Vonage subscribers in the UK will soon be able to make mobile phone calls over the internet, the company said on Wednesday.
The US-based net phone company and wi-fi hot-spot operator The Cloud are working together to launch a service that will let Vonage subscribers who have paid for a specially enabled wi-fi mobile handset to make calls charged at landline rates from any of The Cloud's hot spots in the UK.
When a subscriber comes into an area covered by The Cloud's network, the special handset will pick up the signal allowing calls to be made. If the subscriber wanders outside the zone, however, the call will be cut off, and the subscriber will have to revert to a traditional mobile handset and network to continue the call.
Vonage managing director Kerry Ritz said: "It's really a wake-up call for the telecoms market. It's saying there's really a much better, cheaper way of making calls. This is the inevitable next stage in the voice over [IP] (VoIP) revolution."
The service will cost no extra for Vonage customers who already pay $14.25 plus line rental to make unlimited internet calls to UK and Irish landlines.
The handsets cost about $142 each and are about the size of a large mobile phone.
The Cloud runs nine hot spots in UK cities including London's Square Mile and Canary Wharf financial districts, and Manchester city centre. It also beams its services to many of the country's airports and major railway stations as well as to coffee shops, hotels and university campuses.
Last week, France's second-largest consumer broadband provider, Iliad, launched a service that lets French customers using dual mode mobiles (3G/wi-fi, GPRS/wi-fi or GSM/wi-fi) to latch onto a wi-fi network when they are in a hot spot but use existing mobile networks when out of range.
Iliad's new service costs about $12 to activate in addition to the monthly rate of $37 for the basic high-speed internet, TV and VoIP service. The service comes with a set-top box called Freebox HD. Subscribers will be able to connect to the wi-fi mobile service when in the vicinity of any Freebox HD, not just their own.
Last year, former telecom monopoly BT introduced its Fusion service, allowing regular mobile handsets to hook onto BT's fixed-line network when near a box called the "BT Hub" at home or in the office via Bluetooth technology, and then jump on to Vodafone's wireless network when on the move.
BT plans to launch a wi-fi version of BT Fusion in the autumn.
Provided by silicon.com
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