature is that this phone is actually a full-fledged Skype phone. What does that mean? It means it monitors your friends that use Skype, understands whether those friends are actively using their computers or phones, and displays whether they want to receive calls or not. That means you don't waste time calling people who don't want to talk to you, and you can put an end to those endless telephone tag calls.

By the way, this phone knows you have other phones for other purposes. You can forward your NETGEAR Wi-Fi phone to your cell phone or business phone for those times when you want to concentrate all your calling in one place.

And finally, the NETGEAR Wi-Fi phone takes advantage of your investment in your home wireless network. You don't need to buy a new router or to download new software. The Wi-Fi phone is preloaded with Skype and ready to connect to your wireless network. And unlike many systems, all calls are secure because the phone encrypts all calls using both WEP and WPA-PSK Wi-Fi security.

So even though you already have a phone, take a look at the NETGEAR Skype Wi-Fi Phone and imagine how it might make your life both simpler and better. It might be time for you to upgrade.