fontastic.org - FON and free WiFi blog

Breaking news: Apple iPhone announced January 9, 2007

Ok, admited, this is off-topic (well, if the iPhone is WiFi enabled then maybe even not) but while I was writing a new post I stumbled upon macrumorslive.com. Check it out, it's live right now.

Update: yes, it is a WiFi enabled phone, too!

Yep, that's right. Apparently Apple needs to find a new name for its upcoming TPFNAI (The phone formerly known as iPhone) as Cisco launches the iPhone series, comprising 7 WiFi/ Skype phones under their brand Linksys. They, not Apple have trademarked it. And a nice series this is, too. There are 4 new Skype/ Yahoo phones (CIT) and 3 WiFi phones (WIP). The CIT 400 (see picture) is a cordless, pc-less Skype phone which you can also connect to your standard telephone line (PSTN). Its DECT standard allows to connect your other DECT phones to the base station, too (up to 4 handsets). The line of WiFi phones features two SIP phones and a Skype phone. The WIP 330 allows you to connect to hotspots via a built in browser which makes it the ideal FON phone.

Related Link: iPhone Apple by Rogers in Canada

SMC Skype phone arrived: first impression (video) December 13, 2006

About a week ago I ordered the Skype SMC phone/ La Fonera bundle. Yesterday the phone arrived (unfortunately without the router). As my Linksys doesn't work anymore my FON access point is out of order and I connected it to a WPA secured AP in my office. It worked like a breeze. It's great, time and Skype credit appears automatically in the display and all contacts appear in an ordered list (online first, then phone contacts and last offline contacts - the way you want it to be). Sound quality is great, too, but as far as I can tell after one full charge the battery life is ridicolous: the phone went down after half a day of standby and one 30 min talk. Well let's see, sometimes those batteries need a couple of cycles. Here are my videos:

UPDATE: Second charge cycle lasted for 2 days of stand-by with a couple of short calls.

Ok, it's not the hottest news anymore as I was traveling with limited internet access but still I guess this is noteworthy. Skype has teamed up with FON to offer a WiFi phone/ La Fonera bundle thru their online shop. The package comprises the SMC WiFi phone (featuring computer-free Skype calls) plus the La Fonera for $159 (€139 or GBP 99). Both the SMC phone and the La Fonera are manufactured by Accton. Skype also throws in 500 minutes and a year of voicemail, at least a $30 value. Anyway you look at it you save big time if you are interested in either of the two products.

WiFi phones are getting more and more popular and this one proofs how popular WiFi gets as opposed to 3G. The new Samsung EW-700 only features WiFi radio but packs in quite a bit of features: VoIP telephony, web browser, 2 MP camera, messenger, camcorder, media player and Outlook sync. All applications run on a propriatary OS. The display seems to be really nice but I am not sure how much fun it is to chat without a QWERTY keyboard. See more pictures on Aving.net.

[via Engadget]

Thanks to Gerhard over at fonblog.de we found one of the widely announced WiFi phones is now finally available (we reported earlier). Before we digg deeper into it, though, we must warn you: it is not yet available in the USA or Canada. However, as it has some US specific agency approval it is most likely to be launched here shortly. Maybe some other vendor has exclusivity for a period of time?

SMC is launching the WSKP100 in many markets in Europe, Africa and some western Asian countries. I have checked some German online stores listed on the Where to Buy section and they seem to be available within 24 hrs at €189.- (currently $240).

The features have been widely discussed before but here are some actual facts now, taken from their website. First and foremost the phone operates without a connection to a computer. It has 802.11b/g wireless connectivity and Quality of Service (QoS) to ensure stable quality. It connects to your computer via USB 1.1 to charge and update the firmware. Security-wise it supports both WPA and WPA2 (with pe-shared keys). You can even start using it without a Skype account and use the phone to sign-up.

