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VOIP Cell Phones Coming Soon

Posted by ryuzaki0 on from the it-can-even-cut-through-this-tin-can dept.

prostoalex writes "Associated Press reports on the latest cell phones with WiFi support demoed at this year's CTIA Wireless 2006 conference. New models fall back to WiFi hotspot when the user is at home, at work, or cellular signal gets too weak. Biggest surprise? The cell phone conversation is not dropped when the switch between cellular network and WiFi hotspot takes place."

8 of 138 comments (clear)

  1. Re:Shouldn't it be reverse? by HazE_nMe · · Score: 5, Informative
    From TFA:
    UMA works by tunneling cellular information packets through the Internet when Wi-Fi is available and reverting to cellular towers when it is not.

    From what the article said, it does prefer wifi over cell towers.

  2. Just what we need... by ImaNihilist · · Score: 5, Insightful

    Something to piss off the big phone companies even more. Once Qwest gets bought out there will only be two left: Verizon and AT&T. Add in the two big broadband providers, Comcast and AOL TimeWarner and you've got a grand total of four companies that will control everything. You better believe that if most voice communications go VoIP/broadband that they are going to have their annual meeting behind closed doors a little early to discuss how everyone needs to start charging a per GB monthly fee for data. Sure, they'll do it under the guise of "extra" speed and lower prices. "Get Comcast Highspeed for just $19.99* per month! 15Mbps speeds! *$19.99 for the first 10GB and just $1 per GB after that" Pft.

    1. Re:Just what we need... by bhima · · Score: 5, Informative

      I don't get what you're whining about... It's fair that people pay for excessive transfer volumes. The ISP connection packages in the US have always baffled me... there are so few choices.

      Here in Austria we may have fewer ISPs but the number of available packages dwarfs what is available in the US... For example my mum has a package with medium bandwidth but very low transfer volume, this gives her a nice experience on the internet (and the computer updates actually get done) for the nearly the same price as dial up. I have a high bandwidth with a "Fair Use" transfer volume that is un-metered during off hours, and my little brother has the high bandwidth unlimited transfer volume package for his attempt to collect all the porn in the known universe.

      It's not the paying for transfer volume that's bad... it's the unethical business practices of American businesses that's bad.

      --
      Nothing in the world is more dangerous than sincere ignorance and conscientious stupidity.
  3. Here in Japan by mxpengin · · Score: 5, Informative

    Big news, Japan has had cell phones with VoIP support since 2004. nice technology .

    --
    "We all know Linux is great...it does infinite loops in 5 seconds." -- Linus
  4. Re:Shouldn't it be reverse? by johndapunk · · Score: 5, Interesting

    A good reason not to do this is availibility cell tower slots and resulting customer service issue of dropped calls. Cingular is advertising their great low drop call percentage... what they don't tell you is the number of calls that are not able to be completed. I live in a college town and at busy hours of the day I cannot make a phone call for one to two hour stretches. The thing to consider is that cell towers have a greater service area, so when you leave the WiFi hotspot and try to use the nice big cell tower, you call gets dropped because the tower can not handle your call. This makes people angry that their call got dropped by their provider and may make them want to switch. The whole idea is that falling back onto the WiFi hotspot will give the uptime for calls. Generally the only time cell coverage will drop is when you go inside builds, which is also the place where you have the greatest chance of picking up a WiFi signal. I can't wait for my WiMax phone :-)

    --
    Quit yelling.
  5. Biggest Suprise? by LowbrowDeluxe · · Score: 5, Interesting

    "The cell phone conversation is not dropped when the switch between cellular network and WiFi hotspot takes place."

    Speaking as ex tech-support for an VOIP service that will remain anonymous, allow me to say that half the time American VOIP service over anything except fiber-optic can't manage to maintain a phone call period. =p
    I'm not sure I believe the Japanese firms are really doing it any better, but they do have a better infrastructure set up, so maybe it does work halfway decently.

    It might help if the half of America that jumped on VOIP because it was cheap would at least update the rest of their technology along with it. No matter how good the connection your ISP is giving you is, if you're still using a modem and router that would manage higher data transmission rates if converted to carrier pigeon roosts, your overall experience will be lousy.
    And wiring. Ma Bell laid copper wire may be good enough for the telecomms to still wring a profit out of, but it's probably not helping your connection any. Nor are the cords that have been hidden behind your desk getting chewed by cats for the last ten years.
    Also, interference from large stacks of electronics piled on your desk, certain brands of laptop and ginormous desktop monitors, halogen lights, and having metals like a fridge, or say, wall full of plumbing between your wireless router and where-ever you're trying to use equipment.
    Allright, I'm going to shut up now. Suffice to say, I could go on for two more pages at least.
    It's a good technology with 'a lot of potential', but as for something for widespread daily use? That marriage of consumer and product will be about as good as the one to the girl with the 'nice personality'. If they were lying about the personality. =p

    And then there's cell phones. Never did the tech support for those, but I saw it.
    "Your cell phone isn't working? Hmmm, let me check a few things."
    *Anonymous network down across the entire southwest*
    "Well, it might be a network problem, we'll get you back up as soon as possible. What? No, only a few people affected I'm sure."

    Ah, the lies, the horrible, horrible lies.....

    *cough* Sorry, my therapist said I was over it....

    *He lied too!!!!*

  6. Perhaps this guy can use it by mgabrys_sf · · Score: 5, Interesting

    Looks like some people need VOIP badly.

    A guy in Malaysia got hit with a 281 trillion dollar bill:

    http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/12247590/

    And believe it or not, the phone company hasn't fessed up to an error as of yet and is threatening full criminal charges for non-payment.

    What's the interest on a 281 trillion dollar loan anyway? I think only the US Treasury could tabulate it.

  7. Re:Shouldn't it be reverse? by giorgiofr · · Score: 5, Funny

    You clearly haven't been living in a capitalist country for long if you think that companies give a damn about what the consumer wants.

    Whereas in a communist country they certainly do.

    --
    Global warming is a cube.