Ericsson exec sees WiFi hotspots becoming the new telephone booths

While it hardly comes as much of a surprise, Ericsson Chief Marketing Officer Johan Bergendahl is now predicting nothing short of the demise of WiFi hotspots, and he's saying that they'll be replaced by -- you guessed it -- mobile broadband. Speaking at a conference in Stockholm, Bergendahl said that "hot spots at places like Starbucks are becoming the telephone boxes of the broadband era," and that "in a few years, [HSPA] will be as common as Wi-Fi is today." Leading to that widespread use, he says, is ever-decreasing prices for mobile broadband subscriptions, and the fact that HSPA is being built into more and more laptops. Of course, if other companies have their way, WiFi hotspots could become a thing of the past simply because entire cities would effectively be one huge hotspot, although we'd gladly take both options.

[Image courtesy of IDG.no]

[OneLove @ Mar 10th 2008 12:53PM]

What we need is skype and/or video phone booths

[Jamie @ Mar 10th 2008 12:57PM]

I'd rather have free wifi than "cheap" mobile broadband.

[Blake Bowen @ Mar 10th 2008 3:39PM]

We need three buttons: "+" "-" and "Hell yes"

[Jeff @ Mar 10th 2008 5:46PM]

that's what the exclamation-mark button is for.

:P

[GEO @ Mar 10th 2008 1:20PM]

Free wifi always wins. Too bad we can't have one device which can use my home VOIP phone or cordless landline, my 3G phone account when away, and free wifi whenever that is available. This is technically feasible but not in the interest of Ericsson etc. What we end up with is cool devices like the iPhone which work on a single network. Too bad.

[Brandon Bradley @ Mar 10th 2008 3:19PM]

I've heard that some people are using the wifi capabilities of their phones (like the N95) in conjunction with skype to place calls. In so doing I would imagine that they are avoiding a lot of charges. I am sure some would view this as wrong, but what really is the purpose of pay phones? To generate money, or provide a public service for emergency calls and the like?

[SK @ Mar 10th 2008 2:05PM]

Wifi ain't free. Someone has to pay for it.

[Mucx @ Mar 10th 2008 2:08PM]

SK "Wifi ain't free. Someone has to pay for it."

Yeah we do! Every time you buy overpriced coffee you pay a little to the WiFi fund

(as well as he bottles of bubbly at the shareholders meeetings and their PA's glamorous lingerie)

[BigBirdUK @ Mar 10th 2008 2:17PM]

@Mucx

You don't meet girls often(PA or otherwise) do you?

[roflercopterer @ Mar 10th 2008 3:40PM]

You don't have a Personal Assistant do you BigBird?

[Seth @ Mar 10th 2008 2:13PM]

SK's right, WiFi ain't free. But it's not expensive to set up. I mean, if you have a hotspot already, having extra users doesn't cost you extra money.

The city where I live (Portland) has a city-wide WiFi called MetroFi (www.metrofi.com). There's a free version that's paid for by advertising, and you can pay $20/mo or so for a non-advertising version. It's flippin' sweet, and way cheaper than setting up DSL or cable to your house. Of course, it doesn't cover everywhere -- I can't get it at home or work yet, since both are on the outskirts. But it's growing in area, and anytime I'm in town I can get online.

[Shadyman @ Mar 10th 2008 6:18PM]

FON is kinda like that, a little more sparse, but on a global scale.

[sean p. @ Mar 10th 2008 10:48PM]

i live in portland too and cant wait until i can get metrofi from my house.

[Seth @ Mar 10th 2008 2:17PM]

Oh, and if someone uses the new iPhone SDK to make a Skype client, then the iPhone will be GEO's dream device! Except, I guess, if you have iPhone, you don't need Skype. Skype's for cheap bastards who don't want to pay for nothin'. :)

[BigBirdUK @ Mar 10th 2008 2:20PM]

Seth,

I agree that Skype potentially is a disruptive technology, but I think saying people "don't want to pay [for] nothin'" is misleading. People simply want to pay the lowest for the best service - it's human nature!

[Mucx @ Mar 10th 2008 3:02PM]

@BigBirdUK

Pfffff.

[Marshall @ Mar 10th 2008 3:06PM]

With FON, you pay for your connection at home, but then you share it out. In return, you can use the FON APs other people have set up. This makes a lot more sense to me than pay-to-use hotspots like those found at Starbucks. It's not free, but you were going to need something at home anyway, so you are giving up very little to gain access across the globe. It also works easily with Skype phones.

http://www.fon.com

[frank @ Mar 10th 2008 3:28PM]

FYI: starbucks wifi is a subscription through t-mobile. Not as many free ones as you might think, and damn sure not as many FREE ones as there where phone booths. This is just a snow job because theres no money in 20 people using one wifi spot even if someone is paying for it.

it's no mystery why HSPA is the carriers choice, they make money on it PER-PERSON! Puts it all back ion their control.