Here are some more features:

Display

1.8" CSTN LCD
65K color
Resolution 128 x 160

Network Features

DHCP
Static IP

Wireless Features

IEEE802.11b/g
Site survey
WMM (IEEE802.11e)
WEP 64-/128-bit
WPA/PSK
WPA2/PSK

Call Features

Skype to Skype Calls
SkypeIn/Out calls
Skype Voicemail
Call waiting
Conference Call (Guest only)
Call History

Power Supply

1200 mAh Li-on Battery
Talk Time: 3 hours
Standby Time: 30 hrs

Still need more info? Here is the complete list.

We are waiting for 3 WiFi Skype phones to arrive shortly and a close look unveils why they are not available yet although 2 of them should already. The Belkin phone ($189) was announced to be available August 31st (and is still on pre-order) and the Netgear ($249) is now scheduled for October 15th (also delayed). FONs Skype phone ($150) will be bundled with a router (which doubles as charger) and is scheduled for November. We have photoshopped the images and it looks like all three are based on the same OEM model. Would be nice to find out the original manufacturer. Any ideas?

Recently, you could read a lot about FON if you speak German. There was an article in Germans newspaper Die Zeit and an interesting interview with Martin Varsavsky in Der Spiegel. The Zeit article was basically an overall overview over the FON movement and company. In Der Spiegel Martin was asked about FONs return on investment as Google and Skype just invested $12 mill in February this year. He said right now FON is burning $500k above revenues per month with around 5000 paying members (Aliens). Martin estimates it requires around half a million hotspots to break even (operationally). He also announced the Skype phone router combination which will be launched around November for about $150 and the FON-Liberator, a de-luxe router if you will, featuring USB connectivity for use with external harddrives and MP3 player which will operate without the computer to be turned on (available later this year).

The European FON blogs have announced the arrival of the FON router "La Fonera" (see photo), hotspots in Madagascar, news on the upcoming portal software (we reported earlier) and 1000 day passes been sold.

Belkin WiFi Phone for Skype available Aug 31st August 16, 2006

Belkin's new WiFi phone looks great and all but unfortunately it doesn't support browser based authentication. This said, as long as FON requires this kind of authentication, the Belkin WiFi phone is not a real option to use with FON hotspots other than your own at home where you will be able to create a second, independent hotspot with FON's new firmware coming next month.

Belkin's WiFi phone is now available on Amazon for pre-order and will be released August 31st for $179.99. Click on the image to order (and yes, it is an affiliate link and you would support us without additional cost for you; thanks ;-))

more on FON router/ phone August 2, 2006

According to the German FON blog, the phone will also support SIP protocoll (e.g. to use with VoIP providers like Vonage). We also found parts of the NY Times article there:

"A company called Fon, which is based in Spain and is backed by Skype and Google, is trying to accelerate the spread of Wi-Fi by selling cheap wireless routers to anyone who will agree to let other people in the vicinity use them by paying an access fee. The buyers can choose to split the fee with the company.
In October, Fon plans to begin charging about $150 for a wireless router that also serves as a docking station for a Skype-compatible Wi-Fi phone. The phone will connect easily to hotspots operated by Fon members.
“Wireless Internet infrastructure can be incredibly inexpensive,” said Martin Varsavsky, the founder and chief executive of Fon.
Without special software, like that from Fon, however, hotspots may not automatically set up a connection with the new phones. Instead, until the technology is smoothed out, users might have to configure their phones to connect whenever they are in range of a new hotspot."

Martin Varsavsky and the NY Times today announced a new upcoming FON router that includes a wireless Skype phone. The Skype phone not only works with one's own FON router but can also be used across the FON network. Take it with you and call for free wherever you find a FON hotspot. The phone charger is build into the router which makes charging while traveling a bit tricky but doesn't this create some creativity for 3rd party suppliers?

According to Aving, Belkin is next in line to come up with a Skype phone that works in wireless hotspots and does not require a computer. The phone looks pretty similar to the Netgear Skype phone, which is unfortunately quite expensive ($249 at Amazon). We agree with Gizmodo and also hope Belkin will make this cheaper than the Netgear phone.