Can't We All Get Along?

Remember the days before the car phone and the cell phone? It seems hard to imagine how we functioned without them.

There’s another development coming that will have us asking another question in a couple years. Remember when we had to hang up the call because we knew we would lose the signal? “Let me call you back, I’m gonna lose you”.

There are a couple things still missing with our mobile communications technology, speed and a constant connection. Soon this changes.

Applications like VoIP (voice over Internet) are shaking things up in the wireless and landline world. VoIP on a cell phone is useless if the signal gets dropped. Just because it’s cheap doesn’t make it functional. What makes it functional is constant connection. This application, however, is the catalyst that will force the service providers to change their business model. It could also create and destroy some businesses and business models.

We are seeing the introduction of VoIP services from the Vonage’s, Skype, Yahoo IM, and even cable companies. Service providers, at the same time, will be trying to increase their revenues with 3G. 3G will give us faster speeds, but will it eliminate dropped calls?

At the same time a quiet development is taking shape that could eliminate the service providers altogether. Pay attention service providers.

Microsoft , Symbian, and Palm’s latest offerings that include Wi-Fi, should have the service providers sweating a little. I can see the control shift already. See where this is going?

But I wonder, why is it an either/or, but a why can’t they compliment each other?
Each technology has its pluses.

Could this be a functional, cheap, Iridium concept? This is one phone number, anywhere in the world?

Could I have one phone that functions at home/office through my broadband (Wi-Fi), and when I become mobile I use the cell tower AND Wi-Fi hotspots? Is there technology that would allow my cell phone to be continuously looking for the best and fastest signal? Could you have broadband for mobile apps and calls never get dropped?

How hard would it be to create one ubiquitous hotspot with Wi-Fi bases? NOT VERY.


Stay tuned for my thoughts on this monster idea.

All these ponderings are not new.

This concept was designed and being implemented by an organization called Unlicensed Mobile Access (UMA).

“Unlicensed Mobile Access (UMA) technology provides access to GSM and GPRS mobile services over unlicensed spectrum technologies, including Bluetooth and 802.11. By deploying UMA technology, service providers can enable subscribers to roam and handover between cellular networks and public and private unlicensed wireless networks using dual-mode mobile handsets. With UMA, subscribers receive a consistent user experience for their mobile voice and data services as they transition between networks.”

Some of the participants include: Alcatel, British Telecom, Cingular, Ericsson, Kineto, Motorola, Nortel, O2, Siemens, Sony and T-Mobile.

All those problems discussed above are solved and your killer app phone can be introduced.

However, there’s one problem. Just because some of the biggest telecom companies create an organization to dominate the next generation of technology, that doesn’t exclude them from abiding by the intellectual property laws.

There is patented technology out there that provides a system that enables Mobile Carriers and Internet Service Providers to identify and authenticate the mobile user, thereby creating a platform for revenue sharing between the synergistic companies and increased revenues for them by delivering new added services such as two way real-time video conferencing

It could also provide significant savings to Mobile Carriers in additional frequency spectrum and infrastructure equipment by offloading capacity to the Wireless Local Area Networks (WLAN) and IP networks while providing additional sources of revenues providing newly services such as real time two way video conferencing, fast internet connection and VoIP.

See the cable company’s role now?

Wouldn’t this “switch” always provide the best continuous signal?
Wouldn’t this provide broadband for the mobile device?
Wouldn’t this make the cell phone truly functional and open up many applications?
Wouldn’t this be “THE” infrastructure for mobile communications?


Would love comments on this one.