Pay more than $60 a year for your phone service? Wi-Fi phone users don't. A Wi-Fi phone is exactly what it sounds like: a phone that uses a wireless Internet connection to make phone calls. These phones use a service known as VOIP, or Voice Over Internet Protocol, to connect to conventional phones. While not widely used today, these devices could well play a big part in the future of the phone.
Skype
The majority of Wi-Fi phones are the market today are made to work with Skype, the standard for VOIP today. Skype is available for Windows, Mac and Linux and officially endorses a wide variety of third-party products---including Skype phones. Many of these phones plug into a computer running Skype via USB, or directly into a wired computer network. Wi-Fi phones use any Wi-Fi access point.
Skype offers unlimited long distance within the U.S. and Canada for $30 a year, and a phone number for incoming calls for $30 if you have a subscription.
Wi-Fi Access
Whether such a phone is useful to you depends on how often you are around Wi-Fi access points. Have Wi-Fi set up in your home? A Wi-Fi phone could be used like a cordless phone in your house. Even better, if you live in an urban area where WiFi access is ubiquitous, a Wi-Fi phone might be useful all over town. Travel a lot? Most hotels offer free Wi-Fi, meaning you can take your Wi-Fi phone on the road.
Limitations
One limitation is obvious: you can't use a Wi-Fi phone anywhere there isn't Wi-Fi. For this reason, such a phone can't replace a cell phone completely unless you don't mind not being able to use your phone away from civilization or in your car. Also, your call quality depends entirely on the quality of the Wi-Fi network you're connected to; connect to a weak network, and you'll experience low-quality calls.
SMS
If you use your cell phone just as much for texting as you do for voice calls, a Skype phone might not be for you. While Skype can send SMS messages, it cannot receive responses. If you have a Google voice account, you might be able to route around this if your Wi-Fi phone comes with a web browser, but this isn't exactly ideal for those addicted to texting.
iPhone
If you have an iPhone, that too can be used as a Wi-Fi phone. Just install the free Skype App, availible in the App Store on your iPhone, and you can make phone calls using Skype --- assuming, of course, that you have a Skype account. Because of Apple-imposed limitations, the Skype app can only make outgoing voice calls when connected to Wi-Fi; that is to say, you cannot use Skype over a 3G network.
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