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Samsung's t339: Another Hotspot@Home phone?

Fri, 11 Apr 2008 06:59:56 -0400

According to an FCC filing, Samsung's t339 has 802.11 built-in, which has led to speculation that it's on deck for T-Mobile USA's Hotspot@Home users. The t339 would be yet another mid-range phone for the service, which finally got a BlackBerry 8300 Curve added to its lineup last September. The UMA-enabled Curve launched for $249 plus a two-year contract.

For more on the t339:
- check out this post from Engadget Mobile

Related Articles:
T-Mobile's HotSpot-at-Home BB 8820 pushed back? Article
T-Mobile adds landline service to HotSpot-at-Home Article

Alltel's WiFi deals point to FMC?

Fri, 12 Oct 2007 06:59:59 -0400

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Does Alltel's WiFi deal point to FMC plans?

This week Alltel inked a significant deal that will bring WiFi services to its subscribers. The carrier announced a white label deal with Sky Dayton's Boingo Wireless that will give Alltel subscribers access to Boingo's nationwide network of WiFi hotspots. The deal could be indicative of the carrier's future plans for fixed-mobile convergence in the home.

Like T-Mobile USA before it, Alltel's move to offer WiFi services via hotspots could lead to a service like T-Mobile's Hotspot@Home. The UMA-based T-Mobile service lets users handoff calls to their home WiFi routers to save their cellular minutes and to improve coverage in the home. Now that Alltel has the Boingo deal in place and plans for an EVDO/WiFi unlimited package, offering UMA phones is probably the next step.

One increasingly popular alternative to the UMA/WiFi fixed-mobile convergence play is a femtocell in the home. These mini-basestations typically plug into a subscriber's home routers and increase the oft weak cellular signal at home. Femtocells seem to be a more attractive option for carriers with stronger 3G network deployments, since future femtocells will be 3G-enabled and encourage mobile content consumption while at home. Carriers with little to no 3G coverage at present seem to be going the route of UMA/WiFi-based solutions instead of the femtocell.

That certainly seems to be the case for T-Mobile USA. So why does Alltel, with its substantial EVDO footprint, need a WiFi deal with Boingo? Is it a stop-gap for the carrier as it builds out its EVDO network?

According to a recent Current Analysis report, the Boingo deal gives Alltel more of a level playing field in comparison to AT&T and Sprint who offer WiFi access, but have not combined it with 2.5G/3G access in a bundle. The research group says that Alltel now compares more favorably against Verizon Wireless, who has not been active in the U.S. WiFi market. Current sees the move as one largely benefiting the "road warrior."

Regardless of its motives, Alltel now has a network of WiFi hotspots at its disposal. So it may want to heed femtocell proponents, who point out that a UMA/WiFi FMC solution requires new handsets. They also claim WiFi drains a device's battery life far quicker than a femtocell's cellular signal will. So femtocell or WiFi? What's it going to be Alltel?Ã‚Â -Brian

P.S. Come join us for the now legendary Fierce party at CTIA I.T. and Entertainment, a Union Affair. RSVP

ALSO NOTED: Alcatel-Lucent's restructuring; More on the VZW Naral decision; and much more...

Mon, 01 Oct 2007 06:59:50 -0400

> Alcatel-Lucent orders restructuring plan. Article

> More on Verizon Wireless' decision to block and then allow a pro-choice mobile marketing campaign on its network. Editorial

> WiMAX pulls into the reality station. Editorial

> Kineto Wireless' Steve Shaw explains UMA technology. Article

And Finally... SMS alert network apparently delivers warning to students about man on campus with gun sixteen minutes after the man is spotted on campus. More

Nokia launches the 6301 UMA handset

Thu, 20 Sep 2007 06:59:54 -0400

Nokia launched a UMA-enabled handset, the 6301. The handset sports a stainless steel design and allows users to seamlessly transfer calls to and from GSM networks to WLAN networks via Unlicensed Mobile Access technology. Nokia has plans to release the handset in Europe, but not yet in the U.S., despite UMA-based services cropping up here: like T-Mobile's recently launched FMC service.

