Soon You Won't Pay Anything For Phone Calls
A collection of recent articles describes how Wi-Fi internet is
going to bring with it many benefits, but it will first have to
overcome the opposition of telephone and cable companies.
Free Phone Calls
According to eBay's chief executive Meg Whitman, within a few
years, customers may be able to make telephone calls for free,
with no per-minute charges, while the carriers make money on
advertising or transaction fees.
This statement was made during a discussion of eBay's purchase
of web-based communications phenomenon Skype Technologies. The
company is hoping that by combining electronic markets, online
payment systems, and Web-based communications, it can become a
leader in all three areas.
Skype allows members to make free Web-based calls to each other,
and has more than 57 million registered users. EBay believes
Skype's growth will drive down voice communications costs down
to nothing over the next three to six years.
Rural Wi-Fi
One major hurdle in the growth of Voice Over Internet telephony,
however, is the inconsistency of Wi-Fi availability. So it's
interesting to note that a desolate area in Oregon has become
the world's largest Wi-Fi hotspot, a region that stretches over
700 square miles.
Wireless projects in more metropolitan areas have been stymied
by telephone and cable TV companies, which have spent large
amounts of money lobbying state and local governments to pass
bills aimed at discouraging competition.
In the country, however, large corporations see little profit
potential, which enabled wireless entrepreneur Fred Ziari to
build a $5 million wireless network, at his own expense, without
restrictions. Already, the network has revolutionized the way
business, emergency planning, and police work are conducted,
along with many other businesses and services.
Ziari's network is free to the public; he is recouping his
investment through contracts with city and county agencies and
larger businesses.
Even as Wi-Fi hotspots continue to increase, with more than
70,000 currently registered around the world, only a very few
major cities have complete Wi-Fi access across their entire area.
Different Approaches to Wi-Fi for Cities
However, a handful of municipalities across the nation using a
variety of approaches to introduce full-coverage Wi-Fi, in spite
of the opposition from the telephone and cable companies. Rio
Rancho, New Mexico, has a solution employing a network of 400
access points, while Manassas, Virginia, is employing a
broadband over power line (PBL) approach.
Madison, Wisconsin is getting their citywide Wi-Fi, with the
help of a firm supplying real-time automated meter reading for
the utilities industry. It will be installed at no cost to the
city, as the providers have secured initial funding from service
agreements from ISPs.
Even in the face of corporate opposition, municipal wireless
networks are expected to grow by 128 percent annually by 2007.
Wired News October 16, 2005Yahoo News October 20,
2005TechWeb.com October 21, 2005
Dr. Mercola's Comment:You had to know something was up when
with the future of your phone service when eBay was willing
to pay $4 billion to purchase the Voice over IP company Skype
a few weeks ago.
Over the past ten years SBC (new name AT & T) and Verizon
have spent tens of billions of dollars building telecom empires
so they could dominate the industry and, without question,
currently dominate the industry as together they control nearly
two-thirds of all residential phone lines in the US.
But the Internet WILL change all that and these companies are
not prepared for it. They will lose 40% of their land line
residential customers over the next ten years. This week's NY
Times also reported how the smaller Internet providers, like
Earthlink, are battling these giants.
It is becoming increasingly clear that your connection to the
Internet will replace your phone service. The key will not to
have a cell phone or a land line but an Internet connection.
Because if you have an Internet connection, you will be able to
get your phone service for free.
Now I am not talking about connecting your desktop or
notebook into an Ethernet cable, but using a wireless
connection, in many ways not very different than your cell
phone. Currently the wireless internet is restricted to WiFi
which is only good for hundreds of feet. However, that will soon
change when WiFi is morphed into WiMax and your connection will
be good for 25 miles or more.
You can start to see the trend. Google has offered tomake San
Francisco wireless last month, and now Philadelphia and as the
article aboverural Oregonare close behind.
Lobbying from cable and phone providers have stymied many
projects in major urban markets across the country.
Philadelphia's plan to build a citywide WiFi network
sparked state legislators (prompted by phone and cable
companies) to limit every other town in the state to do the same
thing!
The biggest obstacle to creating these cheap wireless
networks isn't the building of them, according to experts.
According to the Wi-Fi Alliance, it's more a matter
of "who's-going-to-get-a-piece-of-the-action?".
What Does All This Mean For YOU?
One thing you can be certain of is change. So please be
careful about signing any long term contracts with your phone
company as it with virtually near certainty I can assure you
that the future of your phone service will not resemble anything
you have seen in the past and, best of all, odds are very high
it will be free.
Next week I will be writing about the cell phone carrier that
has just signed a long-term contract with the US Defense
Department that seems to secure their position as the leading
cell phone carrier in the US.