It's a conspiracy. See:
>
>
> Verizon and others apparently tried to pressure Mozilla into removing
> the program from their web pile.
Umm... I read some of that, and it says that actually, the author of the program said that Verizon has no problems with the program existing, just that -- in early versions -- they felt that he was pinging their servers unnecessarily often to perform the task required. That's a valid technical consideration, and in newer versions he's fixed it.
There's also another conspiracy theory that suggests the absence of
> Wi-Fi from most cell phones was precipitated by cell phone provider
> pressure.
There's also the common sense theory that suggests the usage scenario for a cell phone with WiFi is relatively uncommon and therefore not too many people would be interested in paying for it. I can see cell providers not wanting to play up the VoIP capabilities of their phones -- that part is understandable.
Well, for me it isn't... most of the time I'm using a cell phone it's because I'm driving or walking somewhere or I'm in some random convention center or hotel, and I don't really want to mess around with connecting to a hot spot, logging on (the vast majority of free hot spots at, e.g., hotels I've seen still require you to use a browser to first agree to some terms and conditions), hoping I don't wander out of the WiFi's coverage zone, there's a loss of available bandwidth and part of my call is dropped (this is the basic problem with VoIP -- no guarantees on quality of service unless you can control the exact routing from endpoint to endpoint), etc. I'm sure there are people who save a great deal of money with VoIP and WiFi, but for me it's way too much hassle and I don't think I've ever gone over my minutes. The guys I know who "live" by their cell phones -- salesmen, FAEs, etc. -- normally have unlimited minutes anyway, which these days usually isn't more than ~$100/mo: peanuts.
Because you don't have to constantly keep finding/configuring new access points. You just turn on the phone and it's there. For people whose time is money, this is worth a lot.
I have a Sprint PPC6700 (same phone as your), and the data package is $15/mo (unlimited bandwidth). Additionally, Sprint (unlike Verizon) doesn't specifically prohibit VoIP, on-line gaming, streaming music/video, etc. So I guess I would agree with you that Verizon is somewhat paranoid/evil. :-) For me it's definitely worth the $15/mo, since I'm in small town, nowhere and while there's still cell service there are many places that have no WiFi; I'm sure it's different in Santa Cruz.
Anyone know to degut a camera from an LG VX9800 (the "V") phone?
I'm going back into the bowels of security next week and they require surrender of phones with cameras.
...Jim Thompson
-- | James E.Thompson, P.E. | mens | | Analog Innovations, Inc. | et | | Analog/Mixed-Signal ASIC's and Discrete Systems | manus | | Phoenix, Arizona Voice:(480)460-2350 | | | E-mail Address at Website Fax:(480)460-2142 | Brass Rat | |
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| 1962 | America: Land of the Free, Because of the Brave
Hold that thought... A few years back (when this was my "thing"), I remember reading dozens of articles in the IEEE ComSoc literature about 4G and 5G capabilities. The vast majority of articles focused on the backhaul switching to route voice & data traffic from cell/PCS to other wireless networks (seamlessly!). Presumably, this would include VoIP, WiFi, WiMAX and even cordless telephones.
So you could make a call on your way home (cellular or PCS), arrive in the driveway, and then go inside pick up your cordless (or VoIP) and continue the call without ever breaking a sweat.
Will we ever get there? I don't know. At the time I read these, the carriers were still spewing hype about their supposed 3G, and 3.5G capability. (They probably still are??). I coined the term "2.01G"..... which should give you a clue what I think about most carriers. At least the legacy non-CDMA flavors out there.
With some of these guys, the only thing worse than their coverage, the phones and their pricing plans.... is their customer service!!
Haha... not really a new idea: one of the original "features" of PCS was to be that your cell phone would automatically switch to your home landline as you walked in the door?
That never happened, so I wouldn't count on a seamless hand-off to WiFi either.
(But if I were, e.g., Sprint, I can see legitimate reasons no *not* want to support WiFi hand-offs: You hand off to WiFi, and you no longer have *any* control over the quality of the network, yet who's the customer going to blame when the call is dropped? Hand-off to landlines made more sense, since if anything landlines are more reliable than cell site wireless links.)
Presumably, Sprint [or insert carrier name here], would hand off to their own landline or WiFi networks. I don't recall handoffs being an initial promised feature of PCS. That would have been in the early
90's. Way too early to be thinking about convergence then.
Well, I tend to spend much of the day in locations that are infested with Wi-Fi. I have it at home, where I eat lunch, at my palatial office, where I eat dinner (sometimes), and most places that I go. Most of these are NOT open wireless access, but since I maintain the systems, I get to use them. However, when I'm on the road, I use the cell phone.
I must confess that I don't use Skype on my XV6700 cell phone very often. That's because I don't make too many toll calls or engage in long winded convesations to justify the effort. Mostly, I use it for calling out of the country, or as an intercom for support exercises.
XV6700 setup and trivia:
All good points. I don't have answers for any of them, except that VoIP is often cheaper than paying the hotel or using the cell phone. As Wi-Fi become more prevalent, the option is looking better. Right now, it's mostly for the geeks and the tight wads (like me).
I've had to raise my monthly minutes 3 times in 4 years. It's not me that's causeing the problem. It's rest of the horde on my plan that can't seem to understand exactly when the free evening/weekend minutes start and end. Thanks to Skype and VoIP, my monthly cellular usage has dropped dramatically. However, the friendly but evil people at Verizon won't let me downgrade my current plan until it's over (in about 14 months).
Maybe those that travel, but those that stay in an office tend to have VoIP plans. I have a few of these as customers and have tried VoIP over Wi-Fi with a dedicated wireless IP phone. Not good. Too many operational complications and too many dropouts caused by interference. I never did try VoIP on a WM5 cell phone.
If it's so useless, then why is Verizon so dead set on preventing users from using Wi-Fi? Perhaps they see a potential competitor where we don't? Dunno.
It's really tempting to switch to Sprint, especially since Verizon and Sprint roam into each others network. So, with a Verizon data plan, I can't do anything interesting with it due to restrictions. However, if I get Sprint, I can do almost anything I want, for less money, and on Verizon's network while roaming. What's wrong with this picture?
The Peoples Republic of Santa Cruz passed a cellular tower ordinance about 5 years ago that restricted cell sites to essentially industrial areas. See my obsolete and out of date (2002) web pile at:
The coverage map is at:
Areas in the legend as "restricted areas" with various colors in the legend, have no cell sites. The result is that only about 30% of the area has cellular coverage of any kind. Fortunately, those that do are in the most densely populated areas. They also tend to have data service from at least one of the major vendors. Not great, but good enough.
If I had to make a map of public wi-fi coverage area on the same scale, the sites would be more numerous, but with a much smaller coverage radius. It would also tend to overlay the cell sites in the metropolitan areas. It would take far more Wi-Fi sites to cover the county than cell sites.
Yeah, I guess Wi-Fi is useless. Now all I have to do is convince Verizon that it's useless.
--
Jeff Liebermann jeffl@cruzio.com
150 Felker St #D http://www.LearnByDestroying.com
Santa Cruz CA 95060 http://802.11junk.com
Skype: JeffLiebermann AE6KS 831-336-2558
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