Mark Evans

Vonage Goes Wi-Fi

For all Vonage's marketing savvy, maybe it deserves some credit for pushing the IP envelope. At the Consumer Electronics Show (CES) today in Las Vegas, it unveiled a portable Wi-Fi handset that will let users make calls anywhere there is a hot-spot. This new service/product comes “hot” on the heels of Vonage's plans for a video-over-IP telephony service.
If I understand it correctly, Vonage believes its customers - or at least some of them - will carry around a Wi-Fi handset to take advantage of hot-spots. I suspect these tech-savvy people will also tote a cellular phone and/or a Palm and/or a Blackberry. That seems to be a lot of hardware in your pocket or purse. Nevertheless, Vonage is pushing its Wi-Fi handset, which is being developed with China's UTStarcom.
Perhaps we've been under-estimating Vonage's technical capability. Maybe there is something there other than solid telephony software. On the other hand, the Wi-Fi handset is another example of Vonage's ability to capture plenty of attention. The handset may not fly but it has likely already given Vonage a huge dividend by placing the company in the spotlight yet again. It is marketing events like today that have quickly made Vonage a household name.