I finally got my hands on a WiFi voice-over-IP telephone handset yesterday. In this case, the handset is an UTStarcom F1000, supplied by Vonage.

To get it working with the WiFi in our office I first needed to configure the handset with details of the WiFi access point (AP) near my desk. However, the person running the AP set up the WEP key using an ASCII string, which is a phrase like "Mary had a little lamb". Unfortunately the F1000 wants me to input the WEP key as a hexadecimal number. Most devices allow you to enter WEP keys either as a hex number of as a string of text, but you often need to look at the product's manual to find out how to do so. Unfortunately I got the phone from a pal, so it came without a manual. Worse still, the manual doesn't seem to be available for download, as nothing happened when clicked on the link to download it from the Vonage site.

Something else that looks like it could be a problem is that the phone holds information about only four WiFi access points (APs). Now I have an AP at home and one in the office. I also use one AP setting so the phone can work with any of Vonage's service provider partners, such as The Cloud, which recently launched its WiFi service for the City of London. The Cloud settings mean the phone will also work in Coffee Republic shops and a range of other locations, so it’s a good setting to keep in the phone. So I already have three APs in my phone, and I reckon I'm much like anyone else that would consider buying such a phone in that respect. Obviously I have one other setting available, but I'm not sure it will be enough. Watch out for the full review in IT Week in due course.

11 Aug 2006