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Motorola Plans Wi-Fi Cell Phones

Otto writes "This AP article over at CNN talks about Motorola's plans to create a cell phone that can seemlessly switch calls between cell networks and VoIP over WiFi, when it sees WiFi available to it. Thus reducing on call costs. Personally, I think it'd be cool just to have a cell phone that could use my own WiFi at home and be cellular when I'm out in the rest of the world."

195 comments

  1. Security? by blackula · · Score: 5, Interesting

    How long would it take for someone to write a Windows program that made it as easy as executing it to listen in on people's conversations over Wi-Fi? Lots of public hot spots don't use WEP, you know.

    1. Re:Security? by LostCluster · · Score: 2, Interesting

      I'd assume the conversation would be encrypted at the cell provider only to be decrypted by the phone itself.

      In order for such a seamless-changeover call to be even possible, it'd have to from the start be passing through the cell provider on the way to the VoIP last mile while it's being used...

    2. Re:Security? by gl4ss · · Score: 1

      for _really_ seamless operation they'd need the cellular providers co-operation.. or become one themself.

      With the call pricing around here I don't see much point in this unless one has to call hours per day.

      --
      world was created 5 seconds before this post as it is.
    3. Re:Security? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Never say or do or archive anything you wouldn't want to explain to a judge. Be paranoid. Assume everyone is out to get you. If you do this, you don't need encryption.

    4. Re:Security? by JediTrainer · · Score: 1

      About the same amount of time it takes for me to change channels on my cordless phone at home until I can hear my neighbour's conversations.

      Analog phones (generally) don't use encryption either.

      --

      You can accomplish anything you set your mind to. The impossible just takes a little longer.
    5. Re:Security? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Hopefully the cell phones will be using their own encryption, something much harder to crack than WEP.

    6. Re:Security? by Napoleon+Blownapart · · Score: 1

      What makes you think GSM phones are secure ?!

      The GSM protocol was designed for quality of voice, not security

      There is already hardware available that allows you to remotely :

      1-Listen to a person's calls. All you need is their mobile number.
      2-Read all their text messages - likewise.
      3-Make a phone call and appear to BE them on the GSM network

      etc.

  2. Wonderful! by Phidoux · · Score: 5, Funny

    Now cell phones will be wireless too!

    1. Re:Wonderful! by burns210 · · Score: 1

      can i get mine with wireless firewire, please?

    2. Re:Wonderful! by ALeader71 · · Score: 1

      I know this is obivous, but cell phones are already sans wires.

      --
      Only the dead have seen the end of War. - Plato
    3. Re:Wonderful! by ericspinder · · Score: 1
      It's funny because it's trivial. VoIP's appeal is "cheap calls". My unlimited domestic long distance is included with my local service (for about $14 more than the "old" local service[including fees]), so my cost savings vs VoIP whould be minimal. I suppose, if you make a lot of international calls there would be a real savings (at least for now), but you don't need a more expensive cell phone to use it. The long and the short of it is "if you are tying to save money using VoIP, why whould you spend the extra money just for something cool"

      It might be useful to use it to access your home the internet connection while "on the can" (and avoid expensive per meg transfers on current wireless internet plans), or perhaps even use it as a temporary hub for your IEE 802 b or g devices (and use those expensive wireless internet plans), but even then the appeal would be limited.

      --
      The grass is only greener, if you don't take care of your own lawn.
    4. Re:Wonderful! by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      What do you mean by "on the can"? Do you mean while sitting on a toilet bowl taking a shit? If so, why would you need internet while doing that, can't you take a 2 min. break away from a computer once in a while.

    5. Re:Wonderful! by ericspinder · · Score: 1
      What do you read when you are on the toilet? Or does reading distract you from your "purpose", a maximum time of two minutes to make "number 2" is pretty damn impressive. I (like many men) take longer, maybe 5 to 10 minutes, not too long, but still long enough that I get bored. I used to take the newspaper to the can sometimes, now I get all my news from the internet. In the bathroom I have a small collection of "short read subjects" , expecially good are the collections of daily comics. "Bloom County", and "the Far Side" are too of my favorites. However, you can only read the old books so many times, I've taken a laptop in the can maybe twice, but it's too big, a phone or a PDA would be more appropiate.

      [waiting for relpy with a reference to a Sienfeld show....]

      --
      The grass is only greener, if you don't take care of your own lawn.
  3. Where are they? by platypussrex · · Score: 5, Insightful

    The article talks about all these low cost WiFi hotspots. We have a local college where you must be a student or faculty, a Borders where you can pay T-Mobile $30 a month, and that's about it. Or maybe they are talking about crusing the neighbourhood looking for unsecured home wireless connections? Hmmmmm!

    1. Re:Where are they? by homer_ca · · Score: 4, Informative

      It's actually not that hard to find a T-mobile hotspot. There's a Starbucks practically on every block. The cost savings argument doesn't make sense though. $30 a month is only $5 less than my cell phone plan. Also, you'll still need a paid VoIP account (about $20 a month) to call regular phones, otherwise you'll only be able to call other IP phones.
      Free hotspots are harder to find. In my neighborhood there's one at the food court at the mall and another one at a fast food restaurant. Plenty of unsecured wireless APs on my street too, but the CF Wifi card on my PDA is too weak to connect to them.

    2. Re:Where are they? by LostCluster · · Score: 1

      Well, the point would be that since T-Mobile controls most of the bookstore WiFi systems, phones that would use T-Mobile for celluar mode could make use of the bookstore WiFi points. I know that my T-Mobile's cell phone signal gets weak inside my local Barnes and Noble store, and if T-Mobile's already there why don't they do something about eliminating that dead spot...

    3. Re:Where are they? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1, Interesting

      I have a WiFi router in my appartment, and if this goes mainstream I will open it to the neighborhood, simply because I do not use it so much that I would suffer of sharing it. And I would pay for my DSL anyway, shared or not.

    4. Re:Where are they? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      There's a Starbucks practically on every block.

      Maybe for the poor sods who live in anything considered a "major city". What about the other 75% of the US population, myself included??

    5. Re:Where are they? by Morgahastu · · Score: 1

      It's to use at home or work.

    6. Re:Where are they? by Paulrothrock · · Score: 1

      A Starbucks on every block?!? Harrisburg, PA just got their very first Starbucks. It's like Borneo over here, I swear.

      --
      I'm in the hole of the broadband donut.
    7. Re:Where are they? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Sprint's ION package back in 2000 was moving towards this WIFI idea. It's old news to any Sprint employee, but it would be nice when someone actually completes it.

    8. Re:Where are they? by F34nor · · Score: 1

      Mine is wipe open, not goatse.cx wide but pretty wide. I just keep a firewall between my unsecured router and my PC. Works well. I have never even had someone use my connection that I know of. I also live in and older stuffy neighborhood.

      Serioulsy with this phone if everone who had DSL or Cabel Modems got a WiFi and opned it up we could all have free cell phone service. Mhhhhh good.

    9. Re:Where are they? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Austin is covered, plastered all over with free wireless. I didn't realize how lucky I was until very recently.

    10. Re:Where are they? by himself · · Score: 1

      homer_ca averred:
      >
      > It's actually not that hard to find a T-mobile hotspot.
      > There's a Starbucks practically on every block.
      >
      And so I used to think, until I started working in Providence, RI. The third Charbuck's in town just opened. I wonder if there aren't other cities that also lack those chains which are assumed by folks in The Big Cities to be ubiquitous.
      We had an NBC show named after us, there was a great show trial a couple of years ago (the mayor, Buddy Cianci) which you may have heard about, and we have gondolas on the downtown waterfront [which I hear have been rehabed since those teenagers set 'em on fire last year] -- but only three franchise coffee shops (and eleventy-zillion donut places that sell coffee which smells better than it tastes).
      There's a nifty art-freak hangout here called AS220 that offers free web browsing on a Linux box but for-pay wireless while you smoke & sip coffee & pose; there's a lame coffee place called Brewed Awakenings which makes good joe but charges an arm and a leg to use their wireless; and I doubt that the otherwise-outstanding White Electric Coffee offers wireless.
      My point seems to be that franchises may not have penetrated every community, but local "free-lance" businesses that fill the same niche may offer the same connectivity...or they may not (c.f., White Electric).

    11. Re:Where are they? by utexaspunk · · Score: 1

      Free Wi-Fi is ubiquitous here in Austin. You have to pay at chain places like Starbuck's, but independent coffee shops are everywhere, and most of them offer free Wi-Fi. Walk into any coffee shop near campus or central Austin and you'll see loads of glowing Apples (the lids of powerbooks)...

    12. Re:Where are they? by doj8 · · Score: 1

      > It's actually not that hard to find a T-mobile hotspot.
      > There's a Starbucks practically on every block.

