How'd you like just one phone number -- and phone -- for home, office, and mobile? Chicago-based BridgePort Networks officiated at the long-heralded marriage of cellular networks and Wi-Fi -- which could mean cell phones that never drop calls inside buildings, where Wi-Fi is the cheaper and more reliable system.

At conferences in Barcelona and Las Vegas, BridgePort showcased new phones from Chinese manufacturer E28 that carry both a standard cellular radio and a Wi-Fi radio. When attendees wandered out of the Wi-Fi transmitter's range, the call switched to the cellular network. "They would never know when the handover was; there was no break in the pitch or the voice," boasts Todd Carothers, a BridgePort vice president.