For more on the handset:
- read this press release

Behold, the not-necessarily-mobile phone

Wed, 19 Sep 2007 06:59:59 -0400

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Behold, the not-necessarily-mobile phone

Last year the wireless industry added a new set of words to its lexicon: Femtocell, picocell, ubicell and so on and just this week U.S. mobile users began purchasing these "in-home cell towers."Ã‚Â Sprint announced on Monday that its subscribers in Indianapolis, Denver and Nashville (soon)Ã‚Â can now purchase a femtocell--which the carrier calls an Airave--and a corresponding service plan. The Airave (photo)Ã‚Â is a rebranded version of Samsung's Ubicell, and aims to boost cellular coverage for Sprint subscribers while they are at home.

Sprint's latest offering drew comparisons to T-Mobile's recently launched FMC service, and for good reason: Hotspot@Home makes use of UMA technology to port a user's cellular calls over WiFi while at home. Femtocells and UMA are competing as well as complementary ways to achieve FMC and boost cellular signals. The key difference is that femtocells make use of standard cellular signals, while UMA uses cellular-to-WiFi hand-off. Sprint has clearly decided on the femtocell route, while T-Mobile USA is putting its weight behind UMA.Ã‚Â

That's not to say that UMA and femtocells are mutually exclusive, however. Kineto Wireless, the original developer of the UMA standard, has been working with Ubiquisys and Netgear on femtocells that make use of UMA as a backhaul solution. So it seems that at least for now, there's plenty of room for both technologies in the FMC space.

Offering a solution that makes it easier to use one's mobile phone in the home makes sense for T-Mobile USA and Sprint Nextel, since neither depends on landline voice service revenues like rivals AT&T and Verizon. One has to wonder though what comes next for these carriers, if they succeed in gaining traction in the home through a femtocell or UMA-enabled router. Will last year's predictions of IPTV-slinging femtocells prove prescient? Or are femtocells and UMA merely blips on the long road to fixed-mobile convergence?

Let me know if you think these recent FMC offerings are game-changers, now that the mobile phone is no longer just for the road. It works (much more consistently) right from your living room couch. -Brian

Sorting Through The Femtocell Fray

Thu, 02 Aug 2007 13:04:44 -0400

By Peter Jarich

The telecom market is no stranger to hype. Year after year, new technologies are introduced, all promising to meet a broad array of operator and end-user requirements. Marketing campaigns ensue. After a good deal of market Ã¢â‚¬ËœeducationÃ¢â‚¬â„¢ the new technology is seen as an inevitable success. Technology development and deployment delays ensueÃ¢â‚¬Â¦along with an inevitable backlash. Somewhere in this process, the new technology gets its own conference or tradeshow.

Femtocells are clearly following this formula. With UMA and other dual-mode FMC solutions preceding it, the market education phase has been a short one Ã¢â‚¬â€œ but it has also resulted in some undeniably inflated expectations along with the inaugural Ã¢â‚¬ËœInternational Conference on Home Access Points and FemtocellsÃ¢â‚¬â„¢ held by Avren Events in London from last month.

The basic value proposition of femtocells is simple to understand: all the benefits of WiFi-based FMC without relying on a limited supply of relatively expensive dual-mode devices. To this end, AvrenÃ¢â‚¬â„¢s conference had no sessions dedicated to selling the femtocell vision. The focus was where the femtocell market stands today, where itÃ¢â‚¬â„¢s going, what it will take to get there and which questions are still largely unanswered. And, with several topics and themes repeated multiple times over the course of several days, a clear snapshot evolved.

