December 11, 2009

Reading this article on TMCnet really got the day off to the right start for me.

For me, VOIP has always been the killer app for municipal Wi-Fi. All that was lacking were 1. devices and 2. ‘good enough’ networks. Now with 144 million VOIP capable Wi-Fi phones shipping this year, and over 300 million by 2011, we have one part of the equation solved. With 802.11n now an official standard, and with that radio now being build into everyone’s Wi-Fi networking gear, the other part is also solved.

Result? People will find a very compelling reason to use and to build municipal Wi-Fi networks. Think Skype on an iTouch, or on a netbook. Instead of paying $30/month on a calling plan, you are basically able to pay for your nifty little computer or handheld in six months, and the rest they say is gravy.

One could well object that by taking all the profit out of voice, you don’t aren’t making any money on that either. But what if, unlike the carriers, you are not in the business of selling voice subscriptions but instead selling all the various applications and services that such a network could support? Give away the voice, and get the user base.

This is Wired Town’s strategy. With Altai Technologies shipping high capacity Wi-Fi networking gear to carriers around the world, and with Lemcon, a global integrator of wireless networks installing and maintaining them, Wired Towns has a platform to provide high capacity VOIP over Wi-Fi networks anywhere.

Free voice via VOIP over Wi-Fi (well, Skype and similar services make the money) makes the network itself very valuable to the user community, and creates a potential customer base for premium services on the platform.

One big fat Wi-Fi Hot Zone in the middle of a major city is where I’d like to start with this.

By Marshall Brown | Permalink | Comments (0) |