      Uh. I've never seen a Starbucks. I had to search their web site to determine there were three in my entire State. Please do not assume a ubiquity that you may experience in a major urban location for the rest of the world. Most of the world is not like that.

      --
      -- Dan Jenkins, Rastech Inc.
  4. A path to rural cell coverage? by LostCluster · · Score: 4, Interesting

    Here's a possible extention to this idea... allow the participating WiFi sites to announce the availability of a VoIP link back to the cell-provider's network, basically allowing anybody who roams by to borrow the WiFi as a mini cell tower, and letting the hotspot owner pocket a few pennies of savings on their bill for helping the stranger.

    This could become a low-cost way of extending a cell network into rural areas where it's hard to put up a traditional cell tower due to zoning hassles, but virtually anybody could mount a WiFi antenna on their roof next to their TV antenna.

    1. Re:A path to rural cell coverage? by zoobaby · · Score: 3, Insightful

      A good idea, but in many rural areas people do not have WiFi networks. They are lucky to even get 28.8 speeds IF, and this is a VERY BIG IF, they even have internet access.

      Trust me, my family is in rural Illinios and they don't use networks like the folk in the big cities.

    2. Re:A path to rural cell coverage? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 2, Insightful

      As soon as this becomes widespread congress will regulate it out of existance.

  5. Who has an IDT Cell Phone? by LostCluster · · Score: 2, Interesting

    As far as I knew, IDT wasn't a player in the cell phone market, just the landline long distance market...

    I'd have more confidence in this going to market if one of the big cellular players like Verizon, SBC/Cingular, or T-Mobile was the one doing this test.

    1. Re:Who has an IDT Cell Phone? by waferhead · · Score: 5, Insightful

      You missed the point:

      The last people who want this to work are the big carriers.

      (looking up IDTs stock price...)

    2. Re:Who has an IDT Cell Phone? by Bobdoer · · Score: 2

      I certainly hope they don't run into too many ID ten T errors there.

    3. Re:Who has an IDT Cell Phone? by yarisbandit · · Score: 0, Offtopic

      Score -1, *Groan*

      ;)

  6. War Phoning? by gremlins · · Score: 5, Interesting

    Isn't this going to cause problems say when you walk by a company with lax wireless security and you unintentionally connect to their network and steal their services. Not saying I care but some one has to.

    --
    just because your a schizophrenic doesn't mean people arn't really out to get you
    1. Re:War Phoning? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

      I disagree that it's automatically stealing. If they set up a wireless network and don't secure it, they are inviting you in. In essence, they're giving away the bandwidth.

      If you break their encryption and/or hack a password, THEN you're stealing the service.

    2. Re:War Phoning? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 2, Informative

      In some places, it's a crime merely to connect to a network without permission, and that could reasonably apply to a phone that just happens to seek out any open wifi connections as you walk down the street.

      The law views it as if the street had a bunch of houses each with a gated yard. Open the gate and step in the yard (connect) and you've trespassed. Open gate, step in yard, enter the house (transmit something over their network), and you've commited a computer crimes felony.

      As well as probably stepped in some dog poo.

      Thanks, Motorola, but I really don't need a phone hell bent on sending me to jail.

    3. Re:War Phoning? by DaCool42 · · Score: 1

      what about a web server connected the internet and listening on port 80. Is connecting to that viewed as trespassing?

      --

      ----
      All of whose base are belong to the what-now?
    4. Re:War Phoning? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      what about a web server connected the internet and listening on port 80. Is connecting to that viewed as trespassing?
      That's different, in that case a service is offered.

      What about leaving your front door unlocked. Is entering your house viewed as trespassing?

    5. Re:War Phoning? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      The law is the law, and our pithy arguments will not change that.

      But.. In regard to open hotspots, it seems that an open AP that offers DHCP.. Well.. I mean, that's like asking someone sitting on the porch - "Hey, can I have a seat too?" And the guy on the porch says "Why yes.. Let me get you a chair (IP addr).. and if you would like a lemonade, the fridge is just around the corner (gateway).."

    6. Re:War Phoning? by Dun+Malg · · Score: 1
      In some places, it's a crime merely to connect to a network without permission, and that could reasonably apply to a phone that just happens to seek out any open wifi connections as you walk down the street.

      I disagree. I think the law could be unreasonably applied in that case. If the phone is designed to automatically connect, which is not an unreasonable function, the scenario could play out like this: say you're linked to a free WiFI AP at a local diner, and you walk outside after eating breakfast and it connects to the AP of some slob who lives next to the diner. No rational judge would consider it a reasonable application of the law to arrest you for connecting to the slob's network without permission. Particularly not when the dumb slob can simply turn on his damn WEP encryption to keep this from happening. Having an open access point with DHCP enabled is like leaving a bowl of dog food on the sidewalk in front of your house and calling the cops because someone's dog ate it as they were walking by. The dog owner is technically responsible for the dog, but the resonsibility lies with the idiot who left the food out.

      --
      If a job's not worth doing, it's not worth doing right.
    7. Re:War Phoning? by AK+Marc · · Score: 1

      In some places, it's a crime merely to connect to a network without permission, and that could reasonably apply to a phone that just happens to seek out any open wifi connections as you walk down the street.

      Where are these "some places?"

      The law views it as if the street had a bunch of houses each with a gated yard. Open the gate and step in the yard (connect) and you've trespassed. Open gate, step in yard, enter the house (transmit something over their network), and you've commited a computer crimes felony.

      It isn't a gated community. They are broadcasting their signal on to public areas with no attempt to secure it. It is the same as having land bordering a public park with no signs, gates, or other indication that there is a distinction. If you do step on their land, it isn't trespassing. If they didn't want anyone there, then their negligence in securing their land will negate any legal claims they have against others.

    8. Re:War Phoning? by DaCool42 · · Score: 1

      My point being....where do you draw the line?

      --

      ----
      All of whose base are belong to the what-now?
  7. Finally! A way to escape the at-home dead zone! by Amoeba+Protozoa · · Score: 5, Interesting


    Yes!

    Hopefully this would finally be a way to escape the "at-home dead zone" when I try and use my mobile down in the basement and I can get rid of that silly land-line once and for all!

    -AP

  8. this is /..... by andrewleung · · Score: 3, Informative

    you really think this would get much time "in the rest of the world"? ha!

    just get a good old wifi phone and you'll never know the difference.

    wifi phones from pulver.com

  9. what would be awesome by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Funny

    Is a cell phone that you could just plug into the wall when you're at home, and it would get both power and connection from there. In fact, I'd imagine someday people having one cell phone in their pocket, and maybe a "wired cell phone" in their homes, which would run off wall power and be more reliable since it wouldn't need a radio signal.

    I wonder what kind of protocol it could use.. maybe firewire protocol over wi-fi, converted to frames that could be sent over a wire like ethernet. There could be some kind of power-over-ethernet to supply it with DC. Then it could run out to the street, where it would go into a tower and be converted into real wi-fi signals, except encapsulated in GSM data so it could use the existing cellular infrastructure. No that's no good, coverage is spotty. Maybe satellites could be involved. Could be expensive. Maybe it could run over DSL? Hey there's an idea!

    Modern technology allows so many simple and elegant solutions to today's problems!

    Gotta run, I'm working on my latest invention: a way to take ebooks and permanently output them onto sheets of paper. I think this will revolutionize the ebook industry!

  10. woohoo by SinaSa · · Score: 5, Interesting

    Yet another way for people to snoop my phone conversations. I seriously doubt any encryption you could implement on a mobile phone's processor for transmitting voice would be more than trivial to crack. SSH yes, mobile banking, yes, but no way is there you can encrypt my voice conversation.

    Suddenly the concept of wardriving has become a lot more interesting. "VoIP wireless hotspot" suddenly becomes synonymous with "Blackmail hole".

    --
    --
    The last digit of pi is four.
    1. Re:woohoo by PatrickThomson · · Score: 2, Interesting

      *cough* GSM?

      --
      I am one of many. My idea is not unique, nor do I expect my voice alone to sway you. I speak in a chorus of opinion.
    2. Re:woohoo by skraps · · Score: 1

      Riiight.. nothing new here. Standard household cordless phones are so easy to eavesdrop on, that I do it by accident sometimes.

      --
      Karma: -2147483648 (Mostly affected by integer overflow)
    3. Re:woohoo by EchoMirage · · Score: 4, Informative

      *cough* GSM?

      Cracked.

    4. Re:woohoo by PatrickThomson · · Score: 1

      Yes, on paper. It's not like you can apt-get install gsmcracker on your local router.

      --
      I am one of many. My idea is not unique, nor do I expect my voice alone to sway you. I speak in a chorus of opinion.
    5. Re:woohoo by dann0 · · Score: 1

      but no way is there you can encrypt my voice conversation.

