* Skype, SMC Networks and FON team up on Wi-Fi calling
SMC Networks is providing the Wi-Fi phone in a package put together by Skype that is intended to allow Skype users to make Internet-based calls without a PC.
Another part of the package is a wireless router from FON. FON has been making waves by offering its routers for $5 as part of an effort to build a large, worldwide Wi-Fi “community,” where members of the community open their routers up as Wi-Fi hot spots so that other members can access the Internet through them.
You don’t need the FON piece to use the Wi-Fi phone – but obviously the more wireless hot spots there are in the world (particularly, free hot spots) the more useful the phone becomes.
Rounding out the package are 500 minutes of SkypeOut credit, which allow you to make calls from the phone to landline and mobile phones, and Skype Voicemail for a year. Calls to other Skype users are free. If you want to receive calls from those landline and mobile phones, you have to buy a SkypeIn number.
Skype says it has more than 136 million registered users of its PC-based Internet calling service.
SMC says sales of the Wi-Fi phones are strong. Its parent company, Accton Technology, says that its November revenue was up 13% over October because of the handset.
Skype sells the bundle at skype.com/shop for $160.
The phone and bundle aren’t about to replace cell phones anytime soon, not unless we really do get to a world where free Wi-Fi is as ubiquitous as these companies want it to be. They could be useful to some people who know they will use the phones in areas where there are hot spots available.
