Wi Fi phones present enormous challenges

THE EXISTENCE of dedicated WiFi handsets and dual WiFi/cellular phones is representing a serious challenge for the mobile network operators.

As previously reported here, Skype is planning to introduce four phones that will enable people to place calls over its proprietary system without needing a PC.

In the USA, the ISP - Earthlink - is planning to sell WiFi phones for $50 to $100, then charge roughly $25 a month for unlimited calling.

Initially, the service will work only with hotspots where Internet access is provided by EarthLink, either in homes or on its citywide networks.

Obviously these guys have never heard of Rabbit - a UK mobile phone company which offered a very restricted service and never got anywhere.

The one company for which dual WiFi and cellular handset make a lot of sense is, of course, T-Mobile USA.

The company already operates a national hot spot network which is available from over 7,000 Starbucks locations. The company anticipates that moving mobile phone traffic off its cellular network will allow it to offer cheaper service than rivals.

It will also enable T-Mobile to offer so-called 'converged' services which will mean it can take customers from existing 'fixed' telephony suppliers like the baby Bells.

Nokia favours a technology known as UMA (Unlicensed Mobile Access) for swapping between WiFi and cellular. Hence it is behind a two month UMA trial in Oulu, Finland using Nokia 6136 handsets.

In theory, Britain's BT is way ahead of Finland. It already sells a UMA system called Fusion. It's just that BT's version uses Bluetooth not WiFi. But it is technically UMA, though.

The danger with dual mode operation is one of voice quality. As one industry observer pointed out. What happens when a subscriber gets a poor quality connexion?

Will that person realise that it's just a bad Internet link? Or will they associate lousy voice calls with that particular mobile operator? µ

L'INQ
New York Times

See Also
Nokia goes VoIP crazy