[hfrisch]

I also use the F1000 which works well in a lot of places. I also carry a Netgear travel AP for where there is LAN access but no WiFi.

As far as VoIP on a PDA - it is OK for outgoing calls if you keep your battery charged, but does not do well for incoming. Most of the PDAs are designed for the WiFi section to shut off when not in use - or to wake up, poll for e-mail, and shut off again - every 10 minutes or so. That works OK for incoming e-mail but is not so good for incoming ringing phone calls. If you try to keep a PDA connected to WiFi all the time, you'll either need to kep the charger plugged in or the battery will last only a few hours.

[alexdds]

the problem with Wifi phones is that if you are at a third party wifi hotspot you may have to pay for access. If you spend the whole day at starbucks that might be fine but if you are roaming around and paying everyone access just so that you can make and receive calls it get very expensive and defeats the whole point. You might as well use a cell phone with calling card.
What I'd really like to do is use the wifi card of a laptop to connect to an unsecured Wifi access point - in other words create a bridge such that a sipura box can be plugged into the laptop's LAN port via cross over cable so that you can connect regular phone or phones and have a mobile PBX system. I realize a soft phone can be used to make a basic call but how about a regular phone as I described????
Problem I've encountered is setting up a wifi bridge without having admin access to the 3rd party router.
Maybe a windows 2000 or 2003 server can be used on the laptop and NAT enabled??? I haven't tried this since I do not want to mess around with my laptop.

[PhoneBoy]

The Linksys WIP330 has a built-in web browser so you can authenticate to the pay access points directly from the phone itself.

[hfrisch]

With the browser, you CAN authenticate, but the question is would you want to? Many of the pay access points charge $10 for "visiting" access - which defeats a lot of the point of having low cost VoIP.

With the WiFi phones, you can also connect to true open access points - common in independent coffee shops (Starbucks sold out to T-Mobile and charges for access).

[Fictia]

I've had great success using Skype while driving, using my laptop and Verizon's EVDO. It's $80/mo unlimited. Since I have my laptop always "on me" (and turned on 24hrs a day for one year already), I'm very close to giving up on a real cell phone totally. Bluetooth 2.0 should offer enough convenience. And now Skype gives you unlimited SkypeOut domestic calls till the end of the year too...

I don't give a crap if someone calls me and the laptop is offline or whatever. I pickup the voicemail within an hour or two even if I'm on the beach, and call them back. In case of an emergency, dial 911 Oh yeah, even dead phones (no service plan) dial 911. Or I may get a prepaid phone or jump on someone's family plan for $10-$15/mo for rare usage.

[ben77]

Get Sprint with Sprin to Home or if in your area Altell, then see this post.


http://voxilla.com/PNphpBB2-viewtopic-t-6886.html

It works!