Mobile phone manufacturer Hop-On is offering an affordable Wi-Fi handset with hopes of cashing in on the growing demand for Internet-based calling by providing voice communications  over wireless local area networks.
The HOP1502 handset resembles a basic, conventional mobile phone, yet lets users talk via access from the Wi-Fi hotspots that are spreading throughout public and private locations.
The phone supports a wide variety of VoIP features, such as the real-time transfer protocol, the session description protocol, the dynamic host configuration protocol and virtual SIM.
The virtual subscriber identity module (VSIM) is a software alternative to using the well-known hardware SIM card. It is said to provide a higher level of security and flexibility at a lower cost than existing SIM cards.
VSIM also enhances current SIM card features, and enables new features, including powerful access-rights management and billable authentication.
VoIP Goes Mobile
Hop-On, perhaps best known for offering a disposable mobile phone a few years back, joins several companies providing mobile devices for IP calling.
VoIP service provider Vonage, for example, has partnered with IP networking specialist UTStarcom to create its own version of a Wi-Fi phone. And the F-1000, made by Audiovox, is based on the session initiation protocol technology used by an array of VoIP equipment manufacturers.
Vonage envisions its handset will be a replacement for a fixed-line phone at home or will complement existing home phones as it can be used outside of the home when users are within range of a Wi-Fi access point.
Sales Partners Needed
"We can expect to see a number of these types of products from vendors as the fixed and mobile phone environments converge," said Yankee Group analyst John Jackson.
The issues for these vendors, though, include nailing down distribution channels for selling the handhelds and determining the usage model, said Jackson.
"Is this for use at Starbucks, or is there a place for it in the business market?" Cisco also offers a mobile Wi-Fi communications device for enterprise networks, he added.
He noted that Verizon, among other carriers, is experimenting with VoIP, and that other mobile VoIP opportunities exist for device makers among cable operators and wireless carriers pushing Internet-based calling services.
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