New WiFi phones for Skype

Where can I use the Wi-Fi Phone? The Wi-Fi Phone will work anywhere in the world that offers secured or open access to a Wi-Fi network—i.e., in any home, office, public hotspot, or municipal wireless access point—that does NOT require browser-based authentication or user input of any kind. The Wi-Fi Phone for Skype does not contain a web browser and, therefore, cannot access hotspots that require Web-based login or authentication, such as credit-card input, hotel-room-number authorization, or any other type of user input.
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quote from Belkin site.

I am sorry, but why can't this phone have a web browser on it? It seems strange that you get a wifi-voip phone without being able to access a web browser. Until they get that, I will have to pass.

But rumor has it Apple is developing a wifi-voip phone themselves. iPhone I know the thread doesn't specifically refer to wifi, but Apple loves wifi and recently hired a bunch of wifi engineers.

I for one will very seriously consider that gizmo. :cool:
 
If that's the case, as quoted by the honorable member vespax, then the fone will be pretty useless in SA if you want to use it anywhere outside your own wifi enabled house/office.

How many public hotspots DON'T need authentication??
 
rasputyn said:
If that's the case, as quoted by the honorable member vespax, then the fone will be pretty useless in SA if you want to use it anywhere outside your own wifi enabled house/office.

How many public hotspots DON'T need authentication??
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You should be able to access Telkom's T-zones after you've set your password via a browser the first time you connect. Not necessarily public but free for telkom adsl subscribers.
 
v.14 already!! They grow up so quickly these days:p

After you set this up with a browser initially, how would you log on to the T-Zone after??

I just read the press statement, according to them, the fones can be used in "free hotspots", etc. They also include support for the main WiFi security protocols.

Not too many of these here "free" things they talk about in S.A unfortunately.

Edit: Looked at the Skype shop now, the Belkin one is $189.99 and the NetGear is $299.99. The Belkin looks better in black but from what I can see in the photos they are identical. I wonder why such a big price difference if they both do the same trick??

Edit2: Ok, not identical, but extremely similar
 
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rasputyn said:
v.14 already!! They grow up so quickly these days:p

After you set this up with a browser initially, how would you log on to the T-Zone after??
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The quote above does say "secured or open access" so one would assume there are authentication settings in the phone. The ones it doesnt cater for are the webpage variety.

EDIT - Supports WEP, WPA, and WPA2 with PSK
 
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Yeah, that what I also thought. It is all rather confusing because it vespax's quote also says "or any other type of user input".

I think I might just be forced to buy this particular bit of kit, obviously only in order to help us figure this out, you know....;)
 
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rasputyn said:
Yeah, that what I also thought. It is all rather confusing because it vespax's quote also says "or any other type of user input".

I think I might just be forced to buy this particular bit of kit, obviously only in order to help us figure this out, you know....;)
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Same here - all in the name of research of course ;)
 
adsl3g said:
Uhh is'nt the free t-zone access only for 512k ADSL users??
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Never know for sure but as the link says
All Telkom DSL access customers can now access the net from any Telkom T-Zone hotspot using free T-Zone sessions.
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I've been looking at getting one of them Skype DUALphones, the one that connects to Skype and PSTN.

Thing is I never use the Telkom line though, so I'm thinking that this WiFi job will probably be better.
 
rasputyn said:
I've been looking at getting one of them Skype DUALphones, the one that connects to Skype and PSTN.

Thing is I never use the Telkom line though, so I'm thinking that this WiFi job will probably be better.
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Same here - also my ADSL line is in a different part of the house from my landline so I'm not too keen on the DualPhone.

I've been (lusting) after the netgear one since they announced it a while back but I'll look into these other models first.
 
When did they announce this then??

IMO if they price these phones reasonably, with the increasing penetration of home WiFi networks, they could increase the usage of Skype significantly...

Hopefully
 
R2100 per phone. Do they charge via USB? If they do it can be a good buy. Would be VERY useful.
 
antowan said:
R2100 per phone. Do they charge via USB? If they do it can be a good buy. Would be VERY useful.
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I think the belkin does - in the quick start guide they use the usb symbol when they refer to the phone's power port.
 
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