Femtocell Rationale. With the first femtocell trials still underway, the specifics of actually rolling out a femtocell-based service are unknown. Surprisingly, however, there is limited insight into why an end-user would want a femtocell. Improved indoor coverage can be delivered by repeaters, dual-mode solutions or even additional macro-cell base stations. Improved capacity would follow. Femtocells remove the need for subscribers to purchase dual-mode devices, but this assumes they see the value in FMC services and are strong 3G users Ã¢â‚¬â€œ 2G networks, after all, already provide strong coverage. The primary rationale, then, is operator-driven: transport offload, an enticement for subscribers to use 3G, improved macro-cell capacity, etc. In short, the customer draw (today) is cheaper voice services while the operator draw is cheaper data delivery. But, with other solutions delivering cheap voice, the operator rationale dominates.
Ownership. Compact, low-capacity 3G base stations are not a new development. Femtocells, however, make them a residential reality by bringing costs down. But, this raises a critical question, Ã¢â‚¬Å“who actually pays for the femtocell?Ã¢â‚¬Â If the end-user buys it, the service offer (and savings) will need to be very compelling. If the operator buys it, the costs of rolling out a femtocell solution quickly escalate. Most operators agree that they would need to, Ã¢â‚¬Å“ownÃ¢â‚¬Â the femtocell since it is an extension of their network Ã¢â‚¬â€œ something that would leverage their spectrum assets and something they would want to manage. Sprint, with its vision of WiMAX devices (femtocells included) being completely unsubsidized, was the most vocal outlier.
Marketing. Femtocell service launches would require their own, dedicated marketing efforts. Beyond the basics of FMC marketing, femtocells come with their own unique value proposition and obstacles. At a minimum, broader acceptance will require one common, accepted terminology for the device: femtocell, home access point, home base station, 3G home gateway, home node, ugly grey wireless box, etc. Without one, market confusion should be expected. Likewise, while fears of RF exposure are unfounded given low-power output, it will still be necessary to make sure end-users understand this point. Ultimately, if the femtocell value proposition is tied to mobile data usage, the success of the femtocell market depends most of all on basic 3G or WiMAX marketing, getting devices and services into the hands of users.
Love of Existing, Open Standards. Operators could launch femtocells that operate as little more than WiFi access points, interfacing directly into an open Internet and improving the data performance of 3G (or even 2G) devices. That isnÃ¢â‚¬â„¢t FMC, though. It doesnÃ¢â‚¬â„¢t provide any integration with an operatorÃ¢â‚¬â„¢s mobile voice or data infrastructure. It doesnÃ¢â‚¬â„¢t provide seamless connectivity with an operatorÃ¢â‚¬â„¢s OSS and BSS solutions. From an integration standpoint, then, thereÃ¢â‚¬â„¢s no shortage of solutions for connecting femtocells into an operatorÃ¢â‚¬â„¢s mobile core, the three front-runners being SIP/IMS, UMA and an Ã¢â‚¬â„¢RNC concentratorÃ¢â‚¬â„¢ or gateway approach linking into the core via existing Iu interfaces. While too early to declare any one option a winner, operators are clear on two things. First, the use of Iu interfaces into the core is particularly appealing. Yes, most operators are moving on SIP and IMS. Iu, however, promises to integrate into existing kit in an easily understood way. Secondly, an open interface from the femtocell into the gateway is expected. 3G networks have been built with base stations and RNCs coming from one vendor. Femtocells, however, may take diverse forms with different capabilities serving different market segments. No operator wants to be locked into a single brand of home base stations simply based on their network gateway vendor.
