MobileMonday Global

^{VoWLAN from Ireland} VoWi-Fi/Cellular Softphone Announced

Dublin, Ireland-based Cicero Networks earlier this month announced an upgrade to CiceroPhone, its lightweight SIP softphone. The new version supports both IP-based Wi-Fi calls and GSM cellular mobile calls—as well as calls to the PSTN via any SIP gateway.

The software client works across a range of hardware devices including PCs, PDAs, smartphones, and the newly emerging dual-mode handsets, reports VoIPplanet publication.

CiceroPhone is available in several flavors of Windows and Symbian operating systems. The software dynamically selects a Wi-Fi connection when an access point is present, routing calls to GSM when Wi-Fi is not available.

VoIPish features include instant messaging (IM), call hold, transfer, and forward, call history logs, and in-call codec renegotiation (changing codecs to meet changing connection conditions). The softphones also integrates with a variety of local phonebooks, letting users dial by point-and-click.

“We’ve genericized the interface,” Cicero CEO Ross Brennan told VoIPplanet, “allowing it to talk to any third party SIP compliant servers.” That includes industry standard SIP application and media servers, SIP proxy servers, softswitches, and IP PBXs.

According to Brennan, Wi-Fi calling makes sense because the price of cellular mobile telephony is quite high in Europe and the UK—roughly five times the cost of “fixed line” calls. Nonetheless, due to the convenience factor, most business calls are made from mobile phones—even from the office.

“We will be marketing this to fixed-line operators, alternative service providers, and equipment manufacturers,” Treacy told VoIPplanet. “Pricing will be roughly in line with other smartphones … with a slight premium,” Brennan added. “That would be roughly USD 40 to USD 50 — but with heavy volume discounts.”

CiceroPhone has an automatic public hotspot login feature. “Even thought the industry hasn’t worked out a viable pricing model yet,” he conceded.

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• Landline phones are an endangered species (17 Sep 2005)
• VoWLAN poised for huge growth (11 Sep 2005)
• Jumping between networks (28 Aug 2005)
• WiFi is taking over voice (4 Aug 2005)
• UMA to become a household word (7 Jun 2005)

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