| WiFi Phones
What is a WiFi Phone?
WiFi Phone is a pocket-sized, wireless internet phone which allows one to make and receive phone calls using any of the nearby WiFi networks, such as wireless home routers or public hotspots (hotspots are designated areas in public places and cafes where people can use a WiFi phone). One can use the WiFi phone up to the100 meter range of the particular hotspot area. As long as you are within the hotspot range, you will stay connected.
How do WiFi phones work?
WiFi phones are similar to ordinary cell phones in several aspects â from user interface to its working. WiFi phone has a PCB which connects a processor, a numeric keypad and other function keys, a speaker and microphone, a LCD screen, memory, and an antenna.
Similar to cell phones, WiFi Phones sends and receives signals as radio waves, but at a different frequency - 802.11b or 802.11g standards - transmitted at 2.4 GHz. When a user makes a call on a WiFi phone, the phone translates the dialed number or the VoIP address (if you are calling another VoIP user) into packets of data and transmits it to a wireless receiver with the help of radio waves. The receiver sends the information over the web to the call processor. When the user starts the conversation, the WiFi phone transmits the userâs voice in packets of data as well. This way the userâs voice travels over the internet to the receiverâs phone.
Pros and Cons of WiFi Phones
WiFi phone comes with all the features of a traditional phone. With conventional mobile phones, you can make calls, receive voicemail, send and receive SMS, and access the Internet (with some limitation). While WiFi phone offers something more; WiFi phone also offers greater data retrieval capacity and wider internet access. Further, WiFi technology is also seen in todayâs laptops. With WiFi technology telephone lines are not required to connect to the World Wide Web.
On the negative side, with WiFi phones one cannot roam between hotspots with their WiFi phones and receive WiFi calls. Another problem is that a lot of WiFi phones have been found to shut off the WiFi connection when not is use to save energy and thereby missing some important phone calls. However, as the technology advances and when more and more hotspots were installed across the globe, all these problems will be ironed out.
WiFi technology is still a relatively new phenomenon and it will take some more time to become widely accepted. Currently, WiFi phone has been installed at several offices, airports, hospitals, internet cafes, hotels, and coffee shops. With the current trend and wide acceptance WiFi phones gets, experts predict the number of access points and hotspots are bound to increase around the globe within the next few years. As the benefits of the WiFi phone are becoming more apparent, majority of the people are expected to make use of the technology by replacing their conventional cell phones.
The potential cost benefits of WiFi phones are simply immense, given the fact that the hotspots are free to use and an average Americanâs cell phone usage normally exceeds $50 per month. The ball has been already set to roll, and as it appears now, it won't take long before WiFi phones revolutionize the way one pay for and use phones in the near future. | 
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