Home  ›  News  ›

Industry Leaders Collaborate on GSM-over-Wi-Fi

Article Comments  

all discussions

show all 17 replies

Bye bye Verizon

jsnkir

Sep 2, 2004, 7:53 PM
HAHA... hmm where is Verizon... you guys are screwed... no good phones... all you got is your precious network... but the table will turn... HAHAHAHAHAHAHHA
...
slappy00

Sep 2, 2004, 11:26 PM
quote from the UMA tech webpage

"A mobile subscriber with a UMA-enabled, dual-mode handset moves within range of an unlicensed wireless network to which the handset is allowed to connect."

This is simply an alternative way to conect to a GSM network using a short-range WiFi connection, when available. Now you have to


  1. be near a network that supports this
  2. Be authententicated to enter this AP
  3. Have a compatible phone


Now this is of no significance to a person who just uses their phone as a "phone" since it does not matter how a person connects to the network, as long as they do to make the phone call. For people living in well covered areas this will be of no importance. In the corporate world UMA m ...
(continues)
...
viper

Sep 3, 2004, 9:23 AM
"This means really a whole lot of nothing to most people. In fact if anything it shows that GSM is trying to get better coverage for free by forcing you and me to supply our own coverage, when the responsibility should squarely be theirs ("Ghetto" if you ask me). So i dont get wht you are trying to say, maybe you don't yourself even know"

not entirely. EV-Do has enabled verizon to score well in regards to corporate contracts. This wifi/gsm is targeted to business users. Business might not use it all that much but it is its a feature they want in case they need it.

so wifi/gsm is basically an advertising expense to sell voice plans.
...
Rich Brome

Sep 3, 2004, 10:51 AM
... In fact if anything it shows that GSM is trying to get better coverage for free by forcing you and me to supply our own coverage, when the responsibility should squarely be theirs ("Ghetto" if you ask me).

In a way, you've hit squarely on the primary application for this, although I disagree on calling it "ghetto".

How often do people complain about coverage at home? (A lot.) Everyone wants their nice quiet little home in the 'burbs or countryside. And like good NIMBYs, they raise hell when someone wants to put up a cell tower in their neighborhood, but then turn around and complain just as mightily when they can't get cell phone coverage in their back yard.

It's not just the NIMBYs, though. Once you get o...
(continues)
...
SPCSVZWJeff

Sep 3, 2004, 12:45 PM
Rich, you are right in saying that this is a great breakthrough.
But for those who are pronouncing the doom of CDMA they should understand that the CDG has been working on a 802.11g subcarrier standard. In fact the next recycle of the AT&T brand in wireless has it as a plan on the Sprint network. I believe they are waiting for EVDV or they may go for EVDO so they can have a high speed data network as well.
...
disturbed1

Sep 3, 2004, 1:17 PM
I have to agree here. I have wretched cell coverage in my home. And while I would have no problem with putting a cell tower in this area I know that my landlord (who owns nearly the whole neighborhood) would oppose it with great fervor and get it pigeonholed because it would mean that he'd have to charge lower rent. And it's already pretty damned low, I pay $450 a month for a 3 bedroom house by myself.

I'd agree greatly with being able to have perfect coverage in my house if I could make a one time purchase of an $80 box and then tack on $10 a month to keep it running. That's still cheaper than having landline AND a cell.

My question is this: I live in a tight neighborhood, as do most in city areas. From house to house we're well...
(continues)
...
slappy00

Sep 3, 2004, 6:53 PM
Ok say you do live in the middle of no-where (and i happen to be in one area code 61455, where there is only CDMA coverage), and you happen to have DSL service. So you say ok ill sign up for this WiFi Access to the GSM network, now you do get a discount whereby your minutes used on the WiFi do not count against your plan (unlimited as it were). SO you now got this area (maybe oh say 200m square) where you can use your phone. Ok that's all well and good, but your quality of your call will depend on the lattency of your network as well as the volume of calls at the Wireless Provider's end. So lets say you are all like "crap crap i need to call the boss and tell him that the TPC reports ( 🙂 ) are going to be in tommarrow" and you call after c...
(continues)
...
Rich Brome

Sep 3, 2004, 9:40 PM
...as an alternative to a well designed network of towers i think this idea falls short, but as a private way to conserve minutes or fill out those "dead-spots" this hits right on.

And that's the point. I don't think anyone expects this to replace a network in populated areas or make having a bad network an OK thing. But it may ease capacity issues in urban areas and permit "coverage" where there wouldn't be otherwise.

It may lead to slower tower build-out in sparsely-populated areas, but then what we're really talking about is fewer towers that would be underutilized (and thus unprofitable) anyway, so hopefully there's a cost savings that ultimately makes the service cheaper overall.


