Silicon Investor (SI) -- The First Internet Community

STOCKTALK

We've detected that you're using an ad content blocking browser plug-in or feature. Ads provide a critical source of revenue to the continued operation of Silicon Investor. We ask that you disable ad blocking while on Silicon Investor in the best interests of our community. If you are not using an ad blocker but are still receiving this message, make sure your browser's tracking protection is set to the 'standard' level.

Technology Stocks : Intel Corporation (INTC) -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: Amy J who wrote (181224)	5/18/2005 6:33:50 PM
From: Saturn V	Read Replies (2) \| Respond to of 186894

VOIP, WiFi and Cell phones VOIP over an internet connection has become commonplace. About eighteen months ago I heard that Motorola and another company were developing a cell phone to run VOIP over WiFi. Such a contraption would make sense in a large company campus setting like Intel, Cisco, HP,IBM. The company campuses have WiFi everywhere, so a cell phone based upon WiFi becomes practical and cheaper, when used on the company campus. However since the WiFi range is only a hundred yards, the gadget would have to revert to the conventional cell phone service provider when out of range. However I have not heard anything further about the above contraption and I have not seen anyone with such a gadget. Maybe the project has been scrubbed because of insufficient volumes and technical challenges. I wonder if the VOIP telephone number and the cell phone number would be the same on such a gadget. I am not aware of a WiMax provider in the Bay Area. The Bay area does not even have 3G cell phone service. I am curious to try out 3G phones, but no luck so far.

To: Amy J who wrote (181224)	5/18/2005 9:23:18 PM
From: Saturn V	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 186894

Range Limitation of WiMax WiMax will have a range comparable to Cellular. The Wimax uses higher frequencies than Cellular, which have a reduced range. But the WiMax standard is a more advanced standard than cellular, and uses some newer technical tricks tricks.Irrespective the range of WiMax is several miles compared to a hundred yards for WiFi. I do not know what kind of WiMax ranges have been obtained in actual field trials. WiMax for telephony will come a few years later. The first step is to establish it a provider of High Speed Last Mile Technology, then as a vehicle to deliver high bandwidth to portable devices like laptops and PDAs. The VOIP for cell phones will come last, since existing carriers are firmly entrenched and the high cellular handset volumes and the economy of scale creates major entry barriers for a new technology.