Cellular Phones = Stone Tablet Technology
Ever since Apple’s airport technology has popularized Wi-Fi you can now find wireless hotspots nearly anywhere that you spend a lot of time. At home, at work, the airport and the local cafe are all expected to have wireless installed and the coverage is growing every day. If you don’t believe me, check out this map created by SoCalWUG (the Southern California Wireless Users Group) where they flew over LA in an airplane to see how many hotspots they could find. Wi-Fi uses an unlicensed band of our radio spectrum which brings up some interesting issues.
In Japan and Taiwan, cell phone makers already sell models of phones that not only use the local cellular network but can switch to use internet connections over Wi-Fi so that you don’t have to use up or pay for precious minutes. Like most good technologies, this may have arrived in Asia first but it is just now beginning to trickle down to the second-class USofA:
The new Wi-Fi handset, to be known as the F-1000, would be designed to work with Vonage phone service out of the box for U.S. subscribers. The phones would take advantage of local radio airwaves on the most mainstream of Wi-Fi standards—the so-called “B” standard.
The Wi-Fi handset can act as a replacement to traditional fixed-line phones that a subscriber might have around the house. It can also work when it is within range of any nearby Wi-Fi hotspot out of the house, according to UTStarcom.
If you think turning all the cable/telecom/power companies into dumb pipes is a revolution, imagine what the impact will be on the cellular phone industry. Today we have several companies that have virtual monopolies in each major market using incompatible wireless technologies. If you’ve ever had to deal with the poor service and extortionate fees of a cellphone I am sure that you will eagerly anticipate the early death of the cellular firms. Remember when they promised “wireless internet”? Be careful what you wish for…
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