I was horrified to discover that cell phone companies make substantial
charges for text messaging. They use almost no air time. I would have
expected to be thrown in as a freebie with the monthly charge.
Here is how a low cost cell phone system could work.
1. The hand held units are capable only of wifi -- very high
bandwidth, but must be near an ethernet.
2. the cell phone company pays you a commission for people to use your
wireless ethernet, making it open to that company's subscribers. The
owner of the LAN does not have to do anything other than run some
little utility that exposes X-amount of bandwidth.
3. You pay for bandwidth -- so text messaging is almost free.
Digitised voice is more expensive, and you can browse the web, upload
and download data and decent speeds.
4. the system works for laptops or hand held units.
5. You can make your net available at reduced rates to attract
customers to buy your coffee, eat your food etc.
Setting up a wifi ****t becomes a very simple business anyone can get
involved in, both to make money, and to attract people who want to
communicate. The cell phone company needs almost no capital to get its
business going.
--
Roedy Green Canadian Mind Products
The Java Glossary
http://mindprod.com
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