This week the North American telecom consumer is being treated to two remarkable events:
- The launch of a mobile handset from a former computer vendor (where the carrier, AT&T, is an afterthought for the consumer)
- The launch of all you can eat mobile calling from Tmobile (as long as you are using GSM over 802.11)
For the last two decades telecom service providers mistakenly thought that consumers cared about their networks and that they were willing to pay to use them. They spent a lot of time, and money, leaping from one TLA (three letter acronym) to another looking to improve coverage and data transfer rates.
The iPhone, and Tmobile combined GSM/VoIP phones, provide fast all you can eat data, and all you can eat voice - if you are within range of a WiFi hotspot.
Both use 2G GSM networks to provide voice calling but if you want to take advantage of "the most advanced web browser ever on a portable device" then it helps to be close to a Hotspot. Similarly if you want to talk for hours and not use any 'voice minutes' then jump on a nearby WiFi network. The WiFi connection does not have to be provided by the telecom service provider, any WiFi that will let you connect will do.
Is this what service providers had in mind when they first started to talk about convergence? That everything, voice and data, would end up on somebody else's IP network?
2 comments:
But I'm not standing in line to get unlimited T-Mobile like the hundreds of geeks camped out for an iMoan.
O2 have the iphone exclusivity in UK. Similarly there is a market shaking proposition with flat rate data/voip access. Be interesting to see how the market dynamics change, and how that affects systems and controls landscapes.
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