BARCELONA—A lot of executives at Mobile World Congress are talking about how consumers need the ability to use whatever network is available with devices that automatically detect Wi-Fi and wide area cellular networks, without end-users having to put a lot of thought into it.
Low and behold, T-Mobile USA is already offering a service that lets customers move across networks without a hassle. Last fall, T-Mobile USA announced it would offer built-in Wi-Fi calling solutions on a wide selection of Android smartphones. At that time, the company said it was hosting about 40 million Wi-Fi calls per month, a number that steadily grew since it launched Wi-Fi calling back in 2007.
The service has evolved over the years, and now it’s offered on select handsets as part of customers’ service plans – as opposed to charging an extra $9.99 monthly service fee. The minutes used on Wi-Fi are included in bundles and count toward minutes used when customers buy X amount of minutes a month.
The service is powered by Kineto Wireless’ Smart Wi-Fi application. Handsets featured at Kineto’s booth in Hall 1 sport the service; in the commercial market, the handsets range in price from free on promotion all the way up to $199. Models include the Motorola Defy, HTC MyTouch 4G, LG Optimus and T-Mobile G2 by HTC.
Relieving network congestion was not the main driving force for T-Mobile when it devised the offering, but it is proving to be a nice side benefit, says Joshua Lonn, director of product management for in-home coverage solutions at T-Mobile USA.
The Wi-Fi service works internationally, too, and if you’re a resident of California calling a colleague from the States while in Barcelona, it will be treated as if it were a local call. As anyone can attest to when roaming abroad – some MWC attendees, perhaps –the charges add up if you haven’t gone through hoops to use something other than the standard carrier roaming system. Lonn admits that he himself rang up a huge phone bill the last time he traveled internationally and wasn’t using this latest solution.
Indeed, with all the attention on Wi-Fi at the show and leading up to it, as a cellular offload strategy or just making it convenient for customers, Kineto is reaping the benefits. Steve Shaw, vice president of corporate marketing at the Milpitas, Calif.-based company, says Kineto is getting all kinds of foot traffic at the booth and interest from carriers at the show.
Kineto’s Smart Wi-Fi application became commercially available in November to T-Mobile USA and Orange UK subscribers and was preloaded on more than 1 million Android handsets in the first 60 days. Kineto expects to have its application pre-loaded on more than 30 Android phone models in the first half of this year.
Of course, Kineto’sdeal with T-Mobile USA is not exclusive, but for now, T-Mobile is happy to stand by and watch its U.S. competitors try to sell consumers on the femtocell concept, which typically means charging customers for yet another device when they expect coverage from the service for which they’re already paying. “We believe this is more effective,” Lonn says.