Incumbent telecoms companies face renewed pressure to adjust business models, as the first wave of VoIP (voice over IP) communications hits UK shores.
Internet phone company Vonage has reached a deal with European Wi-Fi network operator The Cloud that makes it cheap and easy to make VoIP calls using a Wi-Fi-enabled phone.
The deal means Vonage customers will be able to make VoIP calls from any of The Cloud's 7,000 Wi-Fi access points at no charge - it's included within Vonage's £7.99 subscription. No password or user log-in is required.
The service should be available beginning next month to Vonage's 'Residential Unlimited' customers, who also enjoy unlimited calls to UK and Irish landlines as well as to other Vonage customers wherever they are in the world.
The Cloud is also launching a number of city centre hotzones in Birmingham, Cambridge, Edinburgh, Leeds, Liverpool, Manchester, Nottingham and Oxford, along with the London boroughs of Kensington and Chelsea, Camden, and Islington. It will be deploying a Wi-Fi network across the entire Square Mile in London later this year.
"Enabling users to make telephone calls while on the move is the inevitable next stage of the VoIP revolution," said Kerry Ritz, managing director of Vonage UK.
This story first appeared on Macworld.co.uk
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