Vonage announced its Vonage V-Phone, a portable and multifunctional USB device which allows anyone to carry around a matchbox-sized portable low-cost SIP phone which can be very easily connected and used with any PC connected to the Internet, without further installation procedures or setup.

The new Vonage V-Phone

By simply plugging the USB-based V-Phone into any laptop or PC with a high speed broadband internet connection customers can dial into making direct PC to PC calls as well as PC to phone calls at Vonage's inexpensive, flat-rate or full-featured calling plans.

The Vonage V-Phone does not require any setup. Vonage software is pre-installed on the USB V-Phone and updates itself automatically on the device's 256 MB flash drive. The V-phone comes with a standard 2.5 mm stereo earpiece microphone, which is compatible with many cell phone headsets.

V-Phone integrates full phone call history and contacts management which always travel with the USB-based V-Phone hardware anywhere it goes.

Here is business and online media expert John Blossom's own commentary on this new portable communication device:

The Portable Me II: Vonage Appliance Hints at the Power of Portable Media
by John Blossom

When I wrote my news analysis piece a few weeks back on the rising importance of portable storage media as content serving platforms, little did I think that such a neat example of this concept in action would surface so quickly.

CNET's piece on their new V-Phone USB appliance provides portable storage packaged as a communications solution. Plug the V-Phone into any Windows PC's USB port and you have a ready-to-go Vonage connection complete with mike and headset - no software loading required and a spare 256MB of storage for files or contact lists.

When wireless server connectivity gets small enough and cheap enough to fit into a "stick" appliance that can bypass USB ports as needed we're going to see these kinds of solutions bloom left and right - and along with them a new generation of mobile content services and solutions that will have cross-platform capabilities.

That's probably not too far off: already wireless file servers are about the size of a paperback book.

Keep your eyes open, there is more to come.

Video credit: The new Vonage V-Phone in an official press video clip - no audio - TheNewsMarket.com


In North America Vonage offers $14.99 for 500 minutes, $24.99 for residential unlimited and $34.99 for business unlimited. The V-Phone costs $39.99 with an additional $9.00 activation fee.

Minimum PC configurations include Microsoft 98 SE, Windows ME, Windows 2000 and Windows XP. The Vonage V-Phone is not currently compatible with Apple, Macintosh, or Linux Systems.