Defining Ã¢â‚¬Å“OpenÃ¢â‚¬Â. So, what is an Ã¢â‚¬â„¢openÃ¢â‚¬â„¢ interface? Generally, itÃ¢â‚¬â„¢s any interface whose specifications have been made public or, at least, released to interested parties. Unfortunately, this doesnÃ¢â‚¬â„¢t mean that the interface is generally accepted or even easily adopted. Take the example of NSNÃ¢â‚¬â„¢s new Femto Gateway. The vendor touted its reliance on standard and open interfaces. Yet, it also noted that it will, Ã¢â‚¬ËœcertifyÃ¢â‚¬â„¢ the femtocells that interoperate with the gateway. Why is certification necessary? Because Ã¢â‚¬ËœopenÃ¢â‚¬â„¢ does not mean Ã¢â‚¬ËœstandardÃ¢â‚¬â„¢ and even where standards are employed, there are often various implementations of the standard. While itÃ¢â‚¬â„¢s understood that Iu-based solutions are attractive, itÃ¢â‚¬â„¢s also expected that a diverse set of open interface options from the femtocell to the gateway may fragment the market, opening up opportunities for UMA and SIP solutions.
Costs, Costs, Costs. Noted earlier, the promise of low-cost home base stations Ã¢â‚¬â€œ something end-users and/or operators could afford Ã¢â‚¬â€œ has helped to make femtocells a viable FMC solution. The question of, Ã¢â‚¬Ëœhow cheapÃ¢â‚¬â„¢ is a rhetorical one. Costs on par with WiFi APs would be ideal but difficult to obtain until scale ramps up significantly. Confounding scale, however, is the fact that there is no standard set of functions or capabilities a femtocell is supposed to deliver. Femtocell vendors are pursuing their own interface strategies. Most have diverse solutions for interference mitigation as well as security. Some will want to include WiFi in the node. DSL is the current expectation for backhaul. Cable and even fiber options are likely to followÃ¢â‚¬Â¦likely integrated into various forms of set-tops and residential gateways. A single chip femtocell solution, it was argued, is feasible and would enable a sub-$50 bill-of-materials (BOM). Until vendors and operators agree on common forms and functionalities, few vendors will risk developing such a solution and cost constraints will remain.
Trials and RFPs. Of course, one of the biggest questions surrounding the femtocell space is, Ã¢â‚¬Ëœwhen will it take off?Ã¢â‚¬â„¢ There is little doubt that femtocells will get deployed. But, if this takes years, interest is bound to fade and competing solutions will gain ground. Luckily, vendors and operators, alike, leveraged the opportunity of the Femtocell conference to talk about their plans. Orange, already delivering UMA services, revealed its interest in a femtocell RFP (request for proposal). T-Mobile noted its commitment to femtos, even as its US arm launched a UMA offer. News of VodafoneÃ¢â‚¬â„¢s RFP hit the wires, O2 confirmed its investigations and Sprint, once again, noted plans for WiMAX femtocells. Softbank even held proof-of-concept demonstrations in Japan.
The Importance of RF Planning. The biggest technical issue keeping would-be femtocell operators up at night is RF planning. For the sake of capacity, operators will want to launch femtocells on the same channel as their macro cell network. This raises the specter of interference: indoor vs. outdoor not to mention indoor vs. indoor (e.g., between neighboring femtos). Separately, for the purpose of hand-in from the macro cell network, the existence of hundreds of new neighboring cells (IE, femtocells) could easily result in an overwhelming set of new cell global identifiers (CGIs) if standard cell planning procedures are followed. Ultimately, the result could be downgraded network performance, awkward handoffs and a burden on the core network in terms of cell management. Unlike obstacles which can be overcome by business practices or strategies, RF planning and interference worries will require specific, technical solutions from femtocell vendors.
The Femto Forum. The day before the conference began, the Femto Forum launched. The Femto Forum is a group formed to promote the uptake of femtocells through standards development, ecosystem development and market education. How important is this? Take a moment to review the points above. Where marketing is important, the Forum could represent one unified, compelling voice. Where a standard, open interface out of the femtocell is required, the Forum (with the help of operator members) could help in defining the interface. Where operators pursuing diverse functionalities could keep femtocell scale in check, the Forum could help to coordinate requirements.

