Skype and NetGear back in January announced a WiFi handset. The problem was, as I pointed out to Skype’s PR team in advance of the announcement that the unit only handled one stage authentication, with Skype, not at the hotspot level. I raised the same question at the press conference to Patrick Lo, the NetGear Chairman and he said that those relationships were in process. What also remains unclear is fi these devices will work at the Skype Zones operated by Boingo Wireless and The Cloud.
It seems the story is being pumped again, likely by NetGear. While this equipment may work on open hotspots and with friendly carriers closed hotspots, it may not work everywhere. Here are some scenarios:
A. The hotspot operator requires a SIM to get on the network.
B. The hotspot operator uses more than simple user name and password such as a session defined set of keystrokes
C. The user is roaming and has a relationship with the hotspot roaming partner but that requires a pull down.
D. Any other authentication problem.
I think at this point the concept has merit, but being my sources tell me the software is still in development, there’s a long road to travel before this stuff is reality on a universal basis.