From time-to-time here I’d like to post about geeky technology. I think that every IT security-guru that I know is a geek at heart and loves the latest gadgets and technology. New gadgets usually are born around form/function and almost always lack the “security & privacy-factor.” “EZ-Pass is great!” (but it allows law-enforcement [and your wife, with a court order] to track your movements). Look how small that GPS receiver is? (but it allows stalkers, ex-boyfriends, etc. easy tracking). Any good security-guru will find something insecure about the latest technological marvel. But that doesn’t make it any less cool/fun to play with!

Apologies to Jeff Foxworthy, but you know you’re a geek when — you dream that AT&T supports Unlicensed Mobile Access (UMA) on their WiFi Blackberries, just like T-Mobile and Cincinnati Bell Wireless does (in the US).

So if there was ever any doubt, my dream last night that my 8120 WiFi Blackberry supported WiFi voice calls officially makes me an uber-geek. Completely not related to the fact that as a kid in high school I had an Apple Newton.

Seriously though, those of you not familiar with UMA, read on. T-Mobile’s Hotspot @Home service (and a similar service from CBW) allows you to make unlimited WiFi-based calls from your mobile device using UMA-specs. The UMA technology is built-into certain mobile phones, including my 8120 Blackberry. But as an AT&T Wireless customer, it remains inactive and frustrates me to all heck. To be fair, AT&T and Verizon have both admitted here that they’re looking into emerging femtocell technology (something Sprint is already using in the Denver-area). Femtocell, for lack of a better description, puts the equivalent of a miniature cell tower in your home and uses your broadband connection for completing the call. Problem is, it will only work where you have the femtocell hardware in place. Wheras WiFi connection spots are as close as the nearest Starbucks.  AT&T now boasts over 71,000 WiFi hotspots (including the ones they took over from T-Mobile at Starbucks) and offers WiFi plans to consumers — how can they can reject UMA-over-WiFi as an upsell/bundle to AT&T Wireless customers?</frustration>

T-Mobile chares $10/month for UMA, routing your calls over WiFi when you’re at home OR, as others have found, connected to almost any other WiFi hotspot. In return for connecting calls via WiFi, you get unlimited talk-time. Not a bad deal for the subscriber, especially if you live in a low-coverage area. Or if you’re traveling overseas. And it saves mobile operators a boat-load of cash. It minimizes their need to build out expensive mobile-tower infrastructure and reduces their back-haul dedicated line requirements from their towers to the PSTN.

I have considered switching to T-Mobile to take advantage of this very feature — but the lack of overall GSM/mobile coverage by T-Mobile compared to AT&T Wireless is holding me back. Any readers out there use this service with either T-Mobile or CBW?

If we end up working for a customer that’s outside of the US, I may look harder at switching to a T-Mobile UMA phone to keep the Long-Distance telecom charges down. In the mean time… a guy can dream (about UMA at AT&T Wireless), can’t he?

Filed under: Mobile Access