Technofile: An almighty squabble is about to break out over your phone. On the one hand are the landline and internet companies, on the other the mobile networks. Who will win?

Once you would dial a phone and a fridge-sized switch would click into life, and make a direct connection between two phones. Today the new vogue is "Voice over Internet Protocol", or VoIP.

Meanwhile, over at those upstart telecos, the mobile networks, the battle is to try to lure customers away from the landline.

So far the mobile side is winning. Having built their networks, the cost of calls and texts is relatively inexpensive for the operators - their main concern now is to get you to use more of it. And we do.

So the next goal of the networks is to get us to access the internet and download full music tracks. Nokia and Ericsson unveiled new handsets to do just this, this week.

Nokia's pitch was ease of use and the ability for owners to create their own content.

The line-up includes a 3G phone and another three high-end camera phones.

The Nokia 6280 is a new sliding 3G mobile equipped with both a 2-megapixel camera phone and a VGA camera designed for video streaming and two-way video calls. The 6270 features a 2-megapixel camera with flash as well as music player. The 6111 is a small sliding phone with a one megapixel camera.

Chief technology officer Pertti Korhonen said the emphasis for Nokia from here on is to allow their customers to create content, like "blogging, without a PC".

At the same time, Sony Ericsson unveiled five new mobile devices, including its first Walkman brand mobile. The W600 features an FM tuner, a rotating display, Bluetooth and 256Mb of memory, alongside MP3 and AAC playback capabilities.

However, the landline companies have started a fight-back.

BT has launched what it says is the world's first phone capable of making calls both at home and outside as a normal mobile.

The new BT Fusion works like a mobile phone mainly because it is a mobile.

It's a Motorola V560. BT has signed a deal with Vodafone to route its calls over the network in a "virtual operator" deal.

The trick has been to employ the Bluetooth short-range wireless facility. This allows the handset to communicate with a BT Hub at home. The calls are routed not over a normal landline but - you guessed it - a broadband internet line using VoIP.

At home, the calls cost normal landline rates. As a mobile, calls are comparable with average mobile charges. So why launch this half-breed phone?

BT did some research which found that plenty of people use their mobile at home because the numbers are conveniently stored in the handset. But reception inside a house can be patchy. The answer was to employ Bluetooth,providing a cheaper call that shouldn't cut out.

The BT hub also works as a Wi-Fi router, allowing the user to connect up PCs, laptops, games consoles and printers wirelessly.

The offensive against the mobile networks is starting off slowly. Most observers think the BT Fusion will appeal to a small market. It is also starting small - with just 400 customers. Unfortunately it won't be available in Ireland until BT can find a network operator willing to allow it to piggyback on its network.

In the meantime, watch the internet providers come out with home call packages as the landline "empires" strike back.