BoB: The broadband in a box home hub from iiNet

With Naked DSL being the current buzzword in the broadband sphere, iiNet is pulling it into focus with products that could well and truly signal the end of the traditional telephone. We've all seen the ads on the telly with the friendly Irish fellow, and they sell the naked DSL concept well, but paramount to iiNet's drive to establish one telecommunications home hub is something truly innovative - and his name is BoB.

BoB: The broadband home hub

BoB, which stands for "broadband-in-a-box", has been dubbed "the hub of all your household communications" by iiNet - it’s easy to see why. BoB promises to do everything for you – plug it in and not only does it set up by itself but also updates automatically.

BoB comes with its own sleek remote handsets (up to five can be supported by one BoB hub), however BoB is also compatible with your current Digital Enhanced Cordless Telecommunications (DECT) phones – the teccy way of saying "your old cordless handsets". DECT is the standard for cordless home phones, and BoB only supports this type of handset, so check that your handset is DECT enabled before investing if you want to hold onto it.

Not only is BoB "broadband-in-a-box", it's also a monthly bill in a box, with all Internet, local calls and national calls included in the one monthly bill. That's a definite plus to help you monitor your overall call and data usage.

Modem, phone & broadband connection in one

Even with just the basic Internet and phone calls mash up BoB is a super useful unit, however it is also highly functional, allowing you to keep your home phone number.

If you’re not impressed yet, then BoB really starts to show off, with USB ports included (for charging your iPod, Blackberry or other USB-chargeable gadget) and a whopping 300Mbps wireless Internet speed within a 100m radius from the BoB hub. This is an extremely respectable statistic, with BoB boasting up to twice the wireless range of many standard home modems. Oh, and it looks pretty fancy to boot – surely a sign of things to come in the home communications hub market.

Besides being probably one of the standout "cool" technological gizmos of 2009, BoB is convincingly a practical blueprint for the way forward.

View iiNet Naked DSL plans