Worldwide Internet cafes, the U.S. metro WIFI revolution and "disposable" phone numbers are facilitating low-cost mobile communications around the world, making it easier for travelers to stay in touch with home and work.
Tech keeping travelers in touch with home and business
By Mary E. Shacklett
Published: April, 2006
Worldwide Internet cafes, the U.S. metro WIFI revolution and disposable phone numbers are facilitating low-cost mobile communications around the world, making it easier for travelers to stay in touch with home and work.
A forerunner in metro WIFI, San Francisco launched its initiative for public wireless access in late 2004, and received a proposal from Google and Earthlink to build a citywide network that would provide Internet access to users at no cost to the city. Other key players on the San Francisco WIFI project are Cisco, IBM and Seakay, a non-profit organization of technology professionals committed to technology contributions that further national and international progress.
The SF metro plan is for Earthlink to furnish a subscription-based service with 1M bps (bits per second) access speeds with Google offering a free service at around 300K bps. Both services would utilize an industry-standard IEEE 802.11 gigibit network. Google and Earthlink would build and operate the SF metro WIFI, using industry-standard components from Cisco, Motorola and others for network infrastructure. The SF metro WIFI will support traditional Internet access—but it will also support other types of devices, such as music players or location tags.
The WIFI revolution is hitting more metropolitan areas—Philadelphia and Cleveland are working on WIFI plans, and, just recently, Cisco announced a suite of new products that will facilitate WIFI deployment by municipalities.
The new products use wireless mesh networking, a technology that capitalizes on wireless capabilities in order to transmit traffic from point to point and out to the Internet. Wireless mesh networking allows users to roam anywhere there is a signal, making it possible to be continuously connected, while traveling through a large area. Look for most major metropolitan areas in the U.S. (as well as some secondary and rural markets) to add area-wide WIFI access to their repertoires within the next three years.
Widespread WIFI will make communicating while traveling in the U.S. easier. Communications options for the international traveler have improved as well. In the past, offshore cell phone communications have been complicated, and confounded by the inability of countries to agree on a common mobile phone communications standard. Although most countries have a GSM (Global System for Mobile communications) standard, there are adaptations. Consequently, a U.S. cell phone will most likely not work well in Japan, to cite one example.
While email and Internet are great communication options, just as exciting is the concept of free and disposable phone numbers, which users can add, change or delete, as their lifestyles and privacy needs dictate. Disposable numbers work for domestic travelers who are interested in beating the rates of traditional mobile plans. And, because the service operates over the Internet, computer and phone devices can receive the same messages, via email or voicemail. A home number can be forwarded to a disposable number; and that number can be changed at whim. For a monthly fee, users can custom-design their own area code.
Now more than ever, there is a host of communications choices available to travelers. Most importantly, there’s no need to worry about staying in touch with family and important business contacts, because they’re literally just a few digits away.
Mary E. Shacklett is President of Transworld Data, a marketing and technology practice specializing in marketing, public relations and product management for technology companies and organizations. Mary is listed in Who’s Who Worldwide and Who’s Who in the Computer Industry. She may be reached at (360) 956-9536 or TWD_Transworld@msn.com.
Free Speech, Technically Speaking
To bypass cell phone connectivity problems, traditional telephone charges and high-charge international calling rate, travelers have options.
• SIP-supported (session initiation protocol) device: Allows a PDA (personal digital assistant), or a VoIP-based (Voice over Internet Protocol) phone set, to directly access the Internet.
• Laptop “soft phone”: Transforms the laptop into an Internet-powered telephone.
• WIFI hotspots: Public places where a computer user can access the Internet on an open connection. www.wi-fihotspotlist.com
• Internet cafés: Cafés that provide free, or fee, access to a computer and the Internet. Frequent one of over 4,200 Internet cafés in over 140 countries. www.netcafes.com
• Disposable phone number: Users sign up online to obtain a free, random phone number in an area code of their choosing. Then, while traveling, they have a local number where friends and family can reach them. www.FreeDigits.com
