Wireless

Verizon Communications is trying to keep customers tied to the old idea of a home phone with updates to its new Verizon Hub.

(Credit: CNET)

The Verizon Hub, which was introduced earlier this year, is essentially a souped-up voice-over IP handset. It's designed to be the main phone and communication "hub" for the household, providing not only phone service, but also sports, weather, and other news.

But given the device's hefty price tag of $199 with a two-year contract, it seems a bit steep for consumers who can already get that information and functionality from their cell phones. In addition to the pricey cost of the hardware, Verizon also requires a $35-a-month phone service. While this VoIP service is cheaper than Verizon's regular phone service, it's pricey considering that Vonage and other providers offer similar services for about $20 a month.

Verizon is selling the device through Verizon Wireless and the service is offered to all consumers and is not limited to users in the Verizon broadband or wireline telephone territory.

As part of the upgrade, Verizon is offering more Widgets for the device that include instructional cooking videos and games. The company is also launching a new application storefront where users can download applications for the device, much like they do for smartphones like Apple's iPhone.

My colleague Nicole Lee from CNET Reviews gave the device high marks when she tested it, but she also noted the high price tag as potential deterrent. And I tend to agree. At a time when people are cutting the phone cord and using their cell phones to reduce their monthly expenses, it seems ridiculous that they would be willing to spend an additional $200 on a new device plus $35 a month on a phone service.

In these tough economic times, everyone is looking for a good deal.

And Sascha Segan at PC Magazine seems to have found a darn good bargain if you're looking for a cheap wireless plan that offers unlimited data and voice calling. The service, which costs only $70 a month with no monthly contract, is offered by a new mobile virtual network operator, or MVNO, called Zer01 Mobile.

The company also offers unlimited international calling to 40 countries for an additional $10 a month.

Segan reports in his story posted on Thursday that the company is using a form of a roaming agreement with AT&T and T-Mobile to provide access to their cellular networks. But instead of using the 3G wireless network to carry voice and data traffic, Zer01 sends the voice and data traffic over its own IP backbone.

The company's CEO explained to Segan that instead of buying wholesale cellular minutes from AT&T and T-Mobile the way other MVNOs have done, it has bought its own IP backbone and only uses the carriers' networks to interconnect or roam. Carriers throughout the world, such as Verizon Wireless or Sprint Nextel, use these interconnection agreements to provide coverage to their customers when they are not in their own coverage area.

The devices on the Zer01 network get fixed IP addresses and they each open a separate VPN session to the company's servers when a call is placed, according to the article. By using interconnect agreements, Zer01 can keep costs low and get around the carriers' 5GB per month data caps, Segan points out.

The service uses a proprietary voice over IP application that today only works with Microsoft's Windows Mobile 6 phones. But the application will eventually work on other phones such as Google's Android devices, Research In Motion's BlackBerry, Symbian phones, and perhaps even jailbroken Apple iPhones.

Unlike other mobile VoIP services, the Zer01 service allows users to dial from the phone's keypad without launching a separate VoIP application.

The service isn't yet available to the public. But the company is expected to provide details about a launch date around the wireless industry's CTIA tradeshow in Las Vegas, which starts April 1, so stay tuned.

Zer01 is expected to sell three HTC phones for the service: the HTC Tilt, which was made for AT&T, the Touch Diamond, and the Touch 3G. But users will be able to bring their own unlocked GSM phones to the network.

Verizon is readying a new product that will marry its wireless phone service with an Internet home phone that uses a broadband network to make calls.

The new phone system, called Verizon Hub, connects to any broadband line to provide home phone service using the Internet. It integrates with Verizon Wireless service so that customers can send and receive SMS text messages directly from their home phone and use location-based services, like Chaperone and VZ Navigator. It also provides additional Web-based services, such as an online calendar and a contact list that syncs with Microsoft Outlook.

The Verizon Hub, a voice over IP phone that integrates wireless services.

