Apple iPhone 4Image by tychay via Flickr If you work for a mobile carrier anywhere in the world read this article please. The news is that the introduction of the iPhone is bringing AT&T network´s down. In the article you can see that AT&T had to stop the launch of the Blackberry Bold, an amazing new product by Blackberry because iPhone users are bandwidth hogs. Indeed in a desperate measure AT&T is promoting 3G but sending its customers who already paid for 3G to WiFi. Indeed they are forcing them to use WiFi to do such integral parts of the iPhone experience as buying music and videos from iTunes something that must be getting Apple quite pissed as without a WiFi network AT&T simply slows iTunes sales.

Even though Fon cannot disclose who we are in conversations with but I can say that this are 2 of the largest 3G carriers in the world who find themselves with this problem. Selling iPhones and having to deal with radically new data habits of the iPhone customers that require a great deal of investment in their network. The solution is to do what BT did with us at BT Fon and install the Fon functionality on millions of their DSL boxes and offer their DSL customers WiFi roaming while giving them extra bandwidth (so they are never bandwidth deprived at home) to help create WiFi coverage everywhere they can build a national WiFi network for 99% less than a national 3G network. Moreover DSL operators who work with Fon are finding that by building a network with us they can launch their own dual 3G WiFi handsets including UMA, they have customers who churn less cause they pay at home and get free roaming everywhere, and they do better than the competitors who do not work with us because with their competitors customers pay at home and get WiFi at home but with us they pay at home and get WiFi in tons of places.

Reblog this post [with Zemanta]

Follow Martin Varsavsky on Twitter: twitter.com/martinvars

No Comments

Simon on September 18, 2008  · 

it looks indeed like the right and immediatly applicable solution to lighten brodband demand in highly 3G-populated areas, fon ftw!

3.0 rating

Jordi - FON on September 18, 2008  · 

@Simon, FTW as in For the Win 😉

3.0 rating

Romain on September 18, 2008  · 

If Fon is able to cover big cities in the USA as they do for Paris, I hope Fon would find a fine partnership like they did with Neuf Telecom in France (when I say a fine partnership, I’m speaking for the end user).

3.0 rating

Diego A on September 18, 2008  · 

Well, the android platform from Google will also use G3 access to data but from T-mobile. I guess it’s just a matter of time before they increase their bandwidth for G3 networks, perhaps charging more on their service, but it’s definitely they way to go.

3.0 rating

Bratislav Metulsky on September 19, 2008  · 

Nice idea, but does Fon really have significant coverage in those places, where 3G networks are overloaded? Fon is neither available at trade fairs, nor at airports, nor at railroad stations, but mostly in residential zones, where foneros live.
And have you ever examined the acutal signal range of hotspots? Do they generate any outdoor coverage worth mentioning, that could discharge 3G networks?

3.0 rating

Martin Varsavsky on September 21, 2008  · 

@ Bratislav Metulsky:

It depends on which country you are talking about. We have the most coverage in the UK and in Japan. In some countries we still have low coverage.

Diego A on September 23, 2008  · 

G1 from T-mobile is launched today. Android inside. G3/Wi-fi.
$25 for data access.

3.0 rating

Martin Varsavsky on September 29, 2008  · 

Bratislav,

The iPhone forces u to look for WiFi when u want to do go to the itunes store.

When u start looking in certain countries, like UK, where we have http://www.btfon.com and any bt openzone or fon or btfon is good for you, yes you find fon in a lot of places.

In France we have a lot of coverage as well

In Japan as well

In other countries less, but growing

Leave a Comment

Español / English


Subscribe to e-mail bulletin:
Recent Tweets