Mobile operators are turning to Wi-Fi

The New York Times Online version of a Damon Darlin article today said mobile operators began using Wi-Fi to transfer data traffic because more and more people were using data to Damon Dalin the capacity of their mobile networks. A summary of the article is as follows: Some people say that the definition of the net worm is the number of e-mail addresses more than underwear.

By this standard, I guess I'm almost a net worm, because I have 3 email addresses and 3 panties.

But what does it mean if I have 7 phone numbers? I have my home landline number, my cell phone number, Google Voice number, and 3 other Internet phone numbers.

In other words, I have to remember 70 digits. But the problem is, I rarely call, and I often don't answer the phone.

I may be a net worm, but these numbers have reasons for their existence. As the telephone system has changed rapidly over the past more than 130 years, I have been looking for new ways to communicate with many people.

Few people use landline phones anymore, and 1/4 of Americans use cellphones only, and fewer people are talking and texting more and more. As we use more and more data on our phones, we have to look for other networks to avoid the congestion of our mobile networks, which is a common option.

In order to find one or two reliable ways of communication, I have done a number of experiments, the 7 phone numbers are the results of these tests, they are accompanied by my use of SMS systems and real-time information systems, such as Google Chat, Twitter, Facebook and aim.

In fact, it's not just consumers who use different phone systems. The phone companies are far ahead of the line, and they are very happy with the way consumers use text messages, because the phone company earns a lot of money from it. Telephone communications may seem commonplace, but the profit margins of mobile operators can be comparable to vitamin labeled or HP.

SMS occupies a small space, usually only about 140 bytes. So how much do we pay for text messages? Up to 1498 dollars per megabyte. The specific calculations are as follows:

Each megabyte has 1,048,576 bytes, so transferring 1 megabytes of data is equivalent to transmitting 740 SMS messages. The phone company charges about 20 cents per message, so it costs 1498 dollars per megabyte. And, whether you send a 160-word text message or a "LOL" message, you pay the same fee.

Of course, if you want to know what your personal experience is about SMS fees, you can ask any parent who doesn't have a monthly message for their children how they feel when they pay their bills.

But even a monthly fee of around $20 per month is only a relatively favorable price. According to Nielson, a media research firm, the average American user sends about 500 messages a month. This will reduce the price of a single message to 4 cents, equivalent to 300 dollars per megabyte.

The Nielsen survey found that American teens send an average of 3,146 messages a month, or about 104 a day. But even at this rate, the phone company's fees are 47.62 dollars per megabyte.

Meanwhile, mobile operators charge 15 cents per megabyte for packet data traffic, where data refers to web browsing, music or video playback, and sending e-mail. To illustrate why fee differentials are so great, Verizon Wireless and At&t, the country's two largest mobile operator, point out that text messages are transmitted over a sound network and data is transmitted through a separate data network.

But industry analysts believe the phone companies are facing an accelerated shift to internet telephony. Morgan Stanley analysts say revenues from voice phones are falling, and the revenue generated by text messages will be flat.

But this is not a problem for mobile operators, as revenue from data transmission is growing fast. Revenue is expected to double in the next 4 years, in part because operators are abandoning packet-flow services and switching to tiered pricing, the more they use data, the higher they pay. At the same time, Morgan Stanley points out that data transmission costs are down 50% per generation as new wireless networks appear.

But the widespread use of data has created a huge pressure on network capacity, so operators are trying to shift traffic from their mobile networks, opting for the same transfer target as consumers: Wi-Fi.

To shift the burden of mobile networks to the Internet, At&t is selling microcell that can be used at home by mobile phone users.

At the same time, operators also set up wireless routers on the roofs of large buildings to transfer about 20% of peak traffic to Wi-Fi. At&t revealed that they have more than 20,000 "hot spots" in the United States. "At&t's plan is huge," said Selina Lo, Ruckus CEO of Wi-Fi hardware maker. The cost of the equipment is much lower than the cost of building the mobile base station, which is a good way to unload the flow. ”

If Wi-Fi is popular, I can use the ipod touch as a mobile phone and I don't have to add a phone number.