WiFi phones in use

Sat, 17 May 2003 10:48:00 -0400
/technology

Fortune article titled “This Is Not a Cellphone”.

At 27 of Group Dekko’s 30 locations around the country, managers and supervisors use special handsets to make and receive voice calls on the same wireless broadband network the company uses for Internet access. The calls are converted to Internet Protocol data “packets.” They essentially travel for free as long as they stay on Group Dekko’s wireless intranet.

So why not marry the two technologies (WiFi + GSM)? In fact, Motorola, Proxim, and Avaya are jointly developing handsets and gear that will let callers roam between the two types of wireless networks. By the end of the year the companies will begin testing phones that run voice over Wi-Fi in the office and voice over cellular on the go.

This is what’s going to kill 3G and strip most of the profit out of being a mobile GSM network provider.