6. Phones

There wasn't a noticeable amount of VoIP phone buzz at the show, perhaps because these are still targeted primarily at the business crowd. NETGEAR was showing an VoIP analog terminal adapter that they said should appear sometime next quarter either in a standalone form for about $80 or integrated into a "voice router".

Service will be provided via i2 Telecom, but rates haven't yet been set. Linksys tried this a few years ago with their Net2Phone-powered router which wasn't exactly a big hit. Maybe NETGEAR will have more luck with trying to get regular folks into VoIP calling. But with phone cards available at pennies-per-minute rates, i2's rates better be pretty darned low!

While in the HomePlug area I was tipped to an IP phone from ST&T that can operate station-to-station without the need for a head-end that most VoIP phones need. It comes in both standard Ethernet and HomePlug compatible versions. Unfortunately, I didn't find out pricing or where you can buy it...

Although they're not a networking product per se, cordless phones can wreak havoc with wireless LANs. I was surprised to discover that Uniden 's 5.8 GHz cordless phone line is "true" 5.8 GHz. This means that unlike competing 5.8 GHz phone which hog both 2.4 GHz and 5 GHz bands, Uniden's phones won't interfere with 802.11a, b or g WLANs.

Finally, I didn't see any IP-based consumer-priced cordless phones. So anyone looking to have their LAN handle both voice and data to avoid wireless 2.4 GHz interference will have to pay big bucks for a Cisco phone, or maybe buy one of the 5.8 GHz Uniden's. No new Bluetooth-based cordless phones either.