Panasonic debuts carrier-less VoIP phone

Here's another reason you need to pay attention to CES. This week, Panasonic unveiled its Globarange dual-mode cordless/VoIP phones. The phones operate on the 5.8GHz band, and up to eight can hub off a single base station. But what's remarkable about them is that the base station has an Ethernet port that plugs into a broadband connection. When activated, the phone can place a VoIP call to any other Globarange phone anywhere in the world for free. No Skype, no Gizmo, no Asterisk, no PC, no nothing. I haven't gotten my hands on one, so I don't understand how simple it is to use or what the underlying technologies are--but I'm sure SIP has to come into play somehow. But a phone from a global company that doesn't need a carrier or termination is something you ought to know about.

For more information about Panasonic's Globarange:
- read this press release from Panasonic