Phones equipped with VoWLAN (voice over Wireless Local Area Network) capabilities, which are produced by wireless gear makers like US-based Spectralink, Symbol Technologies and most recently Cisco, provide enterprises with common merits of Internet telephony. These include number portability, the promise of cheaper internal calls as well as long-distance communications by leveraging their existing Wi-Fi infrastructure.
Some mobile handsets like the Nokia Communicator 9500 already have Wi-Fi connectivity for faster data downloads, and VoWLAN support would mean consumers can enjoy the same perks as their enterprise counterparts. However, major technical kinks need to be ironed out before this technology can be incorporated into the everyday mobile phone, said Bob Brace, vice president of sales and marketing for Nokia Enterprise Solutions.
With VoWLAN, consumers could theoratically choose to route voice or video calls through the Internet when they are within a Wi-Fi network for cost efficiencies, and hook up to a cellular network when they step out of the coverage area.
However, seamlessly toggling between a WLAN and a conventional mobile network during a voice call poses a major technical hurdle, Brace said. Adding, beyond challenges associated network technologies, another major sticky point lies in the battery life of such consumer handsets.
"The attraction of using WLAN for VoIP (voice over Internet Protocol) in a corporate environment is the availability of hotspots. There is no need for infrastructure--you just need to deploy devices," he said. "In terms of devices, you're not worried about battery life and weight is not an issue because they are usually docked on a desk or clipped to a belt."
"In the consumer mobile environment, however, there are a lot of problems. Battery life is a big issue. Users are out of the office and don't have access to a docking station," Brace explained.
"The industry has an issue to solve with battery life. WLAN is much more battery-hungry than GPRS (General Packet Radio Service) or W-CDMA (wideband-code division multiple access)," he said.
His observations mirror a recent study by technology research firm In-Stat/ MDR, which expects enterprises and vertical industries to be the early drivers of Wi-Fi telephony.
"These businesses have control over coverage area, bandwidth utilization, and QoS (Quality of Service) implementation. The users have access to the corporate telephone system, giving Wi-Fi users the same features and accessibility as their wired peers. It is cost-effective and efficient to leverage the investment in WLAN by adding wireless telephones," the company said in a statement.
As a sign of the market's potential, In-Stat/ MDR expects shipments of WLAN handsets to grow by 120 percent this year.
