How do you make it as easy as possible to make Skype calls over a wifi phone? Well, Skype, SMC and Fon have put together one pack that contains everything needed to get going for £99 / €139 / $159.99:

• SMC's WSKP100 Wifi Skype phone
• FON's dinky 'Fonera' wifi router
• 500 minutes of SkypeOut talk time
• 12 months of Skype voicemail

It's a neat package to be sure, and obviously timed very much with Christmas in mind.

The phone

I've already had a good look at the SMC phone, and it really does provide a simple and effective way to make calls on your wifi network. As I mentioned in my review, it can be used on any wifi network that doesn't require web sign-in, and will remember security codes and details for networks so that you only have to enter the details once. A deal with Wifi hotspot provider The Cloud means that the SMC phone can also be used with their pretty extensive network of European hotspots.

The router

The 'La Fonera' router is a similar curvy white design to the phone, and is designed so that you can have two separate channels for security: one for your secure home network, and one non-secure network for the use of your fellow 'Foneros'.

"What's a 'fonero'?", I hear you ask. The idea behind Fon is simple: by agreeing to share your Wifi connection with fellow Fon users (foneros), you in turn get access to all other user's wifi connections around the world. In effect you get membership of an international network of free to use wifi hotspots. Cleverly, there's also the option for users to rent out their wifi signals and receive 50% of the revenue back from Fon (non-Fon community members are charged €3/$3 a day to use Foneros' connections). It's so simple that I'm furious that I didn't come up with it first. 

Conclusion

The Fonera router doesn't contain a broadband modem, but I guess the theory here is that pretty much all broadband providers will chuck in a broadband modem when you sign up, so there's little point in duplicating and adding unneccessary cost. All in all, if you added up the sum of the parts it would cost a lot more to get all of this kit separately, so it really is a neat deal for anyone looking for a hassle-free way to move their home calls over to Skype. Hopefully this will also give some good publicity to the Fon concept as well, so that I can have even more Wifi hotspots to use while I'm gallavanting around Europe...Foneros of the world unite!

For more reviews of the SMC phone, check out Amperor's thorough overview (including photo of Starbucks employee holding the phone! ), as well as Trustedreviews words of wisdom, and the short review at Hardware Zone.

Also, check out this great video from Gizmodo, showing the SMC phone in action and discussing some of its features. It's in German, but even for non-German speakers you can see how the phone works in much more detail.