Wifi phones

In The Little Engine That Could, Robert Cringely talks about the Linksys WRT54G, a wireless Linux based router for US$70 as "disruptive technology" because it can be used to run a micro-business of wireless ISP and provide a cheap voice-over-IP alternative to mobile phones. All you do is add some free Open Source software to the linux router. Is Linux, is reconfigurable. Matthew was talking to me about doing exactly this just a few months ago. The Wonder Shaper sotware lets the box do smooth phone calls to wireless IP receivers. So all you need to run a franchise is one of these wireless routers, an ADSL modem and unlimited ISP account. Plug it in, set up the software. Cringely even has the business plan for minimum effort and a lazy US$93.75 per month. If you actually put any work into it you would earn more of course. Cringely suggests that very few people getting together with such a project would be serious competition for the mobile phone service providers. However how available are 802.11g wireless receivers? Obviously all laptops will be potential customers, especially with all the Centrino ads on TV, but what about existing mobile phones and PDAs? According toNews.com.au Motorola and others will release such phones late in 2004. So until the wifi phones come out, the market is limited to laptops, but once they are available, this will really take off. PDA phones with P2P Itune sharing and free voice calls and GPS-equivalent, etc, etc.... No more $1 per minute nonsense! Matthew, you were right.