      What's so special about your voice? Why can't it be encrypted? ;)

      --
      "The big question in our lives is how to be at the same time a hedonist and in a hurry" - Alain Ducasse (?)
    6. Re:woohoo by pompousjerk · · Score: 1

      Well, 1) the people around you are already getting half of the conversation and 2) I bet it would be hard to 'wander off' to a secluded area near a one of these hotspots so someone couldn't eavesdrop, so only really stupid people would have problems.

      Of course, there are a lot of stupid people...

    7. Re:woohoo by Spruitje · · Score: 1


      Riiight.. nothing new here. Standard household cordless phones are so easy to eavesdrop on, that I do it by accident sometimes.


      In the US maybe, but not with DECT.
      Most cordless phones nowadays use DECT (at least in Europe).

    8. Re:woohoo by Kaboom13 · · Score: 1

      So the same encryption you gladly use walking around town is not good enough? (I'd imagine it would also support WEP, so you'd probably have two layers of encryption.) If you could listen in on conversations with this you could do it just as easily on normal cell phone conversations. At least with Wifi, it's limited range works in your favor, as it's much easier to look around and see if any suspicous black van types are around. Of course wandering around town talking about things so important it'd be worth the effort to snoop is probably a bad idea anyway. I suspect anyone trying to cast a wide enough net to get some dirty info by sheer luck would shoot themselves after the 20th teenage girl.

    9. Re:woohoo by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Your own ignorance does not make it inexistant. Cracking GSM is easily done in real time with a personal computer.

    10. Re:woohoo by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      He doesn't reflect in mirrors either.

  11. Ouch... by Thelonious+Monk · · Score: 5, Insightful

    This could seriously hurt cell phone service providers. With the growing popularity and widespread adoption of wi-fi everywhere, I wouldn't see a need to even have a provider. This is of course the phone is able to seamlessly jump from one wifi network to another - but then comes into consideration of reliable signals yadda yadda... It was only time for this to happen.

    1. Re:Ouch... by zoobaby · · Score: 1

      No you would still need a service provider. Cell companies would adopt a flat fee rate, with insane minutes, much like they are already doing. Your number needs to be 'hosted' by a company. I doubt the FCC would let you become your own telco.

    2. Re:Ouch... by OhHellWithIt · · Score: 1

      I can't see Verizon et al. allowing this on their network without some way of earning money from it, so I don't think it will mean cheaper service for consumers.

      --
      "Who controls the past controls the future. Who controls the present controls the past." -- George Orwell
    3. Re:Ouch... by peter+hoffman · · Score: 1

      Since the phone would have to have an IP address all that would be needed is something like dynamic DNS so you can directly dial the node that is the phone. It seems to me phone numbers will become relatively obsolete.

      With the rising ubiquity of bandwidth it seems to me the cost of TCP/IP time is also going to plummet. If TCP/IP on powerlines ever comes about the cost will really fall.

      What would help is if eventually phones could also act as routers so packets could flow from phone to phone to phone. This would help bridge dead zones in buildings and elsewhere. Obviously, encryption would be available.

  12. Re:Finally! A way to escape the at-home dead zone! by LostCluster · · Score: 5, Informative

    Hopefully this would finally be a way to escape the "at-home dead zone" when I try and use my mobile down in the basement and I can get rid of that silly land-line once and for all!

    Cell providers already have "mini tower" equipment they can set up in their stores to assure that they never have an embarassing dead spot at their own retail location. They even set those up at business sites to assure an otherwise uncoverable corperate campus gets hit with signal.

    I guess it was only a matter of time until they converted such units to a home game model...

  13. sigh... by Viceice · · Score: 3, Insightful

    I have the feeling that unless it's tied into a service that still charges you a per minute charge on the call, the Cellphone cartels ^H^H^H^H^H.. companies going to make sure it dies out real quick.

    Whatever happened to the Motorola that had a Talkabout integrated into it so that you technically don't need to use your minutes if the person you want to talk to is within range??

    --
    Sometimes I wish I was a plumber, then I'd know how to deal with other people's shit.
    1. Re:sigh... by LostCluster · · Score: 2, Insightful

      I have the feeling that unless it's tied into a service that still charges you a per minute charge on the call, the Cellphone cartels ^H^H^H^H^H.. companies going to make sure it dies out real quick.

      Oh, this one will be. In order for a seamless jump from WiFi to Cellular to even be possible, the VoIP part of the call already had to be passing through the cell provider's network, since you can't exactly change "local loop"/"last mile" providers in the middle of a phone call.

      Whatever happened to the Motorola that had a Talkabout integrated into it so that you technically don't need to use your minutes if the person you want to talk to is within range??
      I saw today a 900 Mhz multi-handset networked system that if seperated from it's home base but local to another handset configured to the same set could make a peer-to-peer call, which is useful for IT people doing a client visit... the team can split up yet have walkie-talkie mode access to each other.

  14. excellent... by updog · · Score: 5, Funny

    ring tone downloads at 54Mbps!

  15. Dual Mode Phones FYI by TheOtherKiwi · · Score: 5, Informative

    Just FYI, Ericsson and others have had dual-mode DECT/GSM phones since the late 90's and adoption has not been spectacular.

    These phones allow you to roam indoors on a DECT local digital connection to your landline and roam outside (or in large buildings) with seamless handover between DECT base stations. They also doubled as GSM but I don't think the handover was automatic, see:

    http://www.dectweb.com/Products/dual_mode.htm

    --

    -- Sig meltdown immine...
    1. Re:Dual Mode Phones FYI by amorsen · · Score: 1
      I have wanted a dual mode DECT/GSM phone for years. Unfortunately GSM handsets are not developed to be sold to consumers; they are developed to be sold to the cellular providers which then pass the phones off to the consumers for "free".

      Therefore the handset producers are very careful to not anger the providers by making products like those dual mode phones. Also, that is why the producers are pushing camera phones so heavily. It is not because most consumers really want a camera on their phone, but because the providers are desperate for something that will make the billions they wasted on upgrading the network for data transfer look like money well spent. The cellular providers have a long painful history of making the wrong decisions, and as a result most of them have been losing money since they started.

      This is all from a European perspective, but DECT isn't used much (at all?) in the US.

      --
      Finally! A year of moderation! Ready for 2019?
    2. Re:Dual Mode Phones FYI by amorsen · · Score: 1
      I forgot another thing the handset producers are very carefully not doing: the Bluetooth handset profile. Lots of phones have Bluetooth support, and it's very simple to implement the handset profile. With that, you can use your cell phone as handset for a VoIP program if you have a Bluetooth card in your computer, or you can buy access points with Bluetooth and phone jacks which will allow you to call VoIP and over the regular phone network from the handset.

      This could be possible with practically no extra effort for the producers. It is a feature which customers want. Yet the current market ensures that it does not exist.

      --
      Finally! A year of moderation! Ready for 2019?
    3. Re:Dual Mode Phones FYI by ChrisCampbell47 · · Score: 1
      Much as people in the United States had no idea what GSM was until about 3 years ago, and didn't grasp the benefits of standardization, most people in the US now don't have a clue what DECT is.

      Fundamentally, the issue of standardization vs. market chaos is what differentiates the European and U.S. markets.

  16. Emergency services.... by j3ll0 · · Score: 1

    admittedly the article was a bit light on detail, but this solution still doesn't seem to address emergency services (000, 911, etc) call routing...

    1. Re:Emergency services.... by peter+hoffman · · Score: 1

      I think what phones need to do for emergency services is to include GPS in every phone.

    2. Re:Emergency services.... by everett · · Score: 1

      Most areas can use the cell service provider to triangulate your position if they need to. It ain't just in movies.

      --
      Sig withheld to protect the innocent.
    3. Re:Emergency services.... by LandGator · · Score: 1

      Only those with E911 fully enabled, which ain't many.

      --
      There is nothing wrong with yr Internet. Do not attempt to adjust the picture. We are controlling the transmission - NSA
  17. What costs? by Prof.Phreak · · Score: 1, Interesting

    Thus reducing on call costs.

    Am I the only person who's not counting minutes or worried about mobile phone costs?

    Whatever this `plan' may cost, I'm sure there are comprable conventional mobile phone plans that are nearly as limitless as wi-fi.

    It would be cool to have a phone that can talk to my computers via wi-fi, but arguing that it would somehow lower costs... that's a bit too much.

    --

    "If anything can go wrong, it will." - Murphy

    1. Re:What costs? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      This would allow for good cheap data throughput on your phone for web browsing, uploading photos, and such.

      It would probably not be real useful in your home, but if a local coffee shop offered wifi to phones for free, it could be pretty nice and convenient. (Though maybe too expensive for the shop to offer gratis..)

