Yahoo!, Linksys team on easy cordless VoIP

Yahoo! and Linksys this morning introduced a new dual-mode cordless phone system that enables consumers to use Yahoo! Messenger Voice over IP service more easily and without being tied to a PC.

The Linksys Dual-Mode Cordless Phone for Yahoo! Messenger with Voice (CIT310) combines VoIP and regular telephony and allows subscribers to Yahoo! Messenger’s Phone Out service to choose between VoIP and traditional telephony when making phone calls. Users can use a display screen in the cordless phone to choose names from a Yahoo! Messenger Contact List for VoIP calls or, with a single button, convert a call to traditional telephony.

Yahoo! Messenger’s Local Search and Weather Search are built into the new phone system, allowing subscribers to program a zipcode into the phone and search for local businesses or for weather information, based on location. The color display also reflects presence status for the Yahoo! Messenger Contact List.

“They can search for a specific type of business and then automatically place a call to that business,” a Yahoo! Spokeswoman said.

The new phone system is intended to make it easier for consumers to use VoIP within the home and not be tethered to a PC. It comes with a USB base station that plugs into a USB port on a PC and also into a telephone line. The cordless handset can then be used in any room of a home. One base station can support up to six cordless handsets, based on Digital Enhanced Cordless Telecommunications (DECT).

The system includes traditional telephony features such as Caller ID, call waiting and last number redial for both types of calls. Using Yahoo! Messenger, PC to PC calls are free.

Other industry players including Vonage and Packet 8 have been offering VoIP with cordless phones for the home.