This Forbes article talks about the new WiSIP phone by John Pulver’s company, PulverInnovations (but he’s better known for the Free World Dialup service).

The phone gets coverage by Gizmodo and is noticed by Werblog. It’s basically a WiFi SIP phone, which is cool and new, but not terribly relevant to my life right now.

There is another fun gadget brother to the WiSIP: the Internet Phone Patch which reminds me of what the Geoport could should! have become. But for now, these are expensive toys.

Indeed, the Forbes article is quick to mention that any plans to save money using VoIP devices requires a long term commitment to offset the initial investment. Personally I’m not too worried as pretty much all new technologies are initially perceived as overpriced and without much merit by critics, pundits and other knowledgeable people… What I really like though are the potential applications for VoIP they mention:

When you travel to London and someone calls your home phone in New York, the call gets forwarded to your computer in London, and you can pick up there just as if you were in New York. Also, you can log on to the Internet with your laptop and « call » over FWD to your home phone in New York and check your messages from London. « Basically, you’re using the Internet to create a 3,000-mile extension cord, » Pulver says.

Another neat trick: If your kid is going to college at Stanford, you can create a virtual « extension cord » to the PC in his dorm room. If his pal calls him at home in New York, you can forward the call to his room in California. Junior can also make calls from the PC in his room, and it’s as if they were made from your home phone. « So basically, he doesn’t need to get a phone in his dorm room, » Pulver says.

I really like how this has the potential to bring the communication services closer to the individuals. And who knows what will emerge when people start playing around with those tools to fit their needs and wants?

Despite the criticism of the current offerings, the journalist gets very well that VoIP is more that just a fad allowing 2 geeks to save a few cents by installing software on their PCs:

« For decades, telecom companies have generated billions of dollars simply by connecting phone calls—and now that can be done for free.

And that is a big deal. »