Japan: mobiles and landlines merge?
It’s true for several Asian countries - that the price of riding the wireless wave is getting way cheaper than being wired. And it’s just not a matter of price - but convenience and peace of mind as well. Applying for a landline can take days. Disconnecting it can take even longer.
With mobile phones getting cheaper and mobile services becoming more competitive, we may have reached that level where the concept of the land line as a home phone is becoming obsolescent. There’s an interesting read dated back to 2002 that predicts this phenomenon.
In Japan, wireless services are reaching a breakthrough where your home phone number can also be your mobile phone number. Why? Because it makes too much sense to ignore.
Some companies, including NTT Communications — the mobile unit of Japan’s biggest telecommunications group — already have started examining the possibility of consolidating the two services, with landline phones using fiber-optic cables, then using cellular towers when the handsets are carried outside of the home base. This would require the phone to be able to detect whenever it has veered from its base and automatically convert to a mobile-phone connection when necessary.
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POSTED IN: Mobile Monitor, The Unwired Life
3 opinions for Japan: mobiles and landlines merge?
Jon
Sep 28, 2005 at 11:01 am
I can’t find the article right now, but about 2 months ago I read an article that British Telecom was looking at the same idea: a handset that would sense its own base station and connect to it when it was in range; when it stepped out of range, it would connect to the cellular network.
I like the idea, but a wholesale switch from normal landlines to cellular will create some interesting, although probably minor, social changes.
Currently, your home phone number is connected to your house and therefore, by extension, connected to everyone that lives in the house rather than a speicific person. Therefore, if Mom and Dad want to call and wish everyone a happy holiday, they just have to call the house. At one number they can either talk to everyone (that’s home) or leave a message for all members of the house.
If everyone has their own personal number, then Mom and Dad have to purposely call each individual person that they want to with a happy holiday to.
Perhaps a small thing, granted, but how technology changes our lives interests me.
Jayvee
Sep 28, 2005 at 7:44 pm
hi jon,
you are correct by sating that this technology wont really change our social lives but will make several processes go smoother. it would be interesting to compile a list of technological red tape that can be eradicated by the breakthroughs of today. :)
Cellphone9.com - The b5media Cellphone and Mobile Blog » Voyager Bluetooth Headset
Oct 17, 2005 at 10:28 am
[...] Remember my post about how the Japs have assimilated their landlines and cell numbers into one? Well this is part two of their plan for world domination. Enter teh Voyager, Japan’s own bluetooth headset that can pair with up to eight devices for wireless chat time. It can pair with cellphones, PDA’s, computers (using Skype!!), and attaches to your land line so you can also use it as a cordless phone. Wow, this saves a lot on the budget for wireless receivers! The headphone itself weighs just 17 grams, extremely comfortable to wear for long durations. A standby of 100 hours and a talk time of 6 hours is what the company promises that you will have. It also has a noice reduction feature along with a volume control. [...]
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