[asterisk-biz] Rugged Wifi SIP phones

[Matthew Rubenstein]

On Thu, 2008-01-17 at 14:41 -0800, Nitzan Kon wrote:
> --- Matthew Rubenstein <email at mattruby.com> wrote:
> 
> > 	Mobile "VoWiFi" will probably not work well enough for prime time
> > until after it includes at least 802.11r (
> http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/802.11r ), which specifies handoffs
> > between base stations fast enough to handle moving vehicles
> 
> Oooh, I like this one! would pretty much spell the death of the
> cellphone as we know it in urban areas... (or at least the death of
> cellphone pricing as we know it, lol)
> 
> The real question though, is who's going to deploy the 802.11r
> networks... if it's AT&T/Verizon/etc. then things are not going to
> change at all as they'll just overprice the underlying network to a
> point it can't compete with cellular... if however independent
> companies will be able to deploy.. well, think about it - if you could
> have a wi-fi phone which works seamlessly everywhere (home & outside in
> major cities), but costs a fraction of the price of home+cell service -
> would you keep your cellphone?? :)

	It's not the base stations (the "networks"), but the handsets, that
have to support 802.11r/802.21 . With 802.11r/802.21 handsets, anyone
can set up 802.11r/802.21 base stations where they want to handoff
seamlessly between them, and between the cell/PCS networks.

> We're talking a few years from now.. but it's coming!


	There are already UWB handsets ahead of the 802.21 spec, and probably
802.11r handsets will be available at/before that spec is formally
published. Depending on the specs of those formats, there might need to
be compliance by the telco carriers in making their own networks support
them for returning to their network from the others or for terminating
the carriage when the handset leaves their telco network. But even
there, these standards enable "piconets", which are the only economical
way for telcos to fill the holes in coverage that are their biggest
operating problem. And with private networks set up without telco
investment, that could encourage telcos to also support it. Though I
won't be surprised to see telcos bill for the entire length of a call,
despite however little a fraction of its duration might be carried on
the telco's own network.


>   -- Nitzan
> 
-- 

(C) Matthew Rubenstein