Nokia 6136, Motorola A910 and other UMA phones. What OEM’s aren’t telling anyone

Staska  By on 20 Feb 06

With Wi-Fi enabled cell phone, why do would you need a separate network? When you are on Wi-Fi , you don't need any cell carrier services, except to receive calls to your number. The only thing you really need is VoIP software client on the phone that makes use of the Internet connection. You don't even have to have a mobile data plan.

And this could be a great opportunity for VoIP. So far the biggest hurdle for the adoption of these services was the necessity to have additional hardware - PC with microphone and speakers or headset, VoIP adapter or Wi-Fi phone. Sure free VoIP is nice and I use it a lot to talk to friends all over the world. But to use them as a real telephone replacement? Sorry, too cumbersome. What if I'm not at my computer when a phone call comes in? What if my PC is turned off? What if I left my headphone jack in PC and all the calls are muted? What if my Internet line is down? So the landline or mobile phone is a must. Till now.

With UMA phone I can have all the benefits of mobile phone, POTS and VoIP without any limitations of each. With VoIP software client sitting in the mobile phone I am able to make free or cheap Internet calls from any hotspot. When I'm at home or office all my calls are rooted through VoIP and are really cheap. I don't have to run to my PC when you Skype me. I just pick up my cell. If I want to call my friends on other networks or in other countries, I just Skype them. If they aren't on Skype, I Skype Out. If there's no Internet connection, I use GSM service. If you want to Skype me when I'm out, you Skype In. And all this is happening seamlessly on the same cell phone. I don't even have to know that I'm using some additional service.

I can see why this may be the final straw that broke the POTS back, but for VoIP providers it's a major opportunity. Skype already has a client for Pocket PC. And there are third party applications enabling Skyping from Series 60 mobile phone via PC and Bluetooth. So the software implementation is not that difficult. GTalk and Vonage shouldn’t be far behind in this.

And I think that VoIP is just the beginning... Continue on next page

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http://furrybeanbag.com                Mark
            
        
    
        
    
            
    Sure free VoIP is nice and I use it a lot to talk to friends all over the world. But to use them as a real telephone replacement? Sorry, too cumbersome. What if I’m not at my computer when a phone call comes in? What if my PC is turned off? What if I left my headphone jack in PC and all the calls are muted? What if my Internet line is down?
    

    You make it sound like VoIP is ONLY a computer based solution.  Sunrocket, Vonage, etc. are not computer based VoIP solutions, and you completely disregard this fact.  My VoIP will forward to my cell phone in the event of a power failure, internet congestion, etc.  Additionally, your perfect model of the phone world consolidates all phone communication into a single handset, and therefore a single phone number.  Sorry, but I don’t want EVERYONE in the world having the number to my mobile.  Let them talk to my answering machine if they want to sell me something.
    

    
        
    

    
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                stace
            
        
    
        
    
            
    I am not sure that we disagree here on something. My point was that VoIP at least seems too unreliable, PC based or not. Especially here in Europe, where there isn’t as many VoIP options. 
    

    UMA takes nothing away from current VoIP providers. It only gives them and us additional options. 
    

    With UMA I can have the cheapest plan from my wireless provider for backup and call forwarding and use VoIP for all other needs. 
    

    Yes my model conslidates everything into a single handset. But why is it a bad thing? 
    

    I can have Vonage, Sunrocket, Skype and Gtalk on my mobile phone at the same time. And I don’t have to give people my mobile phone number. I can give some of them my  Vonage number, others can have my Gtalk or Skype ID and talk to the answering machine. All the calls can be forwarded to me when I choose so.
    

    
        
    

    
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