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Vonage Wi-Fi Phone
Price: £109.99 inc VAT

Features
Performance
Ease of use
Value for money
Overall

Reviewed By: Andy Shaw

This review updated: 03/12/2006
Featured in magazine:
Issue 146
Manufacturer Contacts:
Supplier: Vonage
Tel: 0800 008 6000
Web Address: www.vonage.co.uk


Unlike computer-based VoIP (Voice over Internet Protocol) services such as Skype, Vonage has always based its internet telephony service around plugging real phones into your broadband connection. With its latest version, the underlying service remains the same, but it's supplied with a Wi-Fi handset, so those with a Wi-Fi network at home or access to Wi-Fi networks elsewhere can use a wire-free phone to make all their free and reduced rate calls.

Features
The best thing about the service is that you're no longer tied to attaching a phone adapter to your router. You can use this phone anywhere within your house that's within range of your wireless network, as long as you've got a Vonage account set up. We patched it in to a standard 54Mbps network, typed in the WEP encryption code (it will also work with the more sopisticated WPA security) and it started working straight away.

Performance
As with most VoIP services, calls don't sound quite as good as when using a regular phone, but it is comparable to talking to someone using the mobile network. The phone itself isn't going to win any prizes for sophisticated good looks with its black-on-green screen, blocky appearance and stubby aerial, but it serves its purpose if looks don't mean everything to you.

Ease of use
Plugging in the details of a Wi-Fi network will be straightforward for anyone who's set up their own network and knows what the settings need to be. The phone can store the settings for four different networks, so you can save regularly used options such as your home Wi-Fi network and three others.

Value for money
The phone costs £109.99 (though new Vonage subscribers can get £20 off this price by signing up to the service at the same time), which is a little cheaper than its Skype-based rivals from the likes of Netgear and Belkin. However, you need to pay the monthly subscription charge on top of that. As a result, this is really going to be best for heavy phone users who want to use VoIP to save money on calls to UK landlines, rather than make free PC-to-PC calls. Of course, once you've paid your £7.99 a month, there are further savings to be made on international calls too. If you want to use it in hotspots there'll be further charges, though Vonage has a deal with The Cloud's hotspots (www.thecloud.net) and these can be used at no extra charge.

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