TMCnet News
CompUSA and Fry's Retail Vonage/Uniden VoIP PhoneTMCnet VoIP Minute Watch Columnist
VoIP service provider Vonage announced on Tuesday that it teamed up with wireless electronics manufacturer Uniden America Corporation to retail the Uniden UIP1869V, a 5.8GHz digital expandable cordless broadband phone system configured with Vonage's phone service. The device phone is now available in CompUSA and Fry's Electronics.
The Uniden UIP1869V bundles Texas Instruments' (TI) TNETV1060 VoIP chipset, enabling consumers to carry out conversations though applications compatible with the Vonage service. It has a retail price of $189.99 and offers a $50 mail-in rebate to consumers after sixty days of service. "Vonage is pleased to offer its customers Uniden's broadband enabled cordless phone system, as the company always seeks to offer a variety of hardware choices for its innovative flat-rate, full-featured calling plans," stated Matthew Deatrick, senior vice president of sales for Vonage Marketing. "Vonage's service, coupled with the simplicity, great design and retail strength of Uniden's phone system, makes this a strong alliance for two companies who share the same customer service vision of quality and ease of use."
The UIP1869V phone base integrates routing features, eliminating the need to purchase a separate router to establish the broadband connection with a PC. The UIP1869V, configured with Vonage service, offers a corded phone and a speakerphone at the base station and includes one accessory handset. The expandable UIP1869V can support up to 10 Uniden 5.8GHz cordless handsets without the need for additional broadband connections. The UIP1869V plugs directly into a customer's broadband connection or existing router, eliminating the need for a stand-alone adapter and telephone. The phone base works with Vonage's Click-2-Call features, which support Outlook's phonebook downloading.
"Uniden is proud to announce the first retail agreement for the UIP1869V, enabled with Vonage's feature-rich service, and to continue the company's dedication to offering cutting-edge VoIP solutions to consumers," said Brett Morrison, national sales manager in charge of IP products and business communications at Uniden America Corporation. "The national retail distribution of the UIP1869V will allow consumers to experience this industry-leading product and take a first-hand look at the ease-of-use offered by the Uniden/Vonage solution."
Additional Uniden handsets, including the ELX500, TCX400, TCX440 and TCX805, are also compatible with the UIP1869V. All of these accessory handsets offer handset speakerphones and feature DirectLink 2-way radio communication mode. The ELX500 and the TCX440 feature full color LCD displays.
Vonage made news last month when it announced that that it was offering a $100 mail-in-rebate on certified devices sold in over 9,000 retail locations within the U.S. The promotion will run from January 1st to February 4th, 2006. Only customers purchasing Vonage devices from manufacturers such as Linksys, Motorola, Uniden and VTech will be eligible to receive the rebate. Their service must be activated within 15 days of purchase and maintained for at least 60 days in order to receive a $100 check from Vonage. Customers will receive rebate forms from Vonage-authorized retailers including but not limited to: Best Buy, Circuit City, CompUSA, Fry's Electronics, Staples and RadioShack. Further information about the offer is available online.
Vonage Holdings Corporation
Uniden America Corporation
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Johanne Torres is contributing editor for TMCnet and Internet Telephony magazine. To see more articles by Johanne Torres, please visit Johanne Torres' columnist page
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