    2. Re:What costs? by LostCluster · · Score: 1

      Whatever this `plan' may cost, I'm sure there are comprable conventional mobile phone plans that are nearly as limitless as wi-fi.

      Vonage offers unlimited residential service for $34.99 per month. $35 to a cell provider will get you roughly 500 peak-time minutes per month with nights and weekends unlimited.

      For somebody who makes a lot of peak-time calls, 500 minutes per month simply isn't going to do it. Sure there's a rate plan out there big enough to get all the minutes a user can stand, but it costs a whole lot more than it does on VoIP...

    3. Re:What costs? by badansible · · Score: 1
      It would be cool to have a phone that can talk to my computers via wi-fi, but arguing that it would somehow lower costs... that's a bit too much.

      Think about costless international roaming *and* international calls... I'm sure there's a big market for this.

  18. eh ? by Sv-Manowar · · Score: 1

    Excuse me if i'm being dumb, but wern't Cellphones always wireless ?

    1. Re:eh ? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Excuse me if i'm being dumb, but wern't Cellphones always wireless ?

      Naw. But it was pretty early that the cell phone providers found it necessary to go wireless. (The cords kept getting tangled.)

  19. Toy by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1, Informative

    This kind of device is useless without a widely adopted standard for sharing internet access automatically. Wifi doesn't support roaming between APs who are controlled by different entities, the cells (of coverage) are miniscule, ENUM isn't ready for primetime and there's no working and vendor-independent QoS standard yet. Some of these problems can be solved (and will be solved real-soon-now), but others are inherent to the wireless lan concept.

    1. Re:Toy by homer_ca · · Score: 2, Interesting

      Toy is right. Besides the problem of roaming, power consumption is a huge problem with Wifi. 802.11b is a high bandwidth, long range (compared to Bluetooth at least) protocol. It consumes a lot of power just maintaining a link to the AP. According to this it consumes 800mW while idle with a link up, 950mW while receiving, and 1400mW while transmitting. Wifi might be practical for outgoing calls, but not the other way. You'd drain your battery ust sitting at a hotpot waiting for a call.

    2. Re:Toy by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1, Informative

      Power consumption is bad, but not that bad: Wifi CF-cards

    3. Re:Toy by shepd · · Score: 1

      1.4 Watts? OH MY GOD!

      My 1000 mAh 3.6 volt battery will only give me 2 1/2 hours of talk time! YIPES! What will I do? :-)

      --
      If you could be told what you can see or read, then it follows that you could be told what to say or think - BoC
    4. Re:Toy by Otto · · Score: 1

      Wifi doesn't support roaming between APs who are controlled by different entities

      Funny, I seem to have no problems, assuming that the AP's are setup to be open to everybody. That is, no WEP or MAC filtering, and SSID broadcast enabled. Works great.

      Just set your card's SSID to "any" and roam away.

      --
      - Give a man a fire and he's warm for a day, but set him on fire and he's warm for the rest of his life.
    5. Re:Toy by homer_ca · · Score: 1

      Thanks for the link. My linked article says 1.4W was measured from a laptop PC card. Apparently a CF or SDIO wireless card for PDAs will use a lot less power, but the problem is the same. An idle link uses almost as much power as an active link.

    6. Re:Toy by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Your IP address (necessarily) changes. This means that a) an existing VoIP connection breaks down and b) there's a short window in which you can't be called because you have not reregistered with the proxy yet. To be more precise, Wifi doesn't support hand-over between APs which are controlled by different entities, and roaming could be improved.

    7. Re:Toy by peter+hoffman · · Score: 1

      If the phone had two interfaces it could move from one network to another by not "letting go" of the first network until a connection is properly established with the second network.

  20. But can we use it? by C0DEFEED · · Score: 3, Insightful

    In the current market for cel phones in the U.S., we buy phones diretly from the cellular providers. What is their incentive to offer us a phone that cuts out a source of their revenue, even if it provides value to us?

    For those of us using GSM networks (i.e. Cingular, AT&T), we could always buy this phone from an independent vendor for top-dollar and transfer our SIM cards. Those of us willing to do this unfortunately represent a tiny part of the cel phone market.

    1. Re:But can we use it? by skraps · · Score: 2, Interesting

      With "unlimited" plans becoming more and more common, you may want to reconsider that logic.
      They would stand to *save* money by having you use your own connection at home.

      --
      Karma: -2147483648 (Mostly affected by integer overflow)
    2. Re:But can we use it? by C0DEFEED · · Score: 2, Interesting

      Good point. If you have a truly *unlimited* plan, the carrier has incentive to divert you off their system. All of the plans from my carrier, however, have per-minute caps, and its strategy, as demonstrated by snail-mail add-ins and SMS spam, has been clearly directed towards getting me to use *more* minutes.

      I am interested to see how this plays out, as I have typically awful GSM coverage at home, but excellent WiFi coverage. This would be all I need to give SBC the boot it has long deserved.

    3. Re:But can we use it? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      In the UK it's commonplace to buy a cheap 'phone - typically a pay-as-you-go deal with minimal credit - and to swap in a SIM card from another contract.

      Mind you, the new 'phones probably won't be cheap...

  21. A non-starter by fname · · Score: 4, Insightful

    I don't get it at all. While I think it's a great idea to have WiFi phones on a campus (I had a crazy business plan for that 5 years ago!), I just don't see the point in the rest of the world. If I have a cellphone, I don't need WiFi. And unless WiFi coverage is ubiquitous, I wouldn't want a WiFi-only phone. I have a Treo 600 with unlimited data & 800 peak minutes a month plus unlimited n&w and mobile 2 mobile & phone insurance. I pay about $34 (a really good deal, but anyone could get that deal for $40-45 with some work).

    The point being, I ahve absolutely no need or desire for WiFi for either data or voice. A fat pipe would be nice for streaming audio, but I could live with a lower bitrate. Unless Motorola can make this 100% transparent, it will be such a colossal & immediate failure that New Coke, Audrey & Teledisic will look succesful by comparison. If they can make it 100% transparent, I doubt it will have any application outside of buildings with awful cell coverage; it just doesn't make any sense as a moneysaver, since most providers (e.g., SprintPCS) have excess capacity now.

    1. Re:A non-starter by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Who is your provider?!

    2. Re:A non-starter by 16K+Ram+Pack · · Score: 1
      I don't know about the USA, but here in the UK, the 3rd Generation mobiles with video are coming out for video calling etc.

      If you had a wi-fi phone, you'd have the sort of bandwidth to equal that. Also, it could double as your PC wifi card.

  22. I remember a similar thing... by riprjak · · Score: 3, Interesting

    ...years ago Telstra (Australias major Telco) trialled a device that was a GSM cellular phone but when within range of a specific base station functioned as a cordless land line...

    I think; I may have just been smoking some mighty fine crack and made the whole thing up...

    Anyone else in Oz remember this??

    err!
    jak.

    1. Re:I remember a similar thing... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      I think; I may have just been smoking some mighty fine crack and made the whole thing up...

      Anyone else in Oz remember this??


      I don't remember you smoking anything. But that doesn't mean it didn't happen.

      hope that helps!

    2. Re:I remember a similar thing... by Designadrug · · Score: 1
      ...years ago Telstra (Australias major Telco) trialled a device that was a GSM cellular phone but when within range of a specific base station functioned as a cordless land line...I think; I may have just been smoking some mighty fine crack and made the whole thing up...Anyone else in Oz remember this??"

      Yes, I remember it.

      No, you were not smoking crack.

      I heard about it back in 1996 when it was being trialled in Melbourne.

      The service you refer to was called "Telepath"

      Some crack-smoking polymath told me all about it while giving me a lift to the airport to go to a conference.

      Designadrug - 'cos I do.

      --
      Cogitum Ergo Hatto
    3. Re:I remember a similar thing... by F13 · · Score: 1
      I know of what you are talking about. I remember talking to a Telstra tech (a long time ago) who said telstra was trialing such tech, but I think they dumped it in the end.

      I think it might have been something like a dual DECT/GSM phone.

      DECT
      GSM

    4. Re:I remember a similar thing... by scdeimos · · Score: 3, Interesting

      Yup, this was back in the days when Telstra was still Telecom. This was the "Telecom Talkabout" system which was deployed in Brisbane and possibly other capitals. The digital access points had about a 100-200m range, but I think the cell phone component was still AMPS.

      As I recall there was a bit of a tussle over the tracability (or lack thereof) of the phones, but since you'd be able to nail them down to an access point I'd think a 100-200m is better positioning than GSM generally allows. :)

    5. Re:I remember a similar thing... by nmoog · · Score: 1

      That company "orange" still has this doenst it? Where if you are within a kilometre of your house its a local call or something.

