by Anton Shilov
08/02/2006 | 10:02 PM
Accton Techology, a contract maker of telecommunication equipment, is reportedly planning to begin volume shipments of three out of four announced Skype Wi-Fi phones in August. Meanwhile, Netgear company and its outsourcing partner are reportedly trying to resolve certain technology issues.
<%BANNER[article]%>Taiwan-based Accton Technology is expected to begin volume shipments of its Skype-enabled Wi-Fi phones to Edge-Core and SMC Networks, as well as U.S.-based Belkin in August, DigiTimes web-site reports. The first consignment is to total around tens of thousand units, the news-story states.
Skype Wi-Fi phone by Netgear, which is currently the only one that Skype advertises on its web-site, reportedly contains technology problems and will be available only by the end of the year.
The Skype Wi-Fi phones are built to connect to Skype via any personal, business or free public Wi-Fi access point that does not require browser authentication. The phones are claimed to be easy to set-up and use with automatic synchronization to a Skype account and contacts. The devices support common WiFi encryption protocols including WEP, WPA, and WPA2 with PSK support.
Skype said that during the third quarter of the year, it plans to offer Skype Wi-Fi phones from Belkin (F1PP000GN-SK), Edge-Core (WM4201), Netgear (SPH101) and SMC (WSKP100) via its online store. The company did not specify the pricing of the devices, but, according to its web-site, the Netgear phone for Skype costs €210 ($266). Usually Skype phones (with USB connectivity) cost from around €20 ($25) to around €85 ($107).