Roam Between GPRS, Wi-Fi, and W-CDMA

At last week's 3GSM World Congress, T-Mobile announced plans for a new service that will allow users to easily roam between various types of wireless networks.

At the conference in France, T-Mobile CEO Rene Obermann said his company is planning a new service that will let subscribers use either GPRS (General Packet Radio Service), W-CDMA (Wideband Code Division Multiple Access), or Wi-Fi (802.11b), with their hardware device automatically choosing whichever is the better option at the time.

Mr. Obermann said, "One thing is certain. Mobile is getting more complicated; but customers demand it must get simpler to use. So simplicity is a core ingredient of our approach. All our experience and research tells us that 3G is vital; but it's not enough. Customers want what's best for their needs. If you want data, you'll want 3G rather than 2G; but if you can access pure broadband via Wi-Fi, you'll want that. So, we are creating one multi-speed, multi-media network; integrating 2G, 3G and Wi-Fi; and moving towards total seamlessness."

T-Mobile intends to start offering this service this spring in Europe and will offer wireless networking cards for laptops that support roaming across multiple networks. It is not known at this time when it will begin doing the same in the U.S.

Also at the 3GSM World Congress, several smart phones were announced with built-in support for both GPRS and Wi-Fi.

Related Links

• Motorola Announces Innovative Pocket PC Phone
• Upcoming Nokia Smart Phone Will Have Wi-Fi, Keyboard
• Brighthand's Coverage of the 3GSM World Congress 2004