      There was that urban legend (or was it?!) that if you activated your account whilst standing in the Sydney CBD then everywhere was a local call. And if you tap the street light buttons with SOS morse code it changes the lights to green instantly...

    6. Re:I remember a similar thing... by hotzeyboy · · Score: 1

      I still have an orange phone line. Its pretty cool I guess although it uses cdma :(. When you buy one you have to call up an activation number and walk around your house .. i guess so their satelite can get fix on you, not good. either way when you make a call from home its counted as a local call with the usual 20c fixed fee. If you use it anywhere else its a mobile call.
      I dont know about activating it in sydney cbd but i do know that if you make a call with it when you are home, the call remains local even if you leave your house.

      I believe they have stopped selling them because too few people were using them as mobiles and instead using them almost exclusivley as local phones.

    7. Re:I remember a similar thing... by riprjak · · Score: 1

      I didnt think I was a polymath :) or were you referring to another of your crack smoking friends... ;)

    8. Re:I remember a similar thing... by Designadrug · · Score: 1

      I'd refer to most of our group as polymaths. In a strict sense probably none of us are, but do you know of a science that any of us can't comprehend at both a technical and intuitive level? Our capabilities vary but if it's left brain related, we can understand it at a level and in a way well beyond simple education.

      --
      Cogitum Ergo Hatto
    9. Re:I remember a similar thing... by riprjak · · Score: 1

      is having a conversation on slashdot normal?? :)

    10. Re:I remember a similar thing... by Designadrug · · Score: 1

      Probably not. Better be careful we don't attract mod points. The bad kind.

      --
      Cogitum Ergo Hatto
    11. Re:I remember a similar thing... by riprjak · · Score: 1

      true that... especially since my karma is only just good again :)

      of course, how lame would you have to be to read a tiny thread on an old story????

      hmm, brass armour in a lightning storm anybody???

  23. Security and Choices by spiritraveller · · Score: 1

    This will be awesome when these phones start coming out with VPN support and the ability to use your own VOIP provider.

    Of course, that will probably not be the case initially.

    Hmmm, may be a good time to invest in Vonage et al.

  24. Handover? by mafelixs · · Score: 3, Interesting

    So what happens if you move outside the WiFi coverage during a call? Handover between 3G networks and GSM should be possible, but is it possible to switch from WiFi to normal GSM without disconnecting the call? I believe this requires support from the network as well, meaning that the operators will have their say, too. Correct me if I'm wrong here.

    Continuing the VoIP traffic over GPRS data could be possible without new features to the network or disconnecting, but that does not sound very tempting, since the rates for standard GPRS are counted in Euros/MB where I live...

    1. Re:Handover? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Actually, a handover in GSM or a 3G to 2G and 2G to 3G handover is an almost instantenous disconnect/reconnect operation that you don't notice. Maybe you hear a click. There is nothing preventing the same methodology to be used with WiFi, as long as you can communicate with the core network so it knows that you're leaving WiFi and going cellular. I'd imaging all your voice would be routed to the same core network.

      Only in CDMA and WCDMA the handover can be "soft" (and WCDMA also has a "softer" handover - google for it if interested), which means that you are talking to both cells at the same time when you're leaving one and going to another. In CDMA, you actually spend quite a large percentage of time in a "handover" state.

    2. Re:Handover? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      I could see it working like this:

      your cell phone knows its' wifi signal strength. The only thing the wifi network operator is really providing is an IP and transport, the phone will establish a secure connection to the cell provider over the ip network to provide the VoIP. When the phone realizes the wifi cell strength is getting low, it'll request the cell provider to start routing those packets over the cellular network instead of the VoIP network. Once the data is coming over the cell network, the encrypted connection is dropped.

      If the cell provider stops receiving ack signals from the cell phone, acknowledging it's getting the packets over wifi, it'll start routing those packets to the cell network. There's no reason the phone wouldn't continue to be connected to the cell network during the wifi call, just as we're connected to a cell network when we're idle, as long as the call isn't actually going over the cell network and it's just little control messages, it won't count on your minutes.

      I see this as being huge for data use with pcmcia cards, as well as for reducing minutes used while at home or for getting signal in your basement. (or at my office!)

  25. Boo Hoo by benjamindees · · Score: 2, Interesting

    The cell phone market (in the US) is now just a bunch of behind-the-times telco companies that missed the cell phone boat to begin with and are trying to make up for it by throwing lobbyists and salespeople at a saturated market anyways.

    802.11x is probably the only useful innovation left in cell phones, and the major providers are busy either ignoring it or trying to find a way to hijack the wi-fi hotspots that exist already to incorporate them into their networks and charge us for what *should* be free.

    Everybody sees what a *great* job of "innovating" the baby bells have done with their massive, nearly guaranteed profits over the past twenty years. These are the same people who couldn't even turn a profit with Bell Labs.

    We'd all be better off if they had a little real competition, if even from users themselves.

    --
    "I assumed blithely that there were no elves out there in the darkness"
  26. I can see the headlines now by scdeimos · · Score: 2, Funny
    [completely fictitious]Customer Jailed by Telco

    In Bell vs. John P. Citizen today, a federal court judge sentenced the defendant to 16 years jail for failing to pay the plaintiff US$5,000,000.00 in telecommunications charges. The defendant alleged that his Wi-Fi personal exchange was used by unauthorized parties to place multitudes of local, long-distance and overseas calls. By showing that the defendant had failed to secure his Wi-Fi exchange according to the fine print warnings and instructions on the last page of the 10,000 page manual accompanying the product, the prosecution proved the defendant liable for the full amount.

  27. Roaming... by FRiC · · Score: 1

    Wi-Fi may be similarly priced to GSM calls, but GSM over Wi-Fi makes sense if you're roaming, especially international roaming. Around here we have all these phones that regularly go overseas, and international roaming costs US$2-3/minute, whether making or receiving calls.

    In fact, we've been looking at Skype running on Pocket PC to reduce phone costs...

  28. This concept might actually work by detritus. · · Score: 2, Interesting

    Personally, I think it'd be cool just to have a cell phone that could use my own WiFi at home and be cellular when I'm out in the rest of the world

    Actually, I think this concept has more potential use and adoption than using public hotspots. This would definitely give people who don't want to pay for an expensive POTS (and have cable internet or be lucky enough to have a local telco that doesn't require a POTS line with DSL service). I know alot of people who only have a cellular phone and complain about not being able to have good reception in all areas of their residence. Motorola's implementation doesn't make much sense, IMO.

  29. Overkill But... by complete+loony · · Score: 3, Interesting
    Just think, with one of the motorola phones, one of these PCI cards, in a linux server running asterisk, and a WiFi access point, you too could have a cordless phone!

    Just think of the geeky possibilities.

    And images all the babes you could impress!

    --
    09F91102 no, 455FE104 nope, F190A1E8 uh-uh, 7A5F8A09 that's not it, C87294CE no. Ah! 452F6E403CDF10714E41DFAA257D313F.
    1. Re:Overkill But... by 183771 · · Score: 0

      I have always though about this possibility, and communicate with your linux PBX through a bluetooth connexion... but will be technicaly posible???

    2. Re:Overkill But... by gnulxusr · · Score: 1

      It's definitely possible, that's what the AG/HS profiles and SCO were designed to do.

      IF and WHEN manufacturers start implementing both the Audio Gateway and the Handset bluetooth profiles (providing multi-profile connections at the same time) we will be able to use our mobile (WiFi too seemingly) phones as FXS and FXO devices at the same time. Thus, an incoming call to your mobile would be passed to asterisk (or other soft-PBX), possibly checked against a blacklist etc., and then you can answer a call to your mobile phone from your desktop VoIP device, or, if you don't answer, have the caller leave a message in your local voicemailbox. Hey, you don't even need any extra telephone hardwarefor this!

      If this doesn't sound intriguing, consider the possibilities in a corporate environment, utilizing bluetooth APs (one or more per floor) and routing calls from and to mobile phones. Mr. Boss' secretary would then be able to answer calls to Boss' mobile even when he's left the handset in his briefcase, while at the same time anyone using their cellulars to call landlines could get their calls routed through the landline interfaces instead of getting charged at mobile rates.

  30. processing by GoClick · · Score: 5, Interesting

    Actually a lot of cell phones have huge processing power that goes totally unused, not to mention that this would be on NEW devices. Think your 10 day standby time is good on a cell phone? There are wireless digital handsets in use in hospitals and universities that get 70 - 80 days of standby (even 150), why? Because they don't have the fancy processors and memory modern game play'n, websurf'n voice dial'n cell phones do. When you're sitting on the can playing Push-Push you're using more CPU than it would take to compress a voice stream.

