With its free Skype Out promotion due to end in a few weeks, Skype today announced a new Skype Unlimited Calling plan. This is a paid annual subscription service that allows registered users to make 12 months of unlimited SkypeOut calls to any phone within the U.S. and Canada. This is the first time that Skype is making an annual subscription calling plan available anywhere in the world.
Our reviews of the SMC and Netgear versions of this phone have shown them to be less than impressive. But Tim Higgins found that Belkin's version is the one to get.
Belkin today announced that it has added support for using its Wi-Fi Phone for Skype with Boingo Wireless hot spots. This makes Belkin the first company to address one of the weaknesses of the current crop of Wi-Fi Skype phones; the inability to be used with wireless hot spots that require browser-based authentication.
A Belkin spokesperson said that the authentication will be done using Boingo's embedded Wi-Fi toolkit, which is basically a configuration file that provides the credentials to authenticate to each Boingo hotspot type. Belkin also said that a firmware upgrade for current Wi-Fi Phone users will be available "by mid December" for download from Belkin's website.
Belkin Wi-Fi Phone users can sign up for a Boingo Mobile Unlimited account, which gives them unlimited access to Boingo hot spots, for only $7.95 per month.
SMC Networks today announced a product bundle for wireless Skype calling.
The bundle includes everything you need to make Internet calls using an 802.11b or g wireless LAN: SMC's WSKP100 Wi-Fi Phone for Skype (reviewed here), FON’s “La Fonera” wireless router, 500 minutes of SkypeOut credit and Skype Voicemail for a year.
The bundle is available now from the Skype Web store for $159.99.
Many Skype phones are little more than toys in both design and performance. But Polycom's Communicator is a Skype speakerphone that you definitely won't be embarrassed to use.
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Ever wonder what happens behind the scenes when Wi-Fi devices roam, or more likely don't? We'll show you why the "seamless" roaming Wi-Fi gear makers promise is still as elusive as a Yeti.
