Phone Plus has a report about the rapidly growing VoWiFi market.
First there may be something new about the Net2Phone WiFi handset compared to the Pulver Innovations unit and the Zyxel Presige that has been out for over six months. According to one of the Net2Phone folks
the the
firmware is different. As a service provider we spent a lot of effort in streamlining the provisioning process. All your settings are managed through a web page on the internet and automatically (securely – using AES encryption) provisioned to the device. Firmware updates are also automatically provisioned to the device. Once your account is created, you turn on your phone, configure your phone on your WiFi network and bam – it has all your settings and you’re ready to make a call.
Also
If you change your account configuration settings, no problem – just reboot.
There were multiple other fixes and menu changes that didn’t go into the mainstream build (Pulver, Zyxel, etc).
So I’ve asked them to get me a unit and a demo account. Words are easy. It’s the sound quality that matters !
What is hot is the new XTen effort as their softphone works on the new HP/T-Mobile 6315, something that Skype currently can’t do. Having used XTen’s products I’m an admitted fan. Their software works.
The whole idea of VoWiFi is going to take hold quickly with Boingo and Vonage working together. But this brings up a major fear. What if Boingo blocks ports? Will other carriers be stopped? What happens if T-Mobile does that at Starbucks? Wouldn’t that put a kibosh on a great idea.
If VoWiFi is going to take off the hotspot operators and broadband @ hospitality companies can’t be greedy and must avoid starting the WiFi equivilant of roaming costs and access fees beyond what the customer is already paying.