Orange To Offer Wi-Fi VoIP Mobiles
The UK division of FranceTelecom’s Orange is leading the way launching a mobile handset that canuse your wireless home network to make calls when your their and thenswitches to the standard Orange network when you are away from home.
The service will offer a single phone number single bill solution for mobile and VoIP network services.
Althoughthe service is to be offered in the UK, France, the Netherlands, Spainand Poland, the UK will be the first to get the service.
Connecting to the Orange Livebox network via the Internet at home, theservice is able to seamlessly hand over to the mobile network while youare on a call says the company.
The VoIP service bundle includes unlimited calls to landlines andOrange mobiles, although the company says that each market willtailor its proposition to meet the specific needs of customers in thatterritory.
Furthermore, a call initiated at home remains covered by theunlimited offer even when you leave your home. A symbol on the phone’sscreen constantly informs customers of the network they are connectedto, Orange said in a statement about the new deal.
UK customers can pre-registerfor the service now by visiting
www.orange.co.uk/uniquephone, but thefirst units won’t arrive until November. Initially, there are three handsetsto choose from - the Motorola A910, Nokia 6136 and the Samsung P200 -with more due to launch in 2007.
Didier Lombard, President andDirector General of the France Tйlйcom group, said: “The commerciallaunch of Unique phone announces the advent of a new generation oftelephones.
“Today, people use the phone in a different way. Withbroadband, the use of Internet, mobiles, Voice over IP, and highdefinition technologies for sound and vision, our communication habitsare changing very rapidly.
“This is the first real convergenceoffer, dreamed up, developed and commercialised by the group under theOrange brand, and the result of the work of our Technocentre.”
Each home can have up to six Unique phones registered for the service but only three VoIP users at a time.
According to other reports the two phone plans that are being offered are theCanary 50 and the Panther 65, which cost Ј50 and Ј65 respectively, andyield 600 and 1200 minutes a month respectively. Broadband connectionis free.