Using Unlicensed Mobile Access technology

Jul 13, 2005 09:31 GMT  ·  By

The VoIP telephony is already a very popular service, and that is why more and more innovations aimed ad interconnecting these types of services with the classical ones have begun to appear.

And after Skype and Boingo have launched a service allowing VoIP calls over Wi-Fi hotspots, now the Koreans from Samsung and LG are announcing a spectacular innovation, namely the fact that they intend to develop mobile phones which will use the Wi-Fi technology in a completely new way.

Thus, both companies will use a new hybrid wireless technology from Kineto Wireless Inc. to develop mobile phones that can pass a call from a cellular network to a Wi-Fi network without interrupting the connection.

The new technology, known as UMA for Unlicensed Mobile Access, is designed to provide better call quality indoors, where cellular signals turn weak and short-range Wi-Fi signals are strong.

Despite the obvious advantages offered by this system, the mobile phone operators are rather skeptical regarding the future of this new technology, especially because users associate VoIP with cheaper fees than mobile phones, and it remains to be seen whether these companies will accept these discounts or not.