Vonage, the largest pure-play VoIP vendor in the country, has until now chiefly targeted consumers. But the V-Phone is geared toward the traveling business folks.
The phone is a USB device that plus into any laptop or PC for PC-to-PC or PC-to-traditional-phone VoIP calling. Users can choose from various flat-rate, full-featured calling plans, said the company, a subsidiary of Holmdel, New Jersey-based Vonage Holdings Corp.
The palm-sized device requires no set up and is preloaded with Vonage’s VoIP software, which updates itself on its 256MB flash drive. It comes with a standard 2.5-mm earpiece microphone, which Vonage said was compatible with many cell-phone headsets.
Users also can check their voicemail using the device from any computer and send voicemail attachments to an email account or BlackBerry.
Small business employees will benefit from the convenience of a virtual mobile office with the ability to make phone calls from PCs with high speed Internet access anywhere in the world, said a Vonage statement.
Phone call history and contacts also travel with the V-Phone if customers insert it into different PCs.
Pricing for business customers starts as $34.99 a month for unlimited calls within the US. The phone itself costs $39.99 with an additional $9.00 activation fee.
