voip

Verizon Wireless launches Internet phone

Clarification: Verizon Hub customers will get the same international calling rates that Verizon Wireless customers get who subscribe to the $3.99 a month International Value Plan. But Verizon Hub customers will not have to pay the additional $3.99 fee.

Verizon is readying a new product that will marry its wireless phone service with an Internet home phone that uses a broadband network to make calls.

The new phone system, called Verizon Hub, connects to any broadband line to provide home phone service using the Internet. It integrates with Verizon Wireless service so that customers can send and receive SMS text messages directly from their home phone and use location-based services, like Chaperone and VZ Navigator. It also provides additional Web-based services, such as an online calendar and a contact list that syncs with Microsoft Outlook.

The service is designed to give families or multiple people living in a household an alternative to the traditional copper based phone system.

The Hub will go on sale at Verizon retail stores February 1. It costs $199 after a $50 rebate. Customers must sign up for a two-year contract with a monthly charge of $34.99. The monthly service charge includes unlimited local and long distance calling in the U.S., Canada, and Puerto Rico. The service is only offered to Verizon Wireless customers, and the integrated cell phone service only works with Verizon Wireless phones. The Verizon Hub is considered to be a part of Verizon Wireless in-calling plans, so Verizon Wireless subscribers can send unlimited text messages to the Hub and calls made to the Hub phone aren't counted as part of their anytime minute usage.

The product itself consists of a cordless handset that sits in a docking station that has a 7-inch touch-screen display. From this touch screen, users can access several Internet widgets for news, sports, and traffic information. It's also where users can manage their calendars and send and receive text messages from Verizon Wireless phones.

The service is integrated with Verizon's location services. For example, users can look up nearby movie theaters, purchase tickets, and get directions right from the Hub. These directions can then be forwarded directly to a Verizon Wireless phone via an SMS message.… Read more

Skype Coming to the iPhone; Other Options Available

Skype may be coming to the iPhone soon. Officials from the VOIP developer at CES are telling numerous attendees and members of the press that a native Skype application will soon debut for the iPhone, hot on the heels of an edition for Google's Android OS. It is not yet known whether the application will work over 3G and EDGE networks or only WiFi.

A number of Skype-compatible, VOIP applications are already available for the iPhone, though none support Skype's group chat functionality. Aong the current options:

IM+ Fring Nimbuzz Truphone (iPhone

Calls between Truphone and Skype are … Read more

Ooma rings in new year with Telo VoIP system

When I met with Ooma representatives last month, I got a sneak peek at its next-generation phone system, the Telo, which combines DECT 6.0 cordless-phone technology with Internet-based (VoIP) calling. Well, Ooma officially unveiled the Telo at CES, and while no price has been announced, the it will arrive sometime in the first half of 2009, according to the company.

Ooma's claim to fame is that it currently sells a VoIP phone system that lets you make free domestic U.S. calls and low-priced international calls. (In Amazon's database, the product is in fact called the Ooma … Read more

Fring spiffs up VoIP app for Windows Mobile

Windows Mobile may be an ugly stepchild of mobile platforms, but among more ambitious publishers, it hasn't been forgotten.

Months after adding file transferring abilities to its Symbian version, Fring, a free VoIP communication company, is conferring this and other features to an updated versions of Fring for Windows Mobile.

In addition to sending images, audio, and video files to friends on Skype, SIP, Yahoo, Windows Live Messenger, Google Talk, AIM, and ICQ, the latest version of Fring for Windows Mobile also packs on support for add-ons, an indicator message as contacts type out an IM response, and long-overdue … Read more

More iPhone apps you can't have: Newber and iCall

SAN FRANCISCO--At the MacWorld ShowStoppers event Monday night, I got a quick look at Newber, an iPhone app from Freedom Voice Systems that lets you redirect calls made to a new number you give out ("newber," get it?) to alternate numbers depending on your location. If you're in the office at your desk, the app can send calls to your work phone. At home? It rings the house phone. Neither? The call will ring on your iPhone. (See also: Grand Central.) The app uses GPS to suggest call routing, but ultimately you make the routing decision. Sounds … Read more

Jaxtr launches free international calling program

VoIP service Jaxtr has a new feature called FreeConnect that lets users make free international phone calls. It works by having both parties call in to local access numbers, then connecting the call via VoIP (voice over Internet Protocol).

There is one large caveat here, and that is both members must be registered users of Jaxtr, otherwise the caller must dole out some real world money for "Jax," which are credits that can be used for calling out to phones. Using this system the person on the other end doesn't have to deal with the fuss of … Read more

GizmoCall tries to make cheap VoIP calls easy

Correction: An earlier version of this story did not appropriately credit the image used. Tom Keating from TMCnet had taken the screen shot of the GizmoCall dial pad. Keating also reviewed the GizmoCall service here. A new image from GizmoCall has been added to this story.

A new low-cost voice over Internet Protocol service started by serial entrepreneur Michael Robertson promises to provide cheap phone calls without requiring any software to be downloaded.

The service, called GizmoCall, launched this week. Unlike Skype, which requires users to download a software client to use the service, GizmoCall is Flash-based, requiring nothing more … Read more

CNET Live - Episode 83

Bedroom laptops and iPhone mods.

Watch the show on CNET TV.

Things We Crave

Turn iPod Touch into an iPhone

Close-up lens for iPhone

First Look

Gateway MC7801u

Download of the Week

TweetDeck

Quick Tip

Create your own WiFi hotspot on a Mac

Your video calls

Brad from Wisconsin asked about small bargain camcorders. He's considering the Sasmsung SC-MX20 but he might also want to take a look at the Flip Video MinoHD.

Teresa in California akaA RogueTess needed some help picking a camcorder for her son. Brian Cooley gave her some general advice and then pointed her on … Read more

The home stretch: Skype's third 4.0 beta

Those of you following the progress of Skype's beta series for version 4.0 already know that the seminal VoIP caller has been striving to get people interested in--and even aware of--Skype other features by rearranging its program's interface in time for version 4.0.

On Thursday, Skype released Skype 4.0 beta 3 for Windows, the third--and as far as we know, final--beta in the development series.

In addition to Internet telephony, Skype wants to make it easier to switch among IM and phone conversations, to place calls to non-Skype users' mobile phones and landlines, and to … Read more

iPhone app Truphone enables calls via carriers

Correction: An earlier version of this story mischaracterized the state of the U.S. iPhone 3G's SIM card. It can be removed, but AT&T does not provide an unlock code so that another carrier's SIM card will work on the phone.

Truphone, which has an App Store application that enables iPhone and iPod Touch users to make cheap international phone calls via a Wi-Fi connection, now can be used by iPhone users to make cheap calls from anywhere.

Previously, Truphone, which launched as a free application in Apple's App Store in July, worked only when … Read more