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To: jackmore who wrote (135031)	7/29/2004 5:46:54 PM
From: jackmore	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 152472

More from Andy on WiFi... The Fight For Indoors This week Motorola announced a combination GSM and Wi-Fi wireless phone (model CN620). This phone provides Wi-Fi support including all three flavors of the 802.11 standard (a, g, and b) and worldwide GSM coverage on four different portions of spectrum. Don't for a minute think that this is a standalone product. I am certain Motorola and other vendors will be heavily promoting the infrastructure to support this phone. Comments from Motorola so far indicate that someone on a GSM system could roam into a Wi-Fi system and the call would be transferred to Voice Over IP (VoIP) inside a company (for example) that had installed the proper infrastructure and interconnections between its in-house Wi-Fi system and a wide-area GSM network. Meanwhile, T-Mobile, in conjunction with HP, launched a new GSM/Wi-Fi PDA (HP model h6315). This first PDA offering from T-Mobile is designed to permit customers to use the wide-area GPRS network or Wi-Fi hotspots. At present, the phone does not support VoIP. Many companies are working hard and fast in the area of providing movement between the wide-area and local-area or in-building wireless networks, some wireless providers will be working on their own WAN/Wi-Fi systems, and a number of Wi-Fi/GSM and Wi-Fi/CDMA phones will come to market. I guess I am missing something here. I don't get the business model. Certainly being able to send and receive data faster over a Wi-Fi connection than over a GPRS/EDGE or CDMA 1XRTT network might be compelling for those who want to wean themselves from carrying a notebook computer. The T-Mobile/HP announcement seems to make sense in that light, and T-Mobile is the one provider that has an extensive GSM/GPRS network along with an extensive hotspot network. Add to this that T-Mobile's data pricing is the most aggressive in the U.S. market and it could have a combination product that does well. But what about the Motorola and other wide-area and Wi-Fi phones? Is there really a market for them? Cisco has a Wi-Fi phone designed to provide mobility when inside corporate walls, but users have to revert to a wireless wide-area phone when they leave the premises. Other phones are already on the market and many are about to be introduced. What is the big deal here? Are these phones just a case of technology for the sake of technology or is there a market for them? In the Other Corner There are all manner of in-building extensions for wide-area networks -- repeaters from companies such as SpotCell, in-building phones from Telular (see my previous articles on these two devices), and more on the way. Why would I want to mix technologies for data (wide-area and Wi-Fi) when in most cases a higher-speed DSL-like wide-area system would provide high-speed data services from a single source? Why would I want a combination GSM/Wi-Fi phone or CDMA/Wi-Fi phone if my wide-area phone was providing coverage both inside and outside of the places I normally go? Since I have a monthly contract for 1,000 minutes of service that includes long distance and roaming at a fixed monthly rate, what would I be saving? The only reason I can see for having one of these combination phones is if it provided better in-building coverage. My personal experience indicates that I have coverage most places I go, and when I am in a meeting inside a building I am not going to answer my phone anyway. I cannot imagine that answering my phone during a meeting and basically saying to the other participants that the call I am receiving is more important than they are would be favorably received. Perhaps having a Wi-Fi-capable phone and VoIP service would be helpful. But when I am not at my desk I am usually involved in a meeting with a group of people or having a conversation with a co-worker, neither of which should be interrupted. I understand the HP/T-Mobile PDA since these devices are designed to access data, I just don't get the wide-area/Wi-Fi phone system. Some think they will save money using Wi-Fi for voice calls where it is available, but I already pay a flat rate for my phone service. If I ran out of minutes month after month, I would change plans, look at Sprint PCS's offerings that bill based on what is actually used, or perhaps sign up for Cingular with roll-over minutes. I could understand the rush to Wi-Fi phone combinations if I was paying $0.50 per minute for wide-area phone calls and could get Wi-Fi calls for free or for a fraction of the price, but the bottom line is that even if I used my phone on Wi-Fi half of the time my bill would remain basically the same. Am I missing something? Will combination phones help wireless operators build less sites? Will Wi-Fi phones help them provide service where they don't have coverage inside buildings today? With Wi-Fi for data, some people think about where the nearest Starbucks is so they can connect via Wi-Fi and get their latest email. But once they have EV-DO or WCDMA, they no longer have to seek out a coffee shop or a McDonalds. In fact, in my testing in San Diego so far, I have not even had to subscribe to a hotel's wired Internet system because EV-DO provides the high-speed access I want and need. So what am I missing? Why are Motorola, and soon many other wireless phone companies, going to be selling wide-area and Wi-Fi phones? If I am a corporation with 300 employees, am I supposed to have each of them buy a new phone that has both wide-area and Wi-Fi built in so that they can answer a phone call when they are away from their desk but inside the company walls? What is that going to cost me? And what are the long-term benefits? Wi-Fi makes sense for data services, and I believe that Wi-Fi and wide-area high-speed data systems will be integrated. But I fail to see a reason to integrate voice between wide-area and Wi-Fi. Perhaps I'm just dense. If there is no financial incentive for me to have a dual-mode voice phone, what is my motivation for replacing my wide-area phone with a dual capability phone? I guess my final question is if Wi-Fi continues to expand and interference issues continue to be more prevalent, am I better off with a Wi-Fi phone that works sometimes in some places or with a wide-area phone that works in most places most of the time? Andrew M. Seybold -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- The Outlook 4Mobility provides its commentaries free of charge. Outlook 4Mobility products and services include Consulting Services, Mobiltorials, Newsletters, Customized Proprietary Research, Wireless Tutorials and Conferences. Please visit our web site at www.4mobility.com for additional information. Copyright 2004 Outlook 4Mobility