Vonage has announced their plans for CES and in the media advisory that went out today indicated that they’ll enable attendees to make free phone calls in 13 phone booths set up throughout the Las Vegas Convention Center (LVCC). Vonage is claiming the “distinction of being the first company to set up phone booths

at CES. The phone booths are co-sponsored by Texas Instruments Incorporated

(TI).”

If I recall Belkin and maybe Broadvoice did this exact type of promotional stunt at an Internet Telephony or VON conference some years in the past, but not with as many phone booths.

The more interesting point though hails from Vonage’s list of partner booths they will be swarming. It’s the lack of Linksys. Either it’s an oversight, an omission or maybe something has happened between the Irvine company and Vonage, which for months had been their leading ATA provider.

Could it be the new Linksys effort to market devices that enable VoIP more on their own? If I recall the SOHO/SMB product that Vonage in past briefings referred to was very much like the Linksys announced effort. Vonage had said that through VARs a similar, if not identical product would be their market entry vehicle via VARs? So that begs the question of the relationship has soured to the point of where Vonage and Linksys are no longer pals? CES tends to be the show where new happens in consumer electronics, and certainly when it comes to consumer tech products like TA’s and such, Linksys has been a formidable presence the last few years. It makes one wonder, doesn’t it.

At the time of posting neither Vonage or Linksys press representative were available for comment.