Wi-Fi brings down the cost of mobile calls

Tag : Wi-Fi devices

He has access to the VoIP services by using a Nokia phone that hasa Wi-Fi chip similar to the ones that allow laptops to connect tothe Web in smaller venues like coffee shops.
The new phones are capable of operating exclusively with Wi-Fi -they do not need to use a cellphone network at all - and when theuser is not in a Wi-Fi "hot spot," calls are routed to the Wi-Ficarrier's voice mail service.
Still, mobile VoIP is a fledgling field.
In the United States, T-Mobile sells Wi-Fi phones and Internetcalling plans that cost $10 a month, on top of regular fees. It isthe only U.S. carrier with such a package. The market is alsofilled with small, privately held companies hoping to make a namefor themselves. They include DeFi Mobile, Fring, Gizmo5, Sipgateand Truphone.
One advantage that these new companies have in competing withestablished VoIP services like Skype and Vonage is that old-styleInternet calling required users to be sitting in front of acomputer or hooked up to a laptop to make calls. Mobile phones withWi-Fi chips free them from their PCs.
Ivan Domaniewicz, a commercial airline pilot with homes in Miamiand Barcelona, recently switched to DeFi Mobile from Skype. His$40-a-month DeFi plan gives him unlimited Internet calls, voicemail and phone numbers in Argentina and Spain that areautomatically transferred to his Nokia phone.
"It's really helped me keep in touch with my family and friends inArgentina and Spain," said Domaniewicz, who shuttles between theUnited States, Japan, Europe and the South Pacific.
"What's nice is that I don't have to take my computer out and startSkype-ing to talk to them. I just turn on my phone," he said.
Jeb Brilliant, an event planner from Long Beach, California,reduced his monthly AT&T plan to 700 minutes from a more expensiveunlimited access plan after he became comfortable using mobileVoIP.
He uses Truphone, which charges 6 cents a minute to call landlinesin most countries and 30 cents a minute to call mobile numbers. Italso sells bundles of minutes that are discounted over its àla carte rates.
Brilliant has tried other mobile VoIP services and said that thetechnology could sometimes prove more reliable than cellphoneservice. When a family friend recently went into labor, he foundhimself making phone calls via a Wi-Fi network at the hospital.
"You can get it in places where there is no cellphone reception,"he said.