CSR: VoIP Phones on a Shoestring

CSR (Cambridge Silicon Radio) want in on the IP Telephony boom. And how are they going to do that? By undercutting prices of course! CSR want to be the Walmart of VoIP, providing cheap but affordable VoIP phones for the residential market.

The company has released a reference design for a WiFi VoIP phone to be distributed to ODMs (Original Device Manufacturers) by the end of 2006, which it claims will cost under $20. CSR claim this represents a 50% saving compared to the cheapest design currently available, with the first phones rolling off the assembly line by the end of 2007.

The market for ‘cheap and cheerful’ VoIP phones is a growing one as ISPs start to get in on the convergence game. Many European ISPs now offer combined voice and data plans that have become extremely popular as broadband subscription costs drop. CSR will go after this market, aiming to get their design into the hands of these ISPs who may want to offer a free VoIP phone as an incentive to attract new customers.

This is good news for consumers in general. Market forces will drive costs down, making VoIP more attractive and inevitably more accessible for a wider cross-section of society. Not that I’ll be buying one of these ODM phones, such devices are usually cheap for a reason. But the average Joe who is only interested in cheap communication will lap it up.

[ Silicon ]