YOu
...
(continues)
...
Aleq

Sep 4, 2004, 4:47 PM
Hey, there's a 600 square mile area around Hermiston OR that is sparsely populated and prohibitively expensive to drop land line wiring into, so the whole place is blanketed with WiFi access points and everybody uses voiceover IP instead of regular phone lines. You can get the internet with a WiFi card in the middle of a watermelon patch, but there are no pay phones--that just cracks me up! 😁
...
SPCSVZWJeff

Sep 3, 2004, 5:32 PM
The network is precious and the phone issues are being addressed. You sound pretty confident about a technology which is not yet created or deployed.
The CDG (CDMA Development Group) has been working on this for some time and carriers have announced interest in the technology. It will probably be available for both CDMA and GSM at about the same time, except the CDMA version will allow for DSL or even cable speeds on the data side.
Phones will be scarce and very expensive so it will probably initially only affect the techie elite class of users.
...
Rich Brome

Sep 3, 2004, 9:51 PM
SPCSVZWJeff said:
...It will probably be available for both CDMA and GSM at about the same time, except the CDMA version will allow for DSL or even cable speeds on the data side. ...


Actually, the GSM version does that, too.
...
jwbass1985

Sep 4, 2004, 12:55 AM
Is there any idea when this technology will become available??
...
BrandonP63

Sep 4, 2004, 8:29 PM
No clue. Instead of creating a seperate standard that requires you phone to support it, can't companies create a device that plugs into your network and broadcasts a short-range traditional GSM signal? Then you wouldn't have to buy a phone that supports this seperate standard to be able to use it.
...
jwbass1985

Sep 5, 2004, 12:36 AM
more than likely, yes they could, but the question is, "will they?"
...
Rich Brome

Sep 5, 2004, 7:07 PM
No, actually they couldn't.

GSM operates in licensed spectrum, which means someone owns it, and it must be carefully controlled.

GSM technology is designed with that in mind. Towers have to be placed and tuned very carefully to avoid interference. If you there were some kind of micro-tower device like you describe, it would most likely create problems for the network and/or your phone.

Plus I don't think it would be legal. The FCC has given ownership of that spectrum to the carriers like T-Mobile. There are rules about hot it can be used, and I don't think that includes letting customers set up their own base stations.

Even then, the technology just isn't that small. The very smallest "micro" base stations - designed for i...
(continues)
...
cellboy

Sep 6, 2004, 9:57 AM
your the man Rich. Laying the smack down on the non- believers. This is my question about it though, and it was asked by someone else but not answered. With this tech am i going to be able to use it at any wi-fi hot spot or just the one I'm paying my $10 bucks for? i mean like when Ive got my powerbook with me and i go to that annoying chain of coffee houses thats on every corner and they all have wi fi i just turn my book on and surf. same thing in school and at work, and so forth wherever theres a hot spot I'm surfing. is this going to be the same way? am i just going to be able to go to any wi fi hot spot and say ill make my call here to avoid minute usage? I think if that happened it would be great especially in the city. i would never g...
(continues)
...
Rich Brome

Sep 6, 2004, 9:40 PM
I think it will depend on the company deploying it, as well as the hot-spot operator. There are a lot of different scenarios where that might or might not work.

I think in most cases it would not. For example, the T-Mobile hotspots at Starbucks are not free. Even many free hotspots are set up where you have to view a special welcome web page in a browser before you can start using them. Campus and corporate wi-fi networks usually require authentication... None of that is going to work with a random wi-fi phone.

The hotspots will have to be specifically set up to authenticate authorized phones. I could see T-Mobile doing that with their hotspot network, (for T-Mobile customers only,) and of course businesses will do it for employees wit...
(continues)
...
viper

Sep 6, 2004, 8:34 AM
Richard,

Excellent point. GSM over Wifi voip in the home can accelerate mobile replacement of fixed lines and settle capacity and coverage issues in the home.

AT&T mobile will allegedly pursue Wifi over phones to join its general pursuit of VoIP.
Sprint pcs will be the host for AT&T's new network so my guess is that cdma carriers must have something up their sleeve as well.
...

This forum is closed.

Please log in to report a message to the moderator.

This forum is closed.


all discussions

Subscribe to Phone Scoop News with RSS Follow @phonescoop on Threads Follow @phonescoop on Mastodon Phone Scoop on Facebook Follow on Instagram

 

Playwire

All content Copyright 2001-2024 Phone Factor, LLC. All Rights Reserved.
Content on this site may not be copied or republished without formal permission.