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Motorola Plans Wi-Fi Cell Phones

Posted by timothy on from the wifi-jump-ropes-are-next dept.

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."

2 of 195 comments (clear)

  1. 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...

  2. 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

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    -- Sig meltdown immine...