    Encrypting a stream text or voice doesn't much matter it's about data rate not content, when you get a lag in an SSL terminal in virtually every case it's not the cryptography that's causing the delay. Modern public/privet key cryptography scales pretty well for various data rates. The rate of your digital voice conversation on your cell phone is pretty low (which is why it sounds like crystal clear 8 bit crap).

    Not to mention that you'd only need to start a new encrypted once and a while (to your provider not the WiFi Network) and NOT every time you make a call. Who cares if someone listens in on your traffic on the WiFi if it's just gibberish going to the Cell company any ways? Or did you think by any means your cell company would let you move to VoIP and connect to anyone OTHER than them?

    Puleeze these people practically invented sinister strangle hold service.

    1. Re:processing by Falrick · · Score: 1

      Unless you have specialized hardware, as most cell phones do, most of your processing power will go to voice coding. Why? Because the vocoders on cell phones were designed to be run through a DSP. GSM, for example, will generally use a DSP for its AMR encode/decode.

      Encryption could just as easily be designed to run on a DSP.

      --
      something clever
  31. Go phone anyone? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Been tried before, i think it was called the "Go Phone". Basically a cell phone that would first search for the regular cordless base station that came with it before going cellular.

    The fact that you havn't heard of it means that it was a big flop. Cellular service just got cheaper.

  32. Re:Finally! A way to escape the at-home dead zone! by Technician · · Score: 4, Informative

    I guess it was only a matter of time until they converted such units to a home game model...

    A simple passive repeater is no problem to install in a dead zone such as a basement.

    A high gain antenna on the roof pointing to the cell tower is connected to an omni antenna in the basement. This provides signal in the dead zone.

    A small dish works great as it can be pointed to the tower providing high signal strength to feed the basement antenna. Be sure to use antennas cut to the freuency your cell provider is using. Use a large diamater low loss cable or all system gains will be lost in the first 15 feet of the cable. In extreme cases, eliptical waveguide may be used but it greatly adds to the cost of the project. To prevent cable loss, keep the cable as short as possible. Many houses have high attenuation because of masonary walls or aluminum backed insulation in the walls. A roof mount dish coupled with about 6 feet of wire to a ceiling mounted antenna are sometimes all that is needed to couple the signal from outside into the living space covering even the basement with good signal.

    --
    The truth shall set you free!
  33. Nokia 9500 by haunebu · · Score: 3, Informative
    "Personally, I think it'd be cool just to have a cell phone that could use my own WiFi at home and be cellular when I'm out in the rest of the world."

    There you go. GPRS/EDGE when you're out and about, and Wi-Fi at your favorite hotspot.

    --

    Blue skies, Barthy Burgers, girls...

    1. Re:Nokia 9500 by amorsen · · Score: 1

      Great. Unfortunately it doesn't seem to support VoIP. That makes it rather pointless.

      --
      Finally! A year of moderation! Ready for 2019?
  34. Pointless Idea! by tarunthegreat2 · · Score: 3, Interesting

    Why would you want to use Wi-Fi, when you have a tried and tested secure, ready-to-use technology like 3GSM? If it really is all about cheap calls, then 3G takes care of those issues anyway. Cellphone providers outside America (Europe-Asia) have woken up to the fact that they aren't going to make any money off voice anymore, as rates are low, and it's tough to raise then in the current situation. This was part of the motivation for upping the bandwidth available to mobile networks, so as to provide users with "value-added services" much like what DoCoMo is already doing in Japan. With so much bandwidth available, voice calls become dirt cheap anyway, since youll instead be paying for that Music Video you just downloaded, e.t.c. WiFi is fine and dandy in the states, but outside it, it's still spotty coverage (and inside too).... You can find all info regarding 3G at GSM World. Yes 3G networks have yet to get off the ground, but that's not because the technology sucks. It's for opther reasons (i.e. ludicrous spectrum license fees, inertia on part of the mobile providers to release 3G handests e.t.c.) Eventually, the mobile networks will be as fast WiFi, and our mobile phones are already just more than that. Why try and fit WiFi onto cellphones when 3G already has the inbuilt billing, encryption and other stuff ready?

    1. Re:Pointless Idea! by 16K+Ram+Pack · · Score: 2, Informative

      Well, firstly, the 3G calls utilising video in the UK are darned expensive. Nearly $1 per minute.

    2. Re:Pointless Idea! by tarunthegreat2 · · Score: 1

      Yea, you're right, and that's what I'm saying above. The 3G mobile operators are going to emphasize these 'premium' types of service, because there's no money left in voice, and in the 3G networks, voice calls can be totally taken for granted, as they will be of high quality (my assumption), and will take very little bandwidth.The article that's referred to, however, talks about using WiFi for VOIP for cheap calls, and I'm just saying that's pretty pointless (for reasons mentioned above)

    3. Re:Pointless Idea! by amorsen · · Score: 1

      Your so-called low rates are still at a dollar a minute in Denmark. Even on the 3G networks. Except when you call the other customer on the 3G network at night, then it's free. Very useful, that.

      --
      Finally! A year of moderation! Ready for 2019?
    4. Re:Pointless Idea! by Otto · · Score: 1

      because there's no money left in voice

      All the money in the US is in voice because, thus far, they haven't been able to get the public to adopt any of the other services over cellular connections yet. Not in any big way.

      -Text messaging: Picking up, but still not used by 90% of the US cell carrying public
      -Web services like WAP: Used by less than 2%, easily. Everybody hates surfing the web on small screens. They'll go buy a PDA first.. and even then it's rare that they want to pay for wireless web access. It's just not very useful.
      -Camera/pictures: Newish, and in the process of being introduced. But also in the process of being banned virtually everywhere because it's damned annoying, really.
      -Video: I know of no cell phone that will do this that is available in the US, but even then I suspect it'll flop.

      Voice is virtually the only market over on this side of the pond. The reason there's so much competition is that hell, they can't even get that right half the time.

      If/when I can take a cell phone to anywhere in the USA and make a call and have it be clear enough to hear, then I might buy your argument that there's no more money left in voice. Hell, over here, *all* the money is in voice. Few people want anything else.

      --
      - Give a man a fire and he's warm for a day, but set him on fire and he's warm for the rest of his life.
  35. another of my ideas gone by MikeFM · · Score: 1

    I built a wifi voip phone a couple years ago and tried pitching it to Sprint (with never a response). Guess I picked the wrong company to try to sell the idea too! ;)

    --
    At what price learning? At what cost wisdom? The price is a man's peace of mind, and the cost is his life.
    1. Re:another of my ideas gone by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Some time ago my boss visited Sprint and saw an AudioVox phone that some people at Sprint were playing with that did both CDMA and could do WIFI through WinCE. I don't have any other details other than some PocketPC type dual-mode handsets have already been built. The phone my boss saw had a client that run under CE that was used for dialing the phone and using it as a regular CDMA handset. I do not think the phone had the ability to roam between WIFI and a CDMA network.

  36. Save on antennae by spectrokid · · Score: 2, Interesting

    Nokia always said they were not going to do this because it cuts in their customers (read: telco's) revenues. But get to think of it, it would be real cool to do 3G. Give all your ADSL customers routers with built in WIFI. Use the leftover bandwith to allow any of your 3G customers passing by to connect via WIFI instead of UMTS. Save a bundle on antennae, less complaints of people who think UMTS gives you cancer....

    --

    10 ?"Hello World" life was simple then

  37. for the lazy by Rev+Saxon · · Score: 3, Informative
    --
    I am that much more enlightened and proportionally disillusioned
  38. Wifi + VoIP to save on calls by awehttam · · Score: 3, Informative
    Or, setup an Asterisk box, get yourself a NuFone account and use E164.org to resolve pstn numbers to voip addresses over the Internet.

    Set up Asterisk to try an EnumLookup first, then fall back to NuFone or your home landline using a $16 X100P WinModem from DigitNetworks.

    Get all your friends to register their phone numbers with E164.org too, it's a free ENUM service that also verifies people's numbers.

    Then if you're really feeling groovy, help a local Community Wireless Network deploy an 802.11a backbone with 11g hotspots all over the place ;) Works great with Asterisk and serexpress. :)

  39. u need one of these by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    http://www.thinkgeek.com/computing/accessories/666 e/

  40. Flarions' OFDM Wireless Broadband service by Gaurang · · Score: 2, Informative

    Making cell phones use WiFi might not be a very good choice, when people will start ceasing to have WiFi connections in the first place. Flarion has come up with OFDM technology which provides real broadband speeds on wireless networks (scaleable to cellular networks level), much faster than forthcoming CDMA2000-EvDO (or whatever), and any other technology available in the forthcoming future. Nextel has already started a successful trial network.

    Wired WiFi services have limited life, it seems.

