I Feel The Need for VoIP Wireless Networking From Head To Toe

Do I have the VoIP and wireless spirit today! In fact, I am feeling that spirit, head to toe. Literally. Let me explain.

Today is one of those days that I wish that all - not just some- of my computing and communications devices were connected wirelessly. And a wireless network compliant SIP phone would have really saved the day.

To make a short story long, my scanner went out yesterday. The way in which my office is set up, tracing spaghetti-like cables under my desk is literallya task of getting down on my hands and knees and hoping that those gray cord and big black cables really lead to wherethey ought to be going.

When Iperformed this drillearlier, I accidentallyjarred my wired router loose. All of a sudden, I was cut off from my high-speed Internet connection.

After arising from underneath my desk, I placed too much weight onmy right foot.I had hurt my toe a couple of weeks ago, but it had been on the mend. But that was then, and this is now.

In pain as I write this, let me tell you that the word wireless sounds awful sweet right 'bout now.

Much has been written about the potential of integrating VoIP into wireless devices such as PDAs. Skype for Pocket PC Version 1.0 does just that, and is available now.If you want to see this application in action, check out this demonstration that Skype product manager Eileen Broch gave our own Rafe Needleman a couple of months ago.

And earlier this week, Corinex released what they said was the first VoIP video phone priced less than $100. Corinex Internet VideoPhone is a MPEG4 and SIP-based software-baseddevicecapable of carrying upto 30 frames per second video. Iteven has a320k pixel VGA CMOS sensor.

And that's not even a start to an energetic discussion of VoIP phone solutionsthat work with 30-33 foot range Bluetooth personal wireless networks. The first of these to hit the market was the NetCODEC VoB, which comes with its own station module as well as several cordless phones. The module can be plugged into a set-top box or a PC.

Now, back to nursing my toe.