Since broadband really started to take hold through cable companies, we’ve seen a stark increase in the use of Voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP) lines. Of course, when people first hear the term VoIP, they’re apt to think is testing a Java-based phone application, they likely won’t be the leaders in mobile VoIP usage. Unsurprisingly, the carriers themselves are recognizing this opportunity, and are trying to get ahead of the game.
T-Mobile and HotSpot @Home
In mid-2007, T-Mobile launched a service called HotSpot @Home. If you were to sign up for this service, you’d be sent a special router, which taps into your home broadband connection. You’d also need a WiFi-enabled handset from T-Mobile. From there, the idea is simple. When you’re at home, or at one of T-Mobile’s thousands of WiFi hotspots nationwide, your phone picks up the signal and uses the Internet connection to place your calls.
The advantage to this is that this does not count against the customer’s plan minutes. There is a monthly fee for the service, but used wisely, customers can save far more than the flat fee.
This plan was recently enhance, and re-dubbed T-Mobile HotSpot @Home Talk Forever Home Phone. Why the extended moniker? Because now instead of just making free calls from your cell phone inside your house, you can actually port your landline number into T-Mobile, and get full landline service, right over the Internet.
Broadband VoIP in your home
As I mentioned above, many cable and phone companies are offering an in-home VoIP solution for your calling needs. It’s actually very similar to T-Mobile’s HotSpot deal. Let me briefly explain.
In my area, we have Cablevision, with Verizon FiOS as an alternative. Just across the river, Time Warner is the standard. What do all three have in common? They all offer, as part of a triple play bundle, unlimited home calling to any number in the U.S. But this isn’t a traditional landline service. Rather, it routes calls over your Internet connection.
Yes, they used more advanced connection technology than, say, Skype uses. But in the end, the calls are still being made via VoIP. The technology is catching on, and it’s soon spreading to mobile.
Commercial mobile VoIP by 2009?
When I sat through a mobile VoIP conference at CTIA earlier this month, I didn’t exactly know what to expect. And after leaving, I’m know I definitely didn’t digest everything they said. Lots of technical jargon, to be sure, and things that I’m not sure are of interest to the cell phone consumer. But the results certainly will interest us, because they will lead to lower network costs.
The idea behind mobile VoIP is to integrate voice and data on the same radio infrastructure. Currently, voice calls go over a different radio than data transfers — kind of like how traditional landline calls don’t use the same connection as your Internet. Network operators see opportunity here. If they can get both functions on to one radio — like how cable operators got voice and Internet onto one platform — their network will function more efficiently.
Sprint is aiming to get mobile VoIP available on a commercial level by next year. However, there are issues and kinks they need to work out before they can. Unfortunately, it’s not exactly as easy as installing an application on your phone.
Mobile VoIP issues
One of the biggest issues with the implementation of mobile VoIP is handoff ability. This means the ability to seamlessly move a call from one network to another. For instance, in Sprint’s case, there are some areas where they have EVDO Rev. A coverage, and others where they only have EVDO 1x coverage. In order for mobile VoIP to work, it needs to transfer the signal from one network to the other, without the signal “farting” or completely dropping.
Roaming is another issue, and one that might cause the biggest headache for service providers. It’s one thing to switch from EVDO Rev. A to EVDO 1x. It’s a complete other to go from EVDO to, say, HSPA or WLAN. This might pose a problem for a carrier trying to be the first to get into the mobile VoIP market, since they’ll need help from other carriers’ networks.
Of course, voice quality plays a large part in the mobile VoIP scheme. Sprint and their partners have deployed various codec enhancements to straighten out this issue, and from what I understand they’re making progress. While handoffs and roaming are certainly at play here, there is simply no way a company like Sprint can launch a voice application that doesn’t produce the finest quality. Customers will not stand for it.
Finally, there are a few issues related to Internet connectivity that affect the implementation of mobile VoIP. First is call delay. That is, the time it takes from when you hit “SEND” to when the call is connected. The goal, obviously, is to get this to the same level as current cellular communications. Though there is likely some leeway in there.
The other connectivity issue are “hiccups.” Yeah, you know, garbled tones and other things you might experience when chatting on Skype or other current VoIP platform. This is being addressed by retransmissions, which to me sounds like an analogy to layers of paint. Retransmissions have been shown to lower the error rate, so there’s some optimism here.
A new level of convergence
As a good friend of mine likes to say, data is data. The voice you hear on the other end of the phone line is data. The episode of How I Met Your Mother from this past monday is data. Companies that deal with voice and broadcast might like to say otherwise, in their own interests, but it’s true. The information we receive is all data.
In order to create the most efficient networks that will serve the most people with the most data at the fastest possible speeds, convergence is necessary. This is the goal with mobile VoIP. The faster the network operators get all of their data flowing on one radio infrastructure, the better off their network conditions will be.
What does that mean for us as consumers? It means faster speeds, and hopefully lower rates. After all, what does efficiency mean if not lower costs? And if the network operators can pass the buck to consumers, they’ll see a greater adoption rate, which means more money for them in the end. And money, as we know, is the great motivator.
Share this Post
Subscribe and Follow
Subscribe to the Going Cellular feed via RSS and follow Going Cellular on Twitter!
{ 1 trackback }
{ 0 comments… add one now }