    --
    I have found a solution to Riemann's Hypothesis, but have run out of spac
    1. Re:Flarions' OFDM Wireless Broadband service by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Wired WiFi services have limited life, it seems.
      Most owners own thier phone a limited time. And if not... it's not wifi enabled. Either way, it's not a problem

    2. Re:Flarions' OFDM Wireless Broadband service by Gortbusters.org · · Score: 1

      Check this out.... use cell phone + WLAN + enterprise phone system!

      --
      --------
      Free your mind.
  41. UK reaction? by 16K+Ram+Pack · · Score: 1
    The UK providers paid a phenomenal amount for 3G licenses (something like $35bn).

    Wi-fi is a competitor technology, and for fast data, may be "good enough" for many people.

  42. As predicted (or suggested) a year ago? by NewtonsLaw · · Score: 2, Interesting

    I wrote this column a year ago in which I suggested that a dual-mode WiFi/Cellular phone would be a good idea.

    Thanks for listening Motorola! :-)

  43. Re:Finally! A way to escape the at-home dead zone! by Duke · · Score: 1



    Cell providers already have "mini tower" equipment they can set up in their stores to assure that they never have an embaressing dead spot at their own retail location. They even set those up at business sites to assure an otherwise uncoverable corperate campus gets hit with signal.

    I guess it was only a matter of time until they converted such units to a home game model...


    Residential-scale versions already exist, for example this goes for, as I remember, about $400.

  44. VoIP by Cinematique · · Score: 4, Insightful

    Is there a market for a device like this? Am I the only one that thinks that voice over IP/WiFi is complete crap right now? I tried Vonage for a week. Hated it.

    Why? Because there were gaps and pits in conversations... awkward silences due to missed packets... missed incoming calls... et cetera. Don't get me wrong... I think the tech has promise, but as it stands right now, VoIP is not ready for primetime.

    Furthermore, the broadband providers need to get their shit together, too. DOCSIS nor xDSL are very reliable and I use a relatively respectable provider (RR). It seems that the move to VoIP is being based more on trying to save a quick buck, for customers and providers alike, and less about QoS, rock-solid reliability, and future practicality.

    I mean REALLY... what good is side-stepping the CLECs in the name of lower costs when they're the ones we ultimately have to route calls through to call POTS lines from time to time?

    Look... I know there are some of you out there who really love VoIP, but I'm worried that five years down the road, the teleco infrastructure will be worse off. Economics are slowly encouraging people to move to an ad-hoc network which was not originally designed to do what we're asking it to do... handing telephone calls. This same network is polluted with worms and viruses. Do you think customers want to lose their dialtone because some asshat decides to release a Windows exploit?

    But then you could use the GSM signal as backup! Right. Now what about the people living in rural areas? They count just as much as the rest of the country.

    I could go deeper, but I'll stop unless someone encourages me to add more.

    1. Re:VoIP by defishguy · · Score: 1

      I agree that VOIP needs some work, but I think that worrying about the telco infrastructure is misguided. After all we were trying to use an extremely antiquated network (POTS) to access the internet, and we all know just how pleasant that was. 28.8 anybody? Anybody? Prior to the Bell System break up in the 80's Ma Bell's only significant technological development was the good ole touch tone. Fact is all of our Telco's had an opportunity to develop better networks and didn't.

      I'm not trying to be critical, but I do not want to throw the baby out with the bath water so to speak. VOIP is clumsy right now, I use Packet8 and I know first hand, but at the same time I am now spending $20 a month for all the bells (no pun intended) and whistles AND unlimited long distance. My home communications costs went from $100+ to $20 which more than covers the cost of the broadband connection in the first place. Cell phones, which I had anyway, make up the differences in qos when the inevitable fiber cut kills my broadband connection.

    2. Re:VoIP by jerky42 · · Score: 1

      I used Vonage over RRunner for a year, and it was really pretty good most of the time, even on international calls. Far better than cellular, for sound quality and reliability. I am surprised you had trouble.

      As far as the telcos go, I don't feel sorry for them at all. They are horribly mismanaged, and misbill every single customer they have. They need more competition. Think where DSL was, until cable started really eating their lunch.

      --
      The strong do what they can, while the weak suffer what they must.
  45. Re:Ever notice... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    -1 offtopic...figures...bet it was a card-carrying republican reptile who modded that...but the truth hurts, huh buddy? enron = 911...and this is just more where that came from...look, the people are beginning to smell a rat again! let's do something hideous and blame some other guys, and thet'll distract 'em!

  46. Beyond 3G by jameskstew · · Score: 2, Informative

    The industry has been planning this for at least 5 years if not longer - most of the big technology companies and operators are working on network integration where the particular wireless access method is interchangeable. There are a vareity of business models, the primary one is the operator owns or leases access on GSM, 3G, DVB, DAB, WLAN networks and uses them to provide a range of multimedia services. Using a network management system they can move traffic between radio access systems to optimise bandwidth use. Another company peddling this technology is Calypso (http://www.calypsowireless.com).Nokia will bring out dual mode phones at the end of the year.The EC is funding a whole raft of project sin this area too. I have been working on a project to allow and exploit simultaneous use of multiple standards from one device (e.g. car, phone, laptop, home) (FLOWS) This would allow not only seamless hand over, but switching of part of the communication onto differetn wireles system as conditions change. However the whole vision is a bit of an engineers dream: fixed line firms see it as a way into wireless market, individuals with WiFi base stations will want to use them for V0IP, MVNOs and third party service providers will increasingly push voice to a commodity business. WLAN has a strong trajectory of its own outside the convergence telcom path. There are definite US -Europe - Japan - China - rest of the world differences in how it will be implemented too.

  47. This phone got it seriously backwards by iamacat · · Score: 2, Interesting

    cell phone that can seemlessly switch calls between cell networks and VoIP over WiFi, when it sees WiFi available to it

    No, I want a cell phone that can seemlessly switch my iBook's internet access between WiFi and cell networks when it sees that WiFi is not available. Just consider which situation is more common and design products accordingly.

    1. Re:This phone got it seriously backwards by TeknoHog · · Score: 1

      This laptop does WiFi/GPRS/CDMA/Bluetooth and then some, and runs a Transmeta processor.

      --
      Escher was the first MC and Giger invented the HR department.
  48. Windows? by JThundley · · Score: 1

    Why would the program necessarily be written for Windows?

    1. Re:Windows? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Why would the program necessarily be written for Windows?
      yeah! I want an Amiga version!

  49. Finally! by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Motorola has embraced this new fangled "digital" revolution! ;-)

  50. Re:Finally! A way to escape the at-home dead zone! by Jack+Porter · · Score: 1

    Here in Seoul, South Korea you regularly see "picocell" antennas for the 3 mobile networks in all kinds of places - underground bars, restaurants, subway stations, everywhere. My gym is 3 levels below street level and has its own antenna, so I get perfect coverage there too.

    It's pretty hard to find somewhere in this city where you don't have perfect cell coverage (including on the subway trains).

  51. A great idea outside the US by Findus+Krispy · · Score: 1

    In the UK and Spain (probably other EU countries too?) there is no such a thing as unlimited voice and data. We get charged a fortune just to use our phones occsasionally. This this thing could save us a fortune.

  52. Seen something similar before... by zazzel · · Score: 2, Insightful

    Okay, not *exactly* the same. However, I remember a combined GSM cellular/DECT phone years ago. DECT is the digital standard used for wireless phones in Europe. It would use your DECT base station when you were at home, and a GSM connection when you were not. It did not support things like seamless handover, so you couldn't just take your call with you.

    My GSM provider offers a virtual "home zone" 1km in diameter around my house, so I have cheap phone calls even using GSM. Plus, I have an additional local phone number. Important in Europe, since the calls to GSM phones are subject to higher charges.

    I don't see a huge market for this kind of VoIP except in certain business environments. Nowadays, every sensible person encrypts his WLAN anyways...

  53. TapRoot Systems by airuck · · Score: 3, Interesting

    TapRoot Systems has been working on 802.11b capable phones for some time now.

    I live in a rural university town which happens to have a large number of open hotspots in cafes, restaurants, and offices. It also happens to have terrible cell coverage. I'll be first in line for a WiFi capable phone.

    --
    First entomology, then virology, and finally bioinformatics systems. Bugs follow me wherever I go.
  54. MPX by bookemdano63 · · Score: 1

    Doesn't the "soon to be released" MPx phone offer this service? It has 802.11b support and claims to be able to switch back and forth. Wouldn't it just be a software upgrade for these phones?

  55. How about this by Publicus · · Score: 1

    How about we have a wireless phone that acts as a WiFi access point, providing network access to computers in its range through the service provider?

    Wouldn't that be more useful, and require essentially the same hardware as this?

    And yes, I know you can get a phone with a bluetooth adapter, but unfortunately most laptops now come with 802.11b but not bluetooth.

    --

    My Karma was at 49, then they switched to words. All that work for nothing!