(Credit: Verizon Wireless)

The service is designed to give families or multiple people living in a household an alternative to the traditional copper based phone system.

The Hub will go on sale at Verizon retail stores February 1. It costs $199 after a $50 rebate. Customers must sign up for a two-year contract with a monthly charge of $34.99. The monthly service charge includes unlimited local and long distance calling in the U.S., Canada, and Puerto Rico. The service is only offered to Verizon Wireless customers, and the integrated cell phone service only works with Verizon Wireless phones. The Verizon Hub is considered to be a part of Verizon Wireless in-calling plans, so Verizon Wireless subscribers can send unlimited text messages to the Hub and calls made to the Hub phone aren't counted as part of their anytime minute usage.

The product itself consists of a cordless handset that sits in a docking station that has a 7-inch touch-screen display. From this touch screen, users can access several Internet widgets for news, sports, and traffic information. It's also where users can manage their calendars and send and receive text messages from Verizon Wireless phones.

The service is integrated with Verizon's location services. For example, users can look up nearby movie theaters, purchase tickets, and get directions right from the Hub. These directions can then be forwarded directly to a Verizon Wireless phone via an SMS message.

A new low-cost voice over Internet Protocol service started by serial entrepreneur Michael Robertson promises to provide cheap phone calls without requiring any software to be downloaded.

(Credit: GizmoCall)

The service, called GizmoCall, launched this week. Unlike Skype, which requires users to download a software client to use the service, GizmoCall is Flash-based, requiring nothing more than a browser. Users simply go to the Web site, sign up for a username and password, and start making calls.

Just like other VoIP services, the allure of GizmoCall is that it provides free and low-cost calling. Free calls can be made to other GizmoCall users and to Gizmo5 users. Gizmo5 is a version of the same service that requires a software client and also provides other features, such as instant messaging.

But what is cool about GizmoCall is that it also allows users to make free calls to toll-free numbers and Session Initiation Protocol addresses. SIP is used to enable telephone calls to be made over the Internet. Using a SIP address, which consists of a username and domain name, enables people to make and receive phone calls all over the world. Services like Net2Max provide SIP addresses and can even help people forward SIP calls to their Skype user accounts.

GizmoCall also allows people to call traditional phones and cell phones for low rates. And for a fee, users can also accept calls. But users have to be signed into the service to accept calls. The service works on all browsers running on Mac, Windows, or Linux operating systems.

I tried the service on Tuesday to see how it compares to other services, such as Skype. For the most part, the call quality was comparable to Skype.

I made a quick free call using a toll-free number, and it was fine. But adding money to my GizmoCall account so I could call regular phones was not so easy. I followed the instructions to add $10 to my account using my credit card. Two hours later, my account was still at zero, even though the service had accepted my credit card.

I've had similar credit issues with other VoIP services. I was told by one VoIP company that there is a lot of fraud associated with these services, so everyone is very careful to verify orders. But as a legitimate user trying to use the service, it was just annoying.

I suppose that the service is useful for someone who doesn't want to download software onto his computer. But I didn't really find the service or any feature compelling enough to ditch Skype. The holy grail of VoIP services is finally creating a service that enables free calls to anyone, including traditional phones and cell phones. Until that happens, most of these services seem the same to me.

Truphone, which has an App Store application that enables iPhone and iPod Touch users to make cheap international phone calls via a Wi-Fi connection, now can be used by iPhone users to make cheap calls from anywhere.

Previously, Truphone, which launched as a free application in Apple's App Store in July, worked only when users were within Wi-Fi range. But the latest iteration of the application will allow iPhone users to make cheaper-than-usual international calls additionally via their carrier's cellular voice networks.

This means that users won't be tied to the confines of a Wi-Fi hot spot. But users should be wary of how they use the application, so as not to incur unexpected costs from their carrier. U.S. customers, especially, should be cautious, because AT&T charges roaming fees when calls are made from AT&T phones outside the country.

