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BT Wi-FI mobile. I’ll eat my hat if more than 4 people have signed up

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Originally uploaded by smstextnews.

Turn a minute into 240 seconds with the new BT Wi-FI mobile. If you’re at home. Or if you’re at Liverpool Street Station. Or if you’re at a McDonalds (i.e. if there’s a BT Openzone wireless connection nearby).

Have you seen this around?

The whole concept being that the phone will switch to sending calls over Wi-Fi if you’re in reach of a Wi-Fi signal. This will be cheaper, right.

60 seconds –> 240 seconds.

Nah.

I just don’t care.

Me, well, actually I do. I like these sort of techie things. But when it comes to your Joe-Average, I don’t think folk care.

I refer you to a recent article in the Daily Telegraph about it: BT unleashes Wi-Fi mobile.

Steve Andrews, BT’s head of mobility and convergence, said: “I think we’ll see mass market adoption for BT Fusion over the next 12 months. Over 60 per cent of mobile calls are made indoors – at home, in the office, at railways stations and airports. We believe this is an underserved market in terms of good low-cost access to the internet and making good value calls.”

Er, no.

60 seconds –> 240 seconds isn’t really that good. What about Vodafone’s stop-the-clock? Pay for one minute, talk for an hour? That wipes the floor with this.

Fusion phones previously used Bluetooth technology to link the handset to the home computer, and this meant internet calls were possible only in the home.

Really nice technology, but really, who authorised that to go live, eh? Oh dear.

The Fusion phone will be able to detect when users are in a Wi-Fi zone and will not cut the connection if the caller steps outside it into an area covered by mobile masts – where BT uses Vodafone’s network. Any call begun in a Wi-Fi zone will be charged at a quarter of the price of a normal call, even if it ends elsewhere.

It will NOT cut the connection? THAT I have to see and experience. Very impressive. If it’s actually that good, then it’s potentially interesting. But the pricing… what… I mean, I can get a better deal on Vodafone, right-away? We’re not entirely comparing like-for-like, but you know what I mean?

And now for the obligatory underwhelming and obious researcher quote:

Carrie Pawsey, a senior analyst at Ovum, the telecoms researcher, said Fusion’s relaunch would take some time to impact on rivals. “This is a long-term strategy for BT. But the solution is a step in the right direction.

Why not make all calls on Wi-FI free? Why arse around with this?

“They seem to have finally grasped the idea that it needs to be sold as a mobile product. The fact that they are going to be selling in the high street is very important for the success of Fusion.”

Maybe she’s been selectively quoted. I suppose Carrie can’t be direct.

So I was being a little bit, I dunno, what’s the phrase? ‘Only 4 people have signed up’ … I’m sure it’s had some take-up.

It’s very safe though, isn’t it?

A minute into 240 seconds? Nah. No thanks. Next. It’s just not that compelling to me. I don’t think it’s that compelling to consumers either.

What d’ya reckon?

3 COMMENTS

  1. No, … although, well — quite possibly, John. The information I had COULD have been misinterpreted by it’s passers-on to be that…

  2. It’s a nice idea but assuggested there are still better deals to be had, and this is only a first tiny little step to what they could be doing.

    And it is still a long way behind the deal T-mobile do in Germany where you are automatically shifted from mobile rates to standard home rates if you are within 2 cell towers of your home or workplace.

    Kevin

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