Cell Phones to Make WiFi Calls
Chipmaker Royal Philips Electronics confirmed that a U.S. cellular carrier will launch voice-over-Wi-Fi technology this year, based on Philips' new Nexperia 6120 chipset. Callers should be able to make calls on their home Wi-Fi networks for "a couple of bucks a month, flat rate," according to Philips' Carsten Schimanke.
The Nexperia 6120 chipset is in the Samsung SGH-T709 phone, Schimanke said. We saw the T709 at CES, and it's a slender, attractive slider phone. The solution uses Philips' BGW211 802.11g WLAN chipset, according to the company. The chipset adds about $12 to the price of a phone, Schimanke said.
Nexperia's UMA technology lets calls "tunnel" from Wi-Fi access points, through the Internet, and onto a cellular network. From there, the calls will be tracked by the carriers billing system and forwarded along to their destination.
Philips would not identify their carrier partner. But the Samsung T709 we saw at CES showed options to connect to T-Mobile Hotspots as well as home networks. T-Mobile is leveraging its Wi-Fi network as a competitor to other carriers' 3G high-speed cellular systems. With UMA, every home with a wireless LAN and every Starbucks becomes a place with full bars of signal, and that's compelling.
Copyright © 2006 Ziff Davis Media Inc. All Rights Reserved. Originally appearing in ExtremeTech.
Bibliography for "Cell Phones to Make WiFi Calls"
Sascha Segan "Cell Phones to Make WiFi Calls". ExtremeTech. February 2006. FindArticles.com. 20 Nov. 2006. http://www.findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_zdext/is_200602/ai_n16043872
The Nexperia 6120 chipset is in the Samsung SGH-T709 phone, Schimanke said. We saw the T709 at CES, and it's a slender, attractive slider phone. The solution uses Philips' BGW211 802.11g WLAN chipset, according to the company. The chipset adds about $12 to the price of a phone, Schimanke said.
Nexperia's UMA technology lets calls "tunnel" from Wi-Fi access points, through the Internet, and onto a cellular network. From there, the calls will be tracked by the carriers billing system and forwarded along to their destination.
Philips would not identify their carrier partner. But the Samsung T709 we saw at CES showed options to connect to T-Mobile Hotspots as well as home networks. T-Mobile is leveraging its Wi-Fi network as a competitor to other carriers' 3G high-speed cellular systems. With UMA, every home with a wireless LAN and every Starbucks becomes a place with full bars of signal, and that's compelling.
Copyright © 2006 Ziff Davis Media Inc. All Rights Reserved. Originally appearing in ExtremeTech.
Bibliography for "Cell Phones to Make WiFi Calls"
Sascha Segan "Cell Phones to Make WiFi Calls". ExtremeTech. February 2006. FindArticles.com. 20 Nov. 2006. http://www.findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_zdext/is_200602/ai_n16043872
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