VTech's ip8100-2 Broadband Telephone has Vonage built-in
By Peter Rojas 
posted Jan 4th 2005 12:20AM
posted Jan 4th 2005 12:20AM
It's not quite as hot as that new WiFi phone, but Vonage is partnering with VTech on the next best thing: a cordless phone that comes with Vonage's broadband Voice over IP service built-in. It has a VoIP gateway chipset built right into its base station, which you just connect right up to your router. Besides letting us toss out that bulky analog telephone adapter we're still using, the ip8100-2 also operates on the 5.8GHz frequency, which means it won't interfere with our WiFi.
My God, That´s ugly.
Now if they could just make the handsets a little uglier...
why? most people already have a phone. Plug the vonage box into the wall & continue to use your normal phones throughout the home as you always did. I'm told you should unhook the landline outside first but I didn't have one. works great.
Why do I want this? I already have two cellular phones!
Well, darn. I bought the pair of identical phones (they look weird in the picture but they have a really decent speakerphone built in, ringers that don't sound like an 80's alarm clock, and work very well. The *same* phones, which I plugged straight into my Vonage adapter device. Argh.
I also saw a combination unit this weekend at a big big big gadget warehouse store that was a combination of the Linksys 802.11G router and a Vonage IP phone adapter. Again - I have both already. I am tempted to buy that one, because simplifying the QOS configuration and compatibility there would certainly improve my call quality at times.
Never, ever, ever be tempted by a Linksys product. Unless someone has found one that works? 0.o
so, if I have a vonage account, and one of these(or one of their "use your regular phone" type box's), and I go to a hotel that provides free, or flat rate internet, could I then plug it in and get my home phone calls at my hotel, as well as make cheaper that hotel rate phone calls from my hotel room?
Or you could just take your cell phone out at the hotel!
WHen? When?
It's now May...where's the phone
The ip8100 should be available on vtechphones.com on Friday 8/19.
Corection: It IS a router. I've been searching everywhere for some review of the interface and security for the router part of this gadget and nobody seems to realize it exists. Check the facts on thier website. You aren't supposed to hook it up to a router at all.