The World of Computing and Solutions

Want to lower your cell-phone bills? You can with the next step in VoIP: Wireless VoIP. To make the move, you need a Wi-Fi phone that can tap into any available hot spot and thus emnable you to make a free or chape calls from any Wi-Fi access point on the planet.

Currently, only a few Wi-Fi phones are designed to work with different services. the $150 ZyXel P-2000W V2 handset, for example, and th $250 D-link DPH-541 work with open VoIP services such as BroadVoice. And Vonage customers can tap into accessible Wi-fi hot spots in, say, London, or Paris using the $130 UTStarcom F1000.

The latest and perhaps most anticipated Wi-Fi phones is the iPod-styled Netgear SPH101 Wifi phone for Skype. The $250 phone can connect on any open Wi-Fi Network, letting Skype users place free calls anywhere in the world where they can hit a hot spot. Also expected to be available by the time you read this is Belkin’s $180 Wi-fi Phone for Skype, which is touted as having similar features. The downside: Wi-Fi phones typically have shorter talk times - 2 to 3 hours - than standard cell phones.

None of these Wi-Fi phones include cellular service, but you can turn some smartphones into Wi-fi handsets by downloading client software to tap into your VoIP account. Skype for Pocket PC is free software that handhelds using Pocket PC 2003, or Windows Mobile 5.0. It’s far from perfect, but why pay outrageous charges when you may be able to place a call for nothing?