Peter Jarich is principal analyst with Current Analysis, a competitive analysis firm.

FMC goes commercial, but will it thrive?

Fri, 13 Jul 2007 06:59:59 -0400

FMC goes commercial, but will it thrive?

After many starts and stalls, 2007 is shaping up to be the year of fixed mobile convergence. In fact, this summer we've seen two U.S. operators dip into the FMC pool and launch services. And it's likely that others will follow suit if these two early innovators find success with their offerings.

Regional operator Cincinnati Bell Wireless launched its CB Home Run package in June. CB Home Run lets subscribers make wireless calls via the firm's cellular network and via WiFi in their homes and offices and at the company's more than 300 WiFi hotspots. Cincinnati Bell is charging $60 for the Nokia 6086 UMA-based handset with a $15 rebate, and existing customers can add the CB Home Run service for just $10 per month.

On a much larger scale, T-Mobile USA launched its HotSpot@Home service in late June. The service lets customers connect via the firm's cellular network and its 8,500 WiFi hotspot locations across the country. T-Mobile offers two HotSpot-compatible handsets--the Samsung t409 and the Nokia 6086. Each phone costs $49.99 with a two-year contract. To provide an incentive to users to sign up for the plan, T-Mobile is letting existing customers add the service for $9.99 per month for a single line and $19.99 per month for up to five lines for customers on a family plan.

While I commend Cincinnati Bell and T-Mobile for launching FMC at attractive price points ($10 per month for an individual/$20 per month for a family plan), I hope they rapidly add more handsets to their offerings. We know from history that the lack of compelling FMC handsets can limit growth. As we reported back in March, Deutsche Telekom canceled its FMC service called T-One. While the company claimed the cancellation was because it wanted to focus on its mobile Internet services, many industry insiders reported that the real reason the service failed to take off was because it was poorly marketed and lacked a compelling line up of handsets.

Current Analysis analyst William Ho, while slightly bullish on T-Mobile's HotSpot@Home offering, also urges T-Mobile to increase its FMC handset portfolio. In a research note, Ho says "although the launch devices are priced well, the limited selection of two relative to the entire T-Mobile handset portfolio forces a user to make a tradeoff between fashion and functionality (e.g. RAZR, Sidekick, Pearl) for voice value."

To hear more about the FMC debate, tune into the FierceWireless Webinar "FMC Progress Report" on July 17 at noon EST. I'll be moderating the Webinar and my guests include ABI Wireless Research Director Stuart Carlaw, Tango Networks COO Alastair Westgarth and Evan Miller, IT operations strategy director at Texas Instruments. Click here to register. -Sue

3GSM: Fixed/Mobile Convergence

Fri, 09 Feb 2007 10:57:54 -0500

After years of hype and little reality, expect UMA to finally get more traction. Carriers like British Telecom, Deutsche Telekom, TeliaSonera and France Telecom have launched FMC services based on WiFi/cellular phones and either Unlicensed Mobile Access (UMA) or SIP technology. According to Chris Ambrosio, director of device research with Strategy Analytics, handset selection is what has stymied user adoption for at least BT’s Fusion service. But, Kineto next week will announce that UMA technology is now available on 10 different models of handsets. And Boingo is poised to debut what it calls the first worldwide WiFi roaming network for dual-mode and WiFi enabled handsets. The new Boingo Mobile service will provide these phones with access to high-speed hotspots in airports, hotels and restaurants worldwide.

But FMC isn’t out of the woods yet. Says Ambrosio: “Operators aren’t feeling any great need to commit to UMA or dual-mode service at this point. They are closely watching the threat that UMA presents vs. VoIP over just a 3G phone or WiFi phone. And it’s not a broad threat yet. Most of the operators who have launched are treating UMA like a fringe service.”

