Friday, April 23, 2004
IDT uses Wi-Fi to offer cheaper cell service
By Paul Davidson, USA TODAY
USATODAY.com - IDT uses Wi-Fi to offer cheaper cell service: "
Believe it or not, 43% of U.S. consumers still don't have a cell phone - many for budget reasons.
Now, long-distance company IDT is aiming at low- to moderate-income holdouts with a new breed of inexpensive service that offers mobile service but only in certain areas. IDT plans to introduce a semi-mobile phone service that works in areas equipped with Wi-Fi, a popular wireless technology linked to the Internet.
The strategy could pose at least a modest threat to the big wireless carriers as it marries two hot new technologies: Wi-Fi and Internet-based phone service.
The service price will be no more than $2 a month, with calls costing less than 5 cents a minute; initially, customers will likely prepay. Unlike with cell phones, incoming calls are free. While IDT initially will give away the phones equipped with Wi-Fi chips, they will eventually cost about $100.
In two months, IDT says, it will roll out the service in the Ironbound area of Newark, N.J., blanketing the 2-square-mile neighborhood with Wi-Fi antennas and offering the phones and service at local stores. The firm plans to add a few more undetermined cities by September and about a dozen by year's end as it sets up Wi-Fi zones in areas such as senior-citizen or affordable-housing complexes. There, the handsets could serve as both the home phone and semi-mobile phone.
However, the phones also will work in any area with an open Wi-Fi network, which today lets Wi-Fi-enabled laptop users get broadband access.
Fee-based "hot spots," which offer access to Wi-Fi devices within 300 feet of an antenna hooked to a broadband line, are popping up in coffee shops, hotels, airports and even McDonald's.
But a growing number of cities, including Seattle, San Francisco and New York, have large swaths of free spots. Many college campuses are also Wi-Fi equipped. As a result, IDT may offer the phones and service nationally via the Web or toll-free number. The company's target audience includes immigrants, college students and seniors.
"We're creating a new industry ... that can provide affordable phone service for everyone," says Jim Courter, CEO of IDT, a leading provider of prepaid calling cards.
The handsets' Voice-over-Internet-Protocol, or VoIP, technology offers low-cost phone service by sending calls as data packets over proprietary data lines or the Internet. IDT will route the calls over its VoIP network.
By Paul Davidson, USA TODAY
USATODAY.com - IDT uses Wi-Fi to offer cheaper cell service: "
Believe it or not, 43% of U.S. consumers still don't have a cell phone - many for budget reasons.
Now, long-distance company IDT is aiming at low- to moderate-income holdouts with a new breed of inexpensive service that offers mobile service but only in certain areas. IDT plans to introduce a semi-mobile phone service that works in areas equipped with Wi-Fi, a popular wireless technology linked to the Internet.
The strategy could pose at least a modest threat to the big wireless carriers as it marries two hot new technologies: Wi-Fi and Internet-based phone service.
The service price will be no more than $2 a month, with calls costing less than 5 cents a minute; initially, customers will likely prepay. Unlike with cell phones, incoming calls are free. While IDT initially will give away the phones equipped with Wi-Fi chips, they will eventually cost about $100.
In two months, IDT says, it will roll out the service in the Ironbound area of Newark, N.J., blanketing the 2-square-mile neighborhood with Wi-Fi antennas and offering the phones and service at local stores. The firm plans to add a few more undetermined cities by September and about a dozen by year's end as it sets up Wi-Fi zones in areas such as senior-citizen or affordable-housing complexes. There, the handsets could serve as both the home phone and semi-mobile phone.
However, the phones also will work in any area with an open Wi-Fi network, which today lets Wi-Fi-enabled laptop users get broadband access.
Fee-based "hot spots," which offer access to Wi-Fi devices within 300 feet of an antenna hooked to a broadband line, are popping up in coffee shops, hotels, airports and even McDonald's.
But a growing number of cities, including Seattle, San Francisco and New York, have large swaths of free spots. Many college campuses are also Wi-Fi equipped. As a result, IDT may offer the phones and service nationally via the Web or toll-free number. The company's target audience includes immigrants, college students and seniors.
"We're creating a new industry ... that can provide affordable phone service for everyone," says Jim Courter, CEO of IDT, a leading provider of prepaid calling cards.
The handsets' Voice-over-Internet-Protocol, or VoIP, technology offers low-cost phone service by sending calls as data packets over proprietary data lines or the Internet. IDT will route the calls over its VoIP network.
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