Dec 06/Jan 07

Mobile VoIP phones have arrived, offering the potential of "free" voice and data calls when you're out on the move, just as you get now with voice over fixed broadband voice services such as Skype's.

Mobiboo, a new UK-based operator, claims to be the first to market with a true mobile VoIP offering, which is based on its own tovo mobile phones. These basically offer Wi-Fi Internet access without the need for a computer (either fixed or portable), giving users direct phone access via any authorised Wi-Fi network within range of the unit.

Wi-Fi telephony has gradually been maturing over the past year. Initially Skype-style handsets simply plugged into fixed desktop computers (or laptops). Then came units which included their own Wi-Fi base station, or linked wirelessly to yours, freeing you from the need for a powered-up PC. Philips offers phones like this, including models that work with fixed landlines as well.

The logical leap onward from these is handsets that link up to any available Wi-Fi network. Netgear offers such phones, giving users roving access to Sykpe or similar services. Now Mobiboo has set up a full payment infrastructure similar to Skype's, supported by its tovo handsets.

 

Mobiboo subscriptions include local calls at 2p per minute and international tier 1 calls at 5p per minute. Calls to other Mobiboo customers are free. Perhaps more appealing than the basic handsets is one that allows you to insert a standard SIM card into it, so that it can double as a normal mobile phone. This model, the t450g PocketFone, costs £169. Other models are cheaper.

Tesco, which offers its own fixed-based Internet telephony system to rival Skype's, supported the launch of the Mobiboo system, and was selling it initially through ten stores.

Has mobile Wi-Fi become a serious business proposition for mobile workers? For some users, perhaps, although analysts are dubious about how easy users will find it to log on to third-party hotspots where browser-based authentication is required, since initial handsets don't necessarily offer a conventional Internet browser capability.

However, it's early days yet, and no one is suggesting that businesses should be thinking of migrating en masse to this type of solution. The fact that it is available at all seems to offer a pointer to the future.