IMS is another once-hyped technology that is now making inroads much later than expected. 2005 was the hype year, and 2006 consisted of the quiet deployments. Ericsson CMO Johan Bergendahl said that IMS has been deployed at more than 100 carriers. That figure will likely grow after next week’s announcements. Since 2005, IMS has been more about network development. At this show, expect to see the actual applications it enables. The Telefonica, Accenture and Capgemini booths will demonstrate IMS-based applications. -Lynnette

ALSO NOTED: Stealing GPS--not a smart move; Today's trivia question; and much more

Tue, 23 Jan 2007 19:01:30 -0500

> AirLink's ruggedized connectivity devices--the PinPoint X and Raven X--have been certified for use on Sprint's PowerVision network. The devices support 1xEV-DO Rev. A and are backwards compatible to work in areas where EV-DO Rev. A is unavailable. Release

> Kineto Wireless won another UMA client deal. BenQ will use Kineto's client software in its UMA-enabled dual-mode handsets available in 2007. Release

> Stealing GPS tracking units wasn't a bright idea for these crooks. Article

And Finally ... Your daily dose of wireless trivia. In the late 1980s, Nextel Communications was known by another name. What was its original moniker? Send your answer here.

Yesterday's Question: What was the name of the company that many believe to be a front for Apple, which filed a trademark in the U.S. for the "iPhone" in September 2006? Answer: Ocean Telecom Services. First correct answer came from Mark Jenkins, Select Communications.

TeliaSonera taps Kineto for UMA

Mon, 25 Sep 2006 20:01:36 -0400

wVoIP has certainly been the talk of the industry this week: Orange's announcement yesterday, today's T-Mobile USA feature in the WSJ (as covered in today's top story) and now the Swedish carrier TeliaSonera's announcement that it plans to offer a UMA-based wVoIP service powered by Kineto. The carrier has been testing out Kineto's UMA solution since last year, but plans to announce the dual WiFi/cellular service called "Home Free" today. The initial dual-mode handset for the service will be the Samsung P200.

For more on TeliaSonera's "Home Free" service:
- check out this blog entry from GigaOM

FEATURE: 3G home base stations turn UMA and convergence from threat into opportunity for operators

Thu, 22 Jun 2006 20:01:32 -0400

These are difficult times for mobile operators. After years of glamor and growth, stocks are being re-rated as utilities. Many markets are saturated, penetration is above 100 percent and competition is increasing.

To complicate things, there is the threat from UMA (Universal Mobile Access), FMC (Fixed Mobile Convergence) and Voice-over-WiFi (wireless VoIP). For example, BT's Fusion product uses Bluetooth and UMA, which can give new competitors cost advantages because they don't need to own a license. Indeed, it is no coincidence that BT, with strong broadband presence but no spectrum, is the first to offer such a service.

Finally, putting salt in the wound, 3G, supposedly the savior of carriers, doesn't actually work that well indoors. Or, rather, the combination of high frequencies (2.1GHz), high data rates (16QAM), long range and attenuation from walls is not a good mix. Of course, this isn't just a problem for 3G. Everyone knows WiFi has poor propagation characteristics, and it's why I cannot access my home network in my living room.

Femtocells could shift the advantage back to spectrum owners. A femtocell is a 3G home base station that is simple: a box similar to a WiFi access point connected to broadband. But instead of using Bluetooth or WiFi, the radio is using 3G signals to connect to any standard handset. To a consumer, this would be like UMA with the same advantages. At home, calls would be connected from their handset to the base station and then to the core over broadband. Those calls would be cheap or free. The advantage is that this doesn't require a dual-mode handset, which is expensive and has poor battery life, but works with any device. Customers use their standard mobile phones with all of their numbers programmed into it.

For an operator this counters a competitive threat, improves quality for subscribers and delivers some genuine differentiation in a cost-effective way. By offering attractive pricing when using the femtocell to people in the home, operators now have a powerful tool to sign up everyone in the household, reducing churn. Further, the carrier will probably want to deliver the broadband too so it can bundle services as a way to reduce churn and increase ARPU from both services.

Interestingly, it also improves service for other customers. Today, to get indoor coverage macrocells have to SHOUT REALLY LOUD to try to blast signals through walls, causing noise for other users outside. Putting the base station inside the walls improves service indoors, but also for all the other users who no longer get shouted at.

This is "Shannon meets Isenberg." Isenberg famously predicted that intelligence moves to the edge, while Shannon's law says that the key efficiency is improving signal-to-noise ratio. What better way than to have base stations where they are needed--at the edge, with short distances, less attenuation, less interference and hence higher data rates.

