Smart Phones Finally Get Smart about Wi-Fi

New software takes advantage of Wi-Fi to make data downloads and voice calls far more affordable.

Software developers may have finally figured out a way to make smart-phone features cheap enough to appeal to the average person. Several new services will offer TV, e-mail, and voice calls on your cell phone at significantly reduced rates, using Wi-Fi.

Downloading e-mail or video clips to a cell phone normally results in high data-transfer rates, subscription fees, or both. But the latest generation of smart phones--cell phones capable of running third-party software--can sidestep most of these additional charges by running software that uses Wi-Fi connections instead of the cellular networks.

Cell-phone carriers are very worried about Wi-Fi because of the impact it will have on their traditional revenues, such as call charges, data, and roaming, says Pete Nuthall, industry analyst for mobile and wireless communications with London's Frost and Sullivan. "The operators are struggling to keep up," he says.

Companies like UK-based Truphone, which launched its mobile Internet phone service last week at the Symbian Smartphone Show in London, are likely to have a big impact on the market, he says.

Truphone lets users make calls using Wi-Fi instead of the cellular network, says Alistair Campbell, Truphone's technical director. "Ultimately, Wi-Fi bypasses it all," he says.

With Truphone's software, for example, users pay about one cent a minute for phone calls to most developed countries, provided the call is made in a Wi-Fi hotspot. And when Wi-Fi isn't available, or the caller wanders out of a hotspot, the software automatically hands over the call to the cellular network.

Similarly, Sling Media, of San Mateo, CA, released software so users can watch live terrestrial, satellite, and cable TV on their cell phone. Users can also operate their home-video hard-drive recorder using their cell phone, so they can "tape" shows they miss.

This kind of mobile TV is radically different from what's currently offered via the cellular networks, says Stuart Collingwood, Sling Media's vice president for Europe. Normally, users pay a monthly subscription fee for a bundle of channels. Sling Media's software puts the user in control and costs nothing when enlisting a Wi-Fi connection to patch into a Sling Box recorder back at home. "I already pay for these channels at home; why should I have to pay for them again?" says Collingwood.