> > WLAN VoIP (PDA/Game) device:
>
>Not existent*) right now, so all talking is just speculation.
>(* as a mass enabled device which any average user can
>handle.)
No speculation at all. Any existing PDA can be turned into such a
device. All it takes is a downloadable telephony application or Java
plugin.
Game manufacturers are keen on building portable networkable game
devices. Give this a PCMCIA slot and again all it takes is a WiFi
card and software to turn them into phones.
> > cheaper than cellular, probably as cheap as a public phone -> cost saving
>
>This depends who you are calling...there will be roaming
>fees if you call from one network into the other. Pure
>speculation.
No it doesn't. Cause there will be no roaming fees.
It would not work like cellular, it would work more like the model
used by VoIP portals already.
1) You have your Internet connection already and you have it for
other reasons than telephony.
2) You sign up with a VoIP portal and they provide gateway services
into the PSTN.
The fees you pay for Internet access have nothing to do with your
VoIP service usage.
The VoIP portal will sign up with circuit switched networks who will
offer them low cost bulk rates.
So, if you are within the corporate WLAN of a client, you would use
that corporate WLAN to access your VoIP portal and then use their low
cost services to call into the PSTN. WLAN access is free in this case.
If you are sitting in a cafe with a WLAN where access is likely to be
sold with consumption, i.e. One Cappuccino gives you 15 minutes WLAN
access, then you have 15 minutes within which you could access your
VoIP portal and then use their low cost services to call into the
PSTN. WLAN access is a time limited throw-in in this case.
If you are in a WLAN that charges you for access time, i.e. by way of
prepaid scratch cards or by way of subscription, again, you will be
able to access your VoIP portal and use their low cost services to
call into the PSTN. WLAN access is not free in this case but it is
unrelated to your phone usage.
>Lets look at an interims solution. A random cafe maintains
>a 802.11b network. Since there are no handsets/devices yet
>(except notebooks) who can use VoIP solutions and the random
>average person who has a mouth to drink coffee but not one
>of these devices (we are in Japan after all), the cafe provides
>a wireless handset for rent inside their facilities.
The cafe wouldn't care about telephony. All they care about is to
provide customers Internet access and likely they will link that to
consumption. What services customers use when they connect via that
Cafe provided access is likely to be of little concern to the cafe.
>So you can have a sip and a talk at the same time...
>what do you do now:
I would bring my PDA and use that instead.
>* You call your friends...on their mobile phone.
If the VoIP portal's rates are competitive, yes I'd do that.
>* You can not be called, except on YOUR mobile phone.
Not true.
There are two scenarios. In one a Unified Messaging service company
spots the opportunity and runs a VoIP portal; In the other scenario
the VoIP portal company spots the opportunity and runs a unified
messaging service. In both cases they will maintain a personal number
for me that automatically delivers incoming calls to my PDA whenever
I am online and to a voicemail/faxmail box or another phone number
when I am offline.
>* You have to pay the call fees before you leave
> the cafe.
No you don't. You pay the VoIP portal for the calls and WLAN access
is likely to be included in consumption to keep you busy buying
coffee and cake ;-)
>Keitais are convenient,
>because you can pay later.
First of all, a VoIP portal may offer services post-paid or pre-paid
- doesn't matter.
Then, the trend in Europe is quite the opposite of what you imply.
Mobile phone penetration went up mainly because many people felt it
to be more convenient to use pre-paid. In some countries prepaid is
the norm and postpaid is more and more used only by businesses. IIRC
Italy has something like 90% prepaid and only 10% postpaid.
But it doesn't matter anyway as VoIP is not confined to prepaid.
> > And in case you haven't noticed, we weren't talking
>> about anonymous nor free access.
>
>It seems you didn't read my mails and URL's correctly.
>I didn't talked about free like in beer, I talk
>about a 800yen/hour network maintainer who leave a very
>buggy technical solution wide open, so every random script
>kiddie can access this anonymous and for free (like in
>beer).
I am travelling a lot and I always bring my own WLAN which I plug in
to the Hotel's LAN or fax line and to the corporate LAN where I am on
assignment. In years of struggling with PCs, VCRs, remote controls,
modems and other tech equipment, I have not seen anything that works
so seamlessly, steadily and easy to maintain as a wireless LAN base
station. Basically you connect them and forget about them.
Also, as soon as the base station is connected it can be configured
remotely. A configuration file can be kept on a server and forcefully
uploaded -say- automatically every midnight to make sure that the
settings are always as they are supposed to be on all the base
stations.
It is very easy to do. In many hotels where I have stayed and showed
it to the manager they went out and bought a couple of WLAN base
stations for their lounge, their business centre and many of them are
looking forward to roll it out in the hotel rooms as well. Some of
those hotels had a bunch of PCs sitting in their coffee lounge and
now they only have one - They tell me that they have saved money on
administration because the WLAN base stations are very low
maintenance.
The Apple Airport for example (AirMac in Japan) costs about 300 USD
and one of them could be used to serve almost any coffee shop in
Tokyo. Even if you require two, that is less than 1000 USD for a
coffee shop and as the Starbucks/Yahoo coffee in Harajuku shows it
draws the crowds in, they don't even link the usage to consumption
there.
In Melbourne (OZ), where I happened to work most of the time last
year, we had one Airport at the front and one at the end of the
office, which allowed us to use the two coffee shops accross the road
to do some adhoc workgroup meetings when meeting rooms were occupied,
which most of the time they were. In the course of one year, we never
had to do anything on those base stations other than entering the
ethernet hardware address of new equipment for security reasons.
It is very easy to keep any non-registered ethernet addresses out.
Automating the entering of customer's ethernet addresses for a
limited period upon consumption is also easy to do.
Some hotels already use standard SSL web forms for you to open your
access for the next 24 hours. If unauthorised access is going to
become an issue, coffee shops can use that same procedure. Anybody
who didn't buy a coffee won't be able to get past the form.
With the effort it takes to crack even the older 40 bit SSL and the
fact that any access will time out within 15 minutes or so, the
chance is that even the most determined will rather buy a cup of
coffee.
>Actually everything you post sounds like:
>
>* You just launched your startup and want to convince
> investors.
No I haven't but looking at how much people seem to struggle seeing
what potential there is I might take your comment as a hint and think
about it. Thanks for the suggestion. ;-)
The startups I am involved in are no secret:
one is an Irish company that makes mediation devices, something I was
doing some years ago. However, the telephony world turning IP would
rather suggest that this business is loosing out.
another is an Ozzie company that deals with mobile phone roaming but
not in relation to VoIP.
I also hold three telecommunications patents, one for roaming, one
for call screening and one for secure authentication of roaming
mobiles when networks turn GSM standard security off. Nothing related
to VoIP really.
At some time, I also used to import wines to Japan as a small scale
side business which is not related to VoIP either.
>* You just invested in such a solution and want to
> convince yourself.
Well, again, no. Not my cup of tea, anyway. I am confident that I can
spot trends and I have done so correctly in the past, but picking out
a company that benefits from that trend is a different matter
altogether not to mention the timing.
>* You are Michael Natasha Pennington Turner and want
> to convince us that you are Benjamin Kowarsch.
I have read some similar post before but I lack the context knowledge
to understand what this is supposed to mean. However, as you seem to
imply that I am not real respectively that I am not using my real
name, what can I say other than that this is my real name. If you
want to believe something else then that would be your problem. No
matter what you believe, it doesn't really affect the argument.
regards
benjamin
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Received on Wed Aug 15 12:52:40 2001