  56. Follow the money before you get excited by ALeader71 · · Score: 1

    Being able to switch between a WiFi and a cell network at will is a cool feature. How will the cell service providers make money? If users (esp. business users) start using their VoIP cell phones (and not running up huge daytime minute charges) will we see some sort of kluge-ware or fee added in to disuade this practice?

    --
    Only the dead have seen the end of War. - Plato
  57. well by asv108 · · Score: 1

    I live in the relatively small town of State College, PA. Besides wifi at home, work, and certain spots around the campus, there are a lot of businesses who now offer free wifi access. So far the grocery store cafe, two coffee/lunch places, and four restaurants offer free wifi access for their customers. I wrote about in some detail here and here.

  58. It's being done by rbrome · · Score: 2, Interesting

    At 3GSM this year in Cannes, I was briefed by a company called Kineto. Motorola is actually working on several different wi-fi/cell phone technologies, and Kineto's technology is one of them.

    Personally, I think it'd be cool just to have a cell phone that could use my own WiFi at home and be cellular when I'm out in the rest of the world.

    That's exactly what Kineto's technology is designed to do. Or, for business accounts, it would use your business' WiFi when workers are in the office.

    Hopefully this would finally be a way to escape the "at-home dead zone" when I try and use my mobile down in the basement and I can get rid of that silly land-line once and for all!

    That's exactly the point of Kineto's technology.

    This could seriously hurt cell phone service providers.

    Hardly. In fact, some of them are preparing to offer this service themselves!

    The "at-home dead zone" is a top complaint among cellular customers. Until now, the solution has been building new towers near people's homes, which, as you get more rural, is increasingly expensive, since they know they are building towers that will always be underutilzied. It's basically a last-mile problem.

    For people who can already get broadband at home, this is an elegant and cost-effective soltuon. Carriers love it, because it means less complaints about coverage at home, fewer towers they have to build in rural areas, and, in more urban areas, less congestion on their crowded networks.

    This is already in real-world trials - it works. You should see carriers launching this commercially next year with bundled hardware - either Wi-Fi or long-range Bluetooth - and service plans that offer unlimited at-home minutes for very little money.

  59. YES!!! by Paulrothrock · · Score: 1

    This is what I've been waiting for! Perfect cell phone reception at home with VoIP, plus the ability to pick up my phone and leave home without worrying if someone will miss me by calling at home. Excellent.

    --
    I'm in the hole of the broadband donut.
  60. Wifi at home by LupeSpywalper · · Score: 1

    I've heard cell phones emits microwaves. Does this mean that i now can have a mobile wifi at home who can cook for me ?

  61. Re:Finally! A way to escape the at-home dead zone! by EisPick · · Score: 1

    These sorts of things are commerically available. This thing incorporates a small amplifier, so that you don't need to be right next to the internal antenna.

    It is a little pricey at $500, though.

  62. Walking before running by otisg · · Score: 1

    Personally, I'd be happy if the voice quality from cell phones first matched that of wired phones.

    What good is Wi-fi-able cell phone, when even with a regular cell phone I sometimes cannot understand the person on the other side?

    --
    Simpy
    1. Re:Walking before running by notsoclever · · Score: 1
      VoIP service usually sounds at least as good as landline, given a sufficiently high-bitrate CODEC, what with broadband connections having much more bandwidth available than a cellphone which usually gets in the 24-50Kbps range to play with (depending on provider and network type and signal strength and so on).

      VoIP to VoIP calls have the potential for sounding as good as the bandwidth will allow, meaning CD-quality. The nice thing about VoIP is that it allows both ends to negotiate which CODECs to use, and so if both ends support, say, mp3 or Vorbis, then you can use those CODECs. For most hardware SIP phones there's several choices as well, such as GSM, uLaw, aLaw, and iLBC.

      --
      There are 10 kinds of people: ones who understand ternary, ones who don't, and ones who think this joke is about binary
  63. Wi Fi Office Phones by LoudMusic · · Score: 1

    I've recently setup Wi-Fi (I hate that term) in my office and also had to do some telephone work the same week. It made me think how nice it would be to have Wi-Fi phones for all the employees and how easy it would be for them to get around with them. Myself especially as I move around the building most of the day.

    I don't know the real world benefit of Wi-Fi phones for consumers. I live in a reletively small town, 250,000 people, and Wi-Fi networks aren't as well blanketted as they would be in a town of a million or so. But it is a cool idea (:

    --
    No sig for you. YOU GET NO SIG!
  64. Cut out the extra hardware they hock?? by Phantom_24 · · Score: 1

    Does this mean I could update and manage my phones planner, phone book and just other cool stuff WITHOUT having to buy the extra $30-40 connection system Motorola makes you buy to connect to my computer?!?!?

    Sign me up !!

  65. Expect browser applets too ... by freaker_TuC · · Score: 1

    It fits in a scheme ...

    currently we use WAP mostly ...

    with the new high-resolution-screen battery-eating-cellphones of today you can use GPRS which are small applets that you can use ..

    So, the next logical step would be a mini-browser that can be used when you are logged in on a WIFI hotspot .. ? not ?

    --
    --- I am known for the ones who want to find me on the net. Is that a privacy risk or a privilege? One might wonder..
  66. Article Comment by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Otto writes "This AP article over at CNN talks about Motorola's plans to create a cell phone that can seemlessly switch calls between cell networks and VoIP over WiFi, when it sees WiFi available to it. Thus reducing on call costs. Personally, I think it'd be cool just to have a cell phone that could use my own WiFi at home and be cellular when I'm out in the rest of the world."

    But then it would do that wouldn't it? Jeez when will they RTFA's they submit.

  67. It has to be said: by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    I already have a job but I'm looking for a gf if any ladies are reading this in Perth West Australia. I am not pathetic.

    Yes you are.

    Although trying to hook up like this, you pretty much deserve whatever you get. Best of luck.

    Hints: go outside. Meet people. They aren't so scary. Talk to the women you see. Smile - that's important. Be nice, but not too nice. Don't ever get drunker than a woman you're trying to pick up. Don't randomly take your penis out.

    Fuck it, the fact that you made that your sig means you're too far gone. I'll just stop here...

  68. crap, crap and double crap by diitante · · Score: 1

    Thingsg are getting out of control. Regular cell phones dont even work half the time and now they want to put WiFi in there. It amazes me that sheeple will buy these products that time and time again are advertised to do great new things and never do. Cell phones are IMO the greatest scam in recent history. M

    --
    $ whatis msft msft: nothing appropriate
  69. Not until 802.1x encryption/authentication works by zerofoo · · Score: 1

    Gee, how would this work at my house? I've got my access point locked down via WPA and PEAP authentication. Is motorola going to include an 802.1x client for every type of wireless security? WPA? WEP? PEAP? LEAP? EAP-TLS?

    Until the next 802.whatever standard is ratified, this is going to be a kludge...

    -ted

  70. Cool, yes: Secure, no by LandGator · · Score: 1

    Folks, SIP just ain't a secure protocol. 802.11 is not a protocol I want to put my confidential voice traffic over.

    I think I am about 50th percentile when compared to other /. viewers and paranoia, and I chose a CDMA carrier for my office celfons because it is much harder to crack than TDMA, GSM and iDEN. Those systems don't properly encrypt, or don't encrypt at all.

    Granted, the traditional way to tap a phone is to slip ten C-notes to a switchroom tech, but since Qworst moved all of theirs to Tropical Minnesota, they are getting harder and harder to find, and I presume other cellular providers are also centralizing and downsizing their System Lords, too.

    --
    There is nothing wrong with yr Internet. Do not attempt to adjust the picture. We are controlling the transmission - NSA
  71. Re:Not until 802.1x encryption/authentication work by LandGator · · Score: 1

    http://slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=04/05/13/021124 8&mode=thread&tid=126&tid=137&tid=172&tid= 193 shows there are still more problems with WiFi security than we had dreamed of, Horatio.

    --
    There is nothing wrong with yr Internet. Do not attempt to adjust the picture. We are controlling the transmission - NSA
  72. Cell Antenna by LandGator · · Score: 1

    However, a powered repeater is a device which requires a license to install. If you install it, the carrier can have the FCC come down on you like a ton of bricks.

    Carriers do *not* like unauthorized picocells, and *do* report them to the FCC. You are intruding on *their* frequencies, for which they pay an obscene amount to the FCC.

    The ARRL reports every month on FCC enforcement actions against unlicensed idiots with radio gear. The fines are not cheap.

    Go with the passive approach, it's *much* safer, as well as cheaper just for the hardware. If you have problems with it, just ask a ham for help; we love this stuff!

    --
    There is nothing wrong with yr Internet. Do not attempt to adjust the picture. We are controlling the transmission - NSA