Vonage, Netgear Team Up For VoIP Solutions

Vonage and Netgear are teaming up to develop a suite of broadband telephony products for Voice over IP (VoIP) services with wireless routers and a new broadband adapter.

Vonage today announced it is teaming with Netgear, Inc. to develop a suite of broadband telephony devices. These devices will incorporate the latest version of Texas Instruments’ Voice over IP (VoIP) and Wireless LAN (WLAN) chipsets, enabling consumers to benefit from integrated broadband voice and data applications compatible with the Vonage service. First available will be a voice-enabled 802.11g wireless router followed by a wired two-port telephone adapter/router. These products are expected to be available to customers of Vonage’s innovative digital telephone service as early as October of this year in time for the Holiday season.

Today’s announcement means that Vonage customers have the option to free themselves of Ethernet cables for the flexibility and mobility of a wireless home network from Netgear, a brand trusted for its innovative home networking solutions. Customers can take advantage of the wireless option for both voice services and data networking with these Netgear phone adapters and routers. Customers of Vonage service place and receive calls on their existing telephone, with their existing telephone number, through a fast Internet connection enabling voice service concurrent with normal Web surfing.

“Netgear’s routers – in fact, all their products – are well-known for their high performance and reliability,” said Jeffrey A. Citron, chairman and CEO for Vonage. “But just as important is the fact that Netgear’s devices are easy to use. We want to offer our customers the convenience of purchasing a wired or wireless router bundled with the Vonage service at an attractive price. We’re very pleased to work with a company that shares our emphasis on customer convenience and ease-of-use.”

“Like Netgear, Vonage is a pioneer within its industry, and the Vonage service demonstrates a unique application for our networking products,” said Patrick Lo, Netgear’s chairman and chief executive officer of Netgear. “Vonage has been offering our traditional wired routers to their customers for more than a year. So, we’re extremely gratified that they have now chosen Netgear to provide them with a solution integrating two of the fastest growing technology areas, wireless and Voice over IP, into a single device.”