Are you really living in a free mobile telecommunications world?

-- By DiegodelaPuente - 29 Sep 2011

1. Facts and thoughts

According to the International Telecommunication Union by the end of 2010, approximately 5.3 billion persons had something in common: they were mobile subscribers.

This number reveals two clear and correlated messages:

(i) The majority of the globe habitants rely excessively on mobile services; and therefore,

(ii) Owners of mobile companies have an immense control of the daily life of millions.

Consequently what is freedom in the mobile telecommunications industry? Subscribers have to submit to the will and rules imposed by Carlos Slim or other mobile networks owners? I disagree. I consider that freedom really exists only when you have a choice.

2. Thesis and objective

2.1 Thesis

Technology can help us replace cell phones and avoid depending on mobile telecommunications companies to render the service.

2.2 Objective

Demonstrate that you have a choice by means of a concrete technological alternative to change the actual mobile telecommunication industry and benefit from it.

3. How to achieve the change?

3.1 Review your knowledge about how mobile services are rendered

Without having much technological knowledge you might think about it as the simple sequence of speaking to a phone, afterwards the voice is send to the closest antenna, then to the next antenna or pipe through dedicated circuits or channels for each phone call and finally to the mobile device of person to whom you want to speak.

Question: do you need a mobile company to do that for you?

There is another technological way to do that and is called Voice over IP (VoIP? ) or Internet Telephony. Voice is transformed in data packets and they travel through the Internet to their final destination, where they will transform again into voice. Does it sound similar as something called Skype?

3.2 Open your mind

Now you understand that almost everything in telecommunications is data transportation and fortunately you are used to have interactive conversations through a PC that may be connected to the Internet via Wi-Fi or other source of Internet access.

Question: can you imagine being connected to a giant Wi-Fi network and having the possibility to use a mobile phone to speak to others for free?

Ok, I grant you the amazing idea that you can use Skype or similar in a mobile device, but are not you still in a mobile network and consequently paying for the data services?

4. My alternative

My alternative is to incentive the usage of Wi-Fi enabled VoIP? phones (Wi-Fi phones) under super Wi-Fi environments administered by local governments.

This scenario is not my creation but has been underestimated through the years particularly by the big wireless companies, on the ground that they considered it a serious threat for their revenues.

Moreover and curiously, the Federal Trade Commission and the Federal Communications Commission have opposed to allow large scale Wi-Fi coverage respectively, by their concern for (i) competition among private and public sectors in the wireless industry and (ii) harmful interference to local TV stations.

4.1 Super Wi-Fi networks

This is the concept of turning entire cities into wireless access zones.

There have been many initiatives from local governments around the world to build citywide Wi-Fi network and fortunately many of them have been executed successfully.

Regarding the technological aspect the usage wireless mesh networks (WMN) is recommended. A mesh in this concept is a series of radio transmitters that are able to communicate with at least two others, creating a cloud of radio signals through the city, allowing you Internet access from every part of the city.

In the financial matters, the business models of local governments may vary, but I considered that Wi-Fi coverage could be rendered for free based on the economical theory that people who are no longer spending money on a high-speed connection will be able to put that money back into the local economy and therefore, generate more incomes to the city via tax collection.

4.2 Wi-Fi Phones

Wi-Fi phones use the same wireless network technology as computers, but with the advantage that they are a lot more portable. Likewise as computers, these phones use VoIP? technology to make calls over an Internet Protocol network, instead of the ordinary Public Switched Telephone Network (PSTN).

Mainly because of the rejection of the mobile companies, the diverse and massive production of pure Wi-Fi phones has not arrived to the markets. Nonetheless, you can buy a ZyXEL? , Locktec or Linksys model for approximately US$75.00.

An important thing to bear in mind is that you need to buy a Wi-Fi phone with open protocol to not be related to a particular network or service provider in order to be able to contact with others in a free way.

5. Advantages and disadvantages

Herein I am going to enumerate the most important advantages and disadvantages from our proposal.

5.1 Advantages

- Free local and long distance calls.

- Free high-speed Internet access to the general population.

- The city will become more attractive to businesses and tourists.

5.2 Disadvantages

- Poor quality or lost of signal because of the immense amount of traffic in the bandwidth shared. Solution: with the adequate hardware and software, a hotspot can separate and prioritize the voice traffic, treating it as a separate signal and providing better voice quality.

- Climate conditions can adversely affect the signal strength sensitivity.

- VoIP? usage limits the possibility to determine the precise location of a person who calls 911.

6. Conclusion

The time that is going to be needed to develop this alternative depends on you. You can try to cooperate to foster its development or continue living submitted to the will of the owners of mobile companies.

Information sources

- http://transition.fcc.gov/voip/

- http://communication.howstuffworks.com/ip-telephony9.htm

- http://www.truphone.com/en-US/

- http://www.pcworld.com/article/129114/new_voip_service_for_cell_phones.html

- http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Techno-utopianism

- http://www.techdirt.com/search.php?tid=Predictions

- http://www.techdirt.com/articles/20070215/002923.shtml

- http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mobile_VoIP

- http://www.pcworld.com/article/129114/new_voip_service_for_cell_phones.html

- http://www.fring.com/what-is-fring

- http://www.laptopmag.com/advice/how-to/Turn-Your-Cell-into-a-VoIP-Phone.aspx

- http://drdobbs.com/mobility/202600424

- http://www.portfolio.com/views/columns/dual-perspectives/2009/04/20/The-End-of-the-Cell/

- http://technostreak.com/web/mobile-voip-technology-and-its-future-affects-on-cell-phones/

- http://www.itproportal.com/2008/05/19/3-skypephone-mobile-phone-review-future-mobile-voip/

- http://www.technologybloggers.org/voip/the-future-of-telecommunication-belongs-to-mobile-voip/

- http://ezinearticles.com/?The-Present-and-Future-of-WiFi-VOIP-Phone-Technology&id=2197854

- http://electronics.howstuffworks.com/wifi-phone3.htm

- http://electronics.howstuffworks.com/wifi-phone2.htm

- http://www.broadvoice.com/wifi_voip_phone.html

- http://news.cnet.com/8301-10784_3-9962474-7.html

- http://www.itu.int/ITU-D/ict/statistics/

- http://www.itu.int/ITU-D/ict/material/FactsFigures2010.pdf

- http://www.jthtl.org/content/articles/V9I1/JTHTLv9i1_Lemley.PDF

- http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wi-Fi

- http://gigaom.com/2004/07/04/review-zyxel-voip-wifi-phone/

- http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Yft47G0328w

- http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4hUtbUkBGpE&feature=related

- http://www.amazon.com/Locktec-WP04-WiFi-Wireless-Phone/dp/B003ZW920O

- http://computer.howstuffworks.com/municipal-wifi.htm

- http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Municipal_wireless_network

- http://www.wirelessphiladelphia.org/

- http://news.cnet.com/The-citywide-Wi-Fi-reality-check/2100-7351_3-5722150.html

- http://www.ftc.gov/opa/2006/10/muniwireless.shtm

- http://www.ftc.gov/os/2006/10/V060021municipalprovwirelessinternet.pdf

- http://www.wired.com/epicenter/2010/10/super-wif/#ixzz12OMKNRty

- http://www.mediapost.com/publications/article/136391/

- http://legal.tmcnet.com/topics/legal/articles/220453-fcc-rules-limit-use-super-wi-fi-populated.htm

- http://www.technologyreview.com/communications/38635/?nlid=nldly&nld=2011-09-20

- http://www.fcc.gov/blog/fcc-announces-public-testing-first-television-white-spaces-database

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