This is elegant ju-jitsu: taking the advantages of FMC, but using the strength back against it. Operators can use the ideas to take customers away from fixed-line competitors and reduce churn, increase ARPU and improve coverage and customer experience.

But there are three major problems. The first, not surprisingly, is cost. This whole idea only works if the femtocell is cheap enough. Recently, a 3G macro base station was $100,000; the domestic femtocell needs a cost of below $200. With the latest processors, this is now realistically doable.

The second challenge is working with the radio network and managing interference. This must be completely automatic and plug-and-play because there is no way that carriers' network planning could cope with hundreds of thousands of entities. The precise techniques for addressing this are sensitive but a number of different approaches have been developed.

Thirdly, is the reverse problem: Provisioning and integration with the core. This too must be plug-and-play, with no network configuration. Some carriers envisage an integrated femtocell plus broadband gateway (like Orange's Livebox), while others want an Ethernet modem using existing broadband connection. The latter is simpler, and could be deployed more quickly, while the integrated box would give better control of QoS, security and provisioning. Probably both will be deployed. In either case, it must be really straightforward for the customer to install and use.

These challenges are solvable. When wireless competition often is price-wars or who has the prettier logo, it is encouraging to see that there are carriers looking to use technology innovation to drive better services. Whichever approach wins, we can be sure that the increased differentiation and competitive pressure will drive better services for us all.

Rupert Baines is vice president of marketing with picoChip, a multi-core DSP company.

UMA services to launch soon

Mon, 17 Apr 2006 20:01:39 -0400

By the looks of carriers' requests for proposals (RFPs), several U.S. and European carriers are gearing up to deploy WiFi/cellular roaming services based on the UMA (unlicensed mobile access) spec. Kineto Wireless says it has responded to about 15 RFPs for UMA deployments in the last six months. BT launched UMA services last fall and analysts expect TeliaSonera, T-Mobile USA and others to do the same by the end of this year. Kineto said they heard T-Mobile will even be airing television ads about their upcoming UMA service. While T-Mobile has decided on UMA, others see IMS as a more comprehensive alternative right around the corner. "We were looking at [UMA], but when we explored the timing of both there was little difference in availability, and IMS is a better platform for convergence--beyond cellular and WiFi," Cingular's spokesman Ritch Blasi said.

For more on upcoming UMA deployments:
- take a look at this article from LightReading

Kineto, Cisco team for UMA, fixed-mobile convergence

Mon, 06 Feb 2006 19:01:38 -0500

Cisco Systems and Kineto Wireless are collaborating to ensure interoperability between their UMA products. UMA enables fixed-mobile convergence/substitution by enabling the end user to automatically switch to an IP network when in range of a WiFi network. The duo aims to enhance subscriber access control and security for UMA deployments for carriers' core networks, as well as lowering price points and expediting the products' time to market. Both Kineto and Cisco's products are resold through Nokia and Motorola.

Kineto says the biggest barrier to market for UMA is still the dual-mode handset. LG, Nokia and Motorola will probably launch lines of compatible handsets by the second quarter and Kineto expects to see them deployed in the thousands by year-end.

For more on UMA and the Kineto/Cisco collaboration:
- check out this press release

Nokia, Kineto partner for UMA

Thu, 25 Aug 2005 20:01:39 -0400

Nokia yesterday said it plans to use Unlicensed Mobile Access (UMA) technology developed by Kineto Wireless in its converged network solutions for wireless and landline carriers. UMA works with GSM networks and WiFi systems, allowing users to access whichever technology is most relevant for their connection. UMA allows for seamless roaming between cellular and WiFi networks. The news is a major win for Kineto, which has been pushing UMA technology as a wireless convergence solution. No financial details of the deal were released. Kineto Wireless is a member of the 2005 FierceWireless Fierce 15, an annual list of the top emerging wireless companies.

For more on Nokia's decision to use UMA:
- read this press release