(Credit: Truphone)

Truphone works like several other VoIP services, such as Jajah and Jaxtr, that allow calling to and from regular phones. In short, it uses the local carrier network to establish a phone call, but it routes the call internationally, using its own network of voice over Internet Protocol points of presence. And when the call is connected on the other end, it uses the local phone network to establish the connection.

By using local phone networks in combination with VoIP technology, Truphone is able to offer phone rates for as little as 6 cents per minute when dialing a landline in the United Kingdom, for example, and 30 cents per minute when calling a cell phone.

By contrast, U.S. iPhone users making regular calls via AT&T's network could be charged $1.49 per minute when calling a landline in the United Kingdom or $1.69 when calling a U.K. cell phone, according to AT&T's current rates. But subscribers also have the option of signing up for a special international calling plan that costs an additional $3.99 per month. It drops the per-minute costs down to 8 cents a minute for calls from the U.S. to landlines in the U.K. and to 28 cents a minute to cell phones in the U.K.

The Truphone application could also help frequent travelers save on making calls when they're abroad. But for AT&T subscribers, unless they are in a Wi-Fi hot spot, the Truphone application won't likely save them any money while they're traveling abroad.

The reason is that AT&T still charges a roaming rate for phones that connect to another operator's network. For example, AT&T customers traveling in the United Kingdom pay a standard roaming rate of $1.29 per minute to make calls while in the United Kingdom. With a $5.99-per-month World Traveler plan, that rate is knocked down to 99 cents per minute.

The new version of Truphone's software also allows users in Wi-Fi hot spots to make and receive free calls when connecting to other Truphone users in Wi-Fi hot spots. A presence feature will let users know which Truphone contacts are connected to Wi-Fi networks, so that they can be called for free.

In summary, Truphone is certainly a better option for AT&T iPhone users, if they make international phone calls from the U.S., and they don't want to pay the extra $3.99 a month for AT&T's special international rates. But the rates offered with the $3.99 plan are similar to those offered by Truphone.

And for AT&T subscribers traveling abroad, I'd suggest taking an old, unlocked GSM phone, and popping in a local SIM card for making phone calls while in another country. Most of the time, it will be a whole lot cheaper to use a local service than paying AT&T's standard roaming rates, or even signing up for a $5.99 monthly international roaming plan and still paying the per-minute charges.

While the SIM card on the iPhone can be removed, AT&T does not provide a code to unlock the phone. So unless users are able to hack the phone to unlock it, they won't be able to use a local SIM card to get service while abroad. But any other AT&T phone can be unlocked, simply by calling AT&T customer service and requesting the unlock code.

Verizon Communications suffered a major blow in its patent battles on Monday, when a federal court ruled that cable company Cox Communications had not infringed on its patents.

The telecommunications giant has accused Cox of violating six of its patents related to Internet telephony. But a jury for the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Virginia decided against Verizon on all six patents.

Verizon settled a similar suit against digital-phone service provider Vonage last year, squeezing about $117.5 million from the troubled provider of voice over Internet Protocol, or VoIP. Against Cox, it had been seeking past damages of $404 million.

Many analysts and experts believed that Verizon had been emboldened by its Vonage patent battle and was looking to go after bigger players, such as cable providers. Companies such as Cablevision, Comcast, and Time Warner Cable have been offering VoIP services for the past few years. And they've been very successful in converting millions of Verizon customers to their service.

But with this latest court decision, it looks as if Verizon may have to rethink its legal strategy. The company recently reached a deal with Comcast in which both companies agreed not to sue each other for a period of five years for any patent infringement. But there had been speculation that Verizon might target Time Warner Cable and Cablevision.

"Despite the decision, we believe our patents were infringed," Verizon said in a statement. "We will continue to innovate and protect our intellectual property."

The company also told The Wall Street Journal that it hasn't decided whether to appeal the decision.