SCN LTD, a leading creator of VoIP Wireless LAN technology, today launched Truphone. Truphone allows you to use your cell phone to make calls over Bluetooth, Wi-Fi or 3G using VoIP. This allows you to mix the benefits of carrying a single mobile device with all your contacts while gaining the cost benefits of IP telephony when in range of an access point. Access points are now widely deployed in companies, homes and public areas such as airports and coffee bars. If you are in the middle of a call and move away from the access point Truphone will transfer the call to the cellular network allowing you to continue without interruption. For enterprises this provides the ideal converged device so that employees need only use one phone for all their communication needs connecting to the cellular network when traveling and connecting to the corporate SIP system when in the office. Consumers get the benefits of coverage into mobile blind spots and can make lower cost VoIP calls when near an access point on their favourite personal device - the cell phone.

Nokia created the Series 60 Platform and licenses it to leading cell phone vendors LG Electronics, Lenovo, Panasonic, Samsung, Sendo and Siemens, who together with Nokia make up nearly two-thirds of global cell phone sales.

The first product to ship from SCN Ltd supports the Nokia 6630 phone operating over Bluetooth. This will operate with a Bluetooth enabled computer or an inexpensive Bluetooth Truphone adapter turning that computer into a low cost access point. Wi-Fi enabled phones, such as the N91 just announced by Nokia, will follow shortly allowing the use of Truphone in public hotspots and enterprises where Bluetooth is less commonly available. Calls can be terminated by a range of carrier partners or using SIP application software that can be deployed in the network.

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The 3G phones in the market are not up to snuff, according to experts: “We are seeing performance differences between two 3G terminals, with as much as 6dB or 7 dB falloff in signal sensitivity. Inside a building where signals are marginal, that’s the difference between ‘working’ and ‘not working’ - and it’s not being caught in testing.”

The accusation comes from the leader in terminal (phone and handset and data cards, to us users) testing: Spirent. Director of Applications Engineering, Nigel Wright, said frankly: “The handset makers have concentrated on passing ‘conformance’ tests, at the expense of real-world performance.”

Users of 3G data services will all be well aware of the problems of trying to get error-free communications, especially on data cards. But it’s very difficult to set up a good real-world test for phones or data cards which is repeatable, and as a result, the requirements of UMTS “conformance” tests have become very watered down, Spirent thinks.

“We’re well aware that a few big handset makers have put pressure on the committees to allow performance which isn’t optimised for anything except passing the conformance test,” said Wright. “It’s a problem which the networks are very concerned about, because users are seeing calls dropped, errors, and loss of signal, which the networks are blamed for. But the problem is in the mobile terminal, in our judgement, in far too many cases.”

Read more and discuss at NewsWireless

The Universal MobileBridge™ can support any of the two combinations of EVDO, CDMA 1x, EDGE, and UMTS/HSDPA networks to enable the wireless internet.

Top Global, a leader in wireless convergence solutions, announced today the World’s First Dual Slot Enterprise Class MobileBridge™ solutions that link third-generation (3G) mobile and Wi-Fi networks. Top Global’s solution, called MobileBridge™, serves as a gateway/router that links 3G and Wi-Fi networks, enabling enterprises to enjoy the flexibility and convenience of broadband wireless internet including both voice and data services in truly mobile and remote environments.

The Universal MobileBridge™ is a standard universal gateway that supports all EVDO data cards available in the USA including PC5220/AC580, V620 and KPC650. Enterprises continue to demand for higher data throughput and for redundancy in wireless networks. With the dual slot design, we effective solve two problems at the same time. For example, enterprise customers in the USA can now use the Mobilebridge™ with both EVDO and UMTS/HSDPA networks at the same time. They not only get higher throughput but also have an automatic back up solution in case one link is down. In Europe however, customers can get two UMTS links from two independent service providers to enjoy the same benefits.

The flexible systems architecture of the Universal MobileBridge™ supports any of the combinations of EVDO, CDMA 1x, EDGE, and UMTS today and can smoothly migrate to support HSDPA and EVDO Rel.A standards with firmware upgrade in the near future.

Read more on TopGlobal

Will 3G networks be able to cope with increasing user demands? Check out this interesting article from PCAdvisor:

While 3G networks offer operators roughly three times the capacity of current 2G networks, 3G applications, such as mobile TV and mobile access to the internet, enterprise networks and email, guzzle more than 20 times the bandwidth of mainstay 2G applications such as voice and text messaging.

3G wireless devices – particularly handsets with high-resolution digital cameras and colour displays – could spur demand far exceeding the capacity of mobile phone operators’ 3G networks.

Read more at PCAdvisor