Voice's unique requirements makes using VoIP in a Wi-Fi hotspot or on a free network challenging. To make it even harder, most commercial hotspots require users to authenticate using a Web browser, something no Wi-Fi phones have. Many free networks are beginning to follow suit, asking users to click through end-user license agreements that promise they won't use the hotspot for spamming, illegal music sharing, or other activities likely to cause trouble for the owner.
This doesn't mean that Wi-Fi phones are only of use in enterprise premises. Employees may also find them useful when working from home.
Cordless phones have been popular among consumers for years, but have recently become less useful as they contend with interference from home data networks. Vendors see Wi-Fi telephony as a way to avoid interference by bringing voice and data together.
VoIP provider Vonage has already partnered with home networking vendors Linksys and Netgear to sell Wi-Fi routers with VoIP capability. So far, these are limited to wired telephony. The routers have phone jacks so that people can use ordinary analog phones with a VoIP service. However, Vonage plans to start selling its own Wi-Fi phones this month, which are designed to work with Netgear's routers.
The Vonage phone is, of course, intended for users of Vonage's own residential phone service, but Linksys and Netgear are both interested in supporting other handsets and services as well. A VoIP service is simply a server somewhere on the Internet that provides an interface to the PSTN, so it can also be provided by an enterprise IT department rather than a carrier, enabling employees to make and receive calls through their office PBX while at home.
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