Friday, 10 November 2006

Broadcom Wi-Fi Phone Offers Skype Support

Broadcom, a provider of wired and wireless communications, has plans to support Skype in a phone platform that will be integrated into new Wi-Fi handsets from Buffalo, freeing Skype users from their PCs. The Buffalo Wi-Fi phone for Skype enables free Internet calling to other Skype users and supports traditional calling to and from the PSTN through the SkypeIn and SkypeOut services, using IEEE 802.11b/g WLAN connectivity and a high-speed Internet connection, the company said.

"A Wi-Fi phone is more flexible and useful than a traditional analogue phone because it uses Internet Protocol (IP) as the underlying technology and can communicate with other devices on the network," explained Monika Gupta, Senior Product Marketing Manager of Broadcom's Consumer VoIP products. "Consumers can now be part of the Skype community scroll through their contacts, see who is online, make free Skype-to-Skype calls, all without sitting in front of the PC."

"Wi-Fi access is everywhere in homes, offices, campuses, coffee shops," added Manrique Brenes, Director of Hardware for Skype. "A Skype Wi-Fi phone gives people the freedom to connect to the 136 million family and friends already using Skype anywhere in the world."

The handset has a high-resolution color display, speakerphone and Buffalo's AOSS configuration protocol. The Buffalo Wi-Fi phone will be Skype Certified and available for the Japanese market this month. It will be able to connect to Skype from any personal, business or free public Wi-Fi access point that does not require browser authentication, the company said.