[Andrew @ Mar 10th 2008 3:35PM]

HSPA? *pfft*

LTE!

[Andrew @ Mar 10th 2008 3:38PM]

If Wifi replaces pay phones, where will Superman change?



Yes, I know he can use the revolving doors, but I think Lex Luthor is behind this all.

[roflercopterer @ Mar 10th 2008 3:38PM]

I guess the P-word is too much for some people.

More politely, You can't use a wifi hotspot as a bathroom.

[Wonderkid @ Mar 10th 2008 3:50PM]

The SE guy is spot on. What counts is a) Convenience b) Coverage c) Up time. While WiFi offers greater bandwidth, my first generation Vodafone Connect card (max speed 2.3MB approx) when flat out will handle YouTube and Dreamweaver ftp fine. And I hope to upgrade to the new 7MB modem now my contract is up for renewal. I know I can visit ANY cafe or coffee shop, and for the flat rate of (no more than) £25 a month, at the very least (assuming it slips back to a GPRS speed), check my email and surf most websites. And then there is 4G that Samsung demonstrated a few years ago that offered phenomenal speeds even in a moving vehicle.

[ChristianD @ Mar 10th 2008 5:00PM]

I think this widespread wifi is a myth. Some locations have wifi, but finding free access is like finding a winning lottery ticket. Also, buying minutes with a credit or debit card over a wireless conection isn't exactly the smartest idea either if you know what I mean. If every restarant and mom and pop store paid for the connection like they pay for other untilities then I would believe in the concept of wide spread wifi availible to all, but we are far from such a concept. Paying for a connection in Barnes&Noble cost more than my monthly internet subscription if you sit there all day. If you're an AT&T user you can get around the cost, but you know what I mean for the rest of us.

[ma5t3rw1tt @ Mar 10th 2008 6:09PM]

I think every city in the USA should get their own WIFI hotspot. That would be sweet. Then if you wanted your own subscription without sharing, then you could pay for your own. But seriously, I believe internet should be FREE!

[Jervis @ Mar 10th 2008 10:03PM]

That's how it is here in Hong Kong. Phone booths have a pay phone and wifi signal.
I use it to have a quick access to the city map with my ipod touch whenever I'm lost. It ain't free though

[Niklas @ Mar 11th 2008 2:58AM]

There will be a mix for quite a while. The convenience with the coverage from HSPA and the higher speeds as well as lower costs for shuffling data with wifi. So he has to wait or make things cheaper and not so proprietary.....

[Cassini @ Mar 11th 2008 8:33AM]

WiFi hotspots are old? As far as I'm concerned, they've barely gotten started. Oh sure, you can go to a coffee shop and get some coverage, but what about when you're out and about and not right near those places? I suppose unless you're living somewhere like the Bay Area in Cali, then most places are going to be "cold spots".

HSPA is WAY too expensive, with coverage that is WAY too limited, and in a lot of cases, isn't even available. Until we get DL/UL speeds that are as fast as WiFi, with virtually blanketed coverage, and at prices that aren't absolutely insane (based on the average person, not the average millionaire exec), then we're going to be working on Met-based WiFi coverage for a loooooong time.

The "new phonebooths"? I understand what he's trying to say, but that's hardly an accurate analogy at this point. We've got a LONG way to go first.

Quite frankly, we should be a lot further along than what we are. It's as though the people who make things like this happen either don't care or don't understand. Or both. Technology moves forward, but I suppose in about another ten years of fighting governmental and corporate bureaucratic ignorance and apathy, we'll finally manage to have available the coverage, speed, and pricing we want and could probably offer today.

[Togarth @ Mar 11th 2008 9:48AM]

I did a fairly extensive amount of work with the Mobile Networks some years back and the message I got from ALL the operators (with a few variations) was as follows:

We are NOT interested in any of the business models in use on the Internet.

Mobile operators will offer very little or nothing for free, "the customer will therefore have to be educated into accepting that mobile services are convenient exciting "Premium" services and will therefore be chargeable at all times.


So I for one am not supprised that Ericsson's Chief Marketing Officer is banging the HSPA drum loudly.

After all Ericsson will want to sell lots of nice shiny new switches wont they?
and dont hey also make mobile phones?!!

[roole @ Mar 11th 2008 11:20AM]

There is no such thing as a free lunch.

[sonicwind @ Mar 11th 2008 1:14PM]

silly, you can't SEE hotspots