In my research work, I am currently studying networking technologies. Part of the fun comes from getting to play with fun little networking boxes. Robert Cringely points out another fun little box in his column on do it yourself telephone systems. He is right on: the combination of cheap, low power hardware, Linux, Wi-Fi and VoIP has huge potential as a disruptive technology. I am not so convinced about his argument that VoIP companies should try deploying their networks based on this model, but there is huge potential for deploying phone service at an incredibly low cost in remote or poor areas of the world. I guess I had better start working harder on solving some of the problems to make this happen.