Give Them A Ring: Linksys, NetGear Target VoIP

SMB networking broadband telephony

As part of the announcements Tuesday, Linksys and NetGear both introduced the first products in a new line of VoIP offerings to be sold in conjunction with Vonage's Internet telephony services.

Linksys said it would make immediately available a new Linksys Phone Adapter with two Phone Ports (PAP2) for an estimated street price of $59. The Irvine, Calif.-based company said it would follow that up with a new Wireless"G Router with two phone ports (WRT54GP2), with pricing to be announced, and a wired Broadband Router with two phone ports (RT31P2), for $89.

For its part, NetGear, Santa Clara, Calif., said it plans to introduce in October a voice-enabled 802.11g wireless router, followed by a wired two-port telephone adapter/router.

Both NetGear products would incorporate the latest version of Texas Instruments' VoIP and Wireless LAN chipsets, which allow for the development of integrated broadband voice and data applications compatible with the Vonage service. Pricing and availability will be announced when the products are officially released, according to the company.

Marie Graziano, managing director of Red Phoenix Systems, a Carrollton, Texas, solution provider, said she is interested in evaluating the NetGear Vonage offering.

"It's an economic issue for us," she said. "My question is: Is the return on investment we are going to get worth the effort? Clearly, IP telephony is going to come, but is it ready for SMB rather than for the home?"

Graziano said she is not interested in selling equipment or services that can also be purchased at national retailers such as Best Buy because of the inevitable price pressure that comes when SMB customers compares prices.

Spokespersons from both Linksys and NetGear said the first round of new VoIP products are aimed at the consumer market and offices with just one or a handful of users. Plans, however, may include the rollout of products and programs for resellers.

Vonage, Edison, N.J., is primarily known as a provider of broadband-based VoIP service to consumers but also has offerings targeted at small businesses with fewer than 100 employees. The company has about 200,000 subscriber lines at the moment, and that is growing.

Research firm In-Stat/MDR is predicting an upswing in IP telephony customers in the United States. A recent report predicts that by the end of 2008, 10.3 percent of an estimated 59.1 million U.S. broadband users would use IP telephony, and from 2004 through 2008 more than 33 million VoIP-enabled broadband access devices would ship worldwide.