14 DAY TRIAL // Skype, SMC and FON announced a new phone for the popular VoIP service, that allows users to make Internet calls from any WiFi hotspot. The SMC WiFi phone for Skype is bundled with FON's wireless router "La Fonera", 500 minutes of SkypeOut credit and Skype Voicemail for a year.
While calls between Skype users are free, the 500 SkypeOut minutes can be used to make cheap calls to regular telephones. Users who purchase a SkypeIn number are reachable from any phone in the world.
"The arrival of WiFi phones has helped liberate Skype users from the PC and made Internet calling truly mobile," said Stefan Oberg, Skype's General Manager, Hardware. "But never before have all the necessary ingredients been combined in one package at such an attractive price. This partnership delivers a ready-to-use system, leaving more time for conversations with family, friends and colleagues everywhere."
SMC's Wi-Fi Phone for Skype can be used at any open wireless access point. FON is offering the La Fonera WiFi router, so that users can share some of their bandwidth at home and get free access to the global community of FON Access Points in exchange. FON has tens of thousands of access points where the SMC Skype Wi-Fi Phone can be used.
"Our goal at FON is to build a global WiFi community so that consumers can benefit from the fantastic capabilities and services that ubiquitous WiFi has to offer," said FON founder and CEO Martin Varsavsky. "The combination of Skype, SMC's Wi-Fi phone and FON is a huge leap forward towards this new realm of WiFi everywhere."
The Skype bundle is exclusively available in U.S. and Europe for $159.99.