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Signal Handoff Could Mean Roaming VoIP over WiFi
wassup writes "According to this article in MIT tech review (and here), researchers at University of California San Diego have developed a technology called SyncScan that will reduce handoff delay in WiFi networks to a few milliseconds. VoIP roaming will be here soon!"
In short, yes. It very well could be. I know that Skype is MUCH higher quality than even my landline phone. VoIP has a lot of potential.
Compare the cost of Voip to your cellular carrier charges and it will very quickly make sense.
This idea is obvious in retrospect, as all really useful ideas are. Its basically a modification of the normal behaviour to take into account recent changes in WiFi usage. Instead of intensively hunting for a new AP when the signal has nearly died, the system checks more regularly, but much less intensively, so that it is ready to switch at a moments notice.
I hope they get paid for this.
Of course, this will only work for APs that you have legitimate access to, so if you come within reach of a restricted AP (on a different net maybe) then it can't handover to that, so "roaming" is perhaps too strong a word.
VOIP does use TCP sockets for the initial data setup but UDP for actual voice streaming. This problem could be solved with some overlap of the wireless access point ranges and two network interfaces. One could get a DHCP lease on the upcoming network while the other still streams, and then once the first network is out of range instantly switch over to the other interface. Just a thought.
Canadian Cynic, canadian politics is less boring than you
I don't know about the name. Phone companies have always worked on the basis that they had something we needed - a network of transmitters maintained 24/7 and connected to the general phone system. Local calls in cities don't need to touch the phone system, or even the internet, just switch on some cheap routers and let them create a city wide network at practically no cost - it would be like one big cordless phone, sure it would probably be patchy, but people would live with it for most calls - which in the city go something like:
"hey where are you? im outside x"
"oh im like 1 minute away from x, stay there"
and text messaging would work fine. If there was congestion or you wanted to call a land line then your phone just switches to your usual network and you pay for the call. Personally i think this would be good for everyone including the networks - that push-to-talk bullshit is a lesser version of this.
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Cell operators like Verizon spend BILLIONS on proprietary "3G" networks. Their networks require lots of towers, yet have poor coverage and lots of "signal shadows". WiMax access points have ranges from 30-50 MILES and don't have the same signal shadow problems. WiMax phone networks will steamroll cell operators with cheap networks yet better coverage and service.
cpeterso