The converged phone conundrum

I am still on a search for the one phone to rule them all. One phone for cellular, for work, for home use. The multi-mode phone would connect via VOIP or cellular or possibly operate as a local remote phone in the house depending on proximity or settings. Billing would automatically be updated to the correct account. It sounds complicated, but isn't this what computers are for?

In my June blog, I want my hybrid phone, I talked about BT's Bluephone and BT Fusion converged phone service. The phone doesn't use up cellular airtime minutes if it's able to connect locally, but it's limited to short range Bluetooth for local connectivity.

Now Motorola and Cisco have teamed up to develop a smart VoIP/Cellular phone that will automatically switch between the two worlds when roaming. The design will use Cisco's existing IP phone and add Motorola's GSM cellular radio technology. According to the Motorola release, the device "...will operate using 802.11 technology inside the enterprise and cellular telephony elsewhere, with a seamless hand-off of communications between networks."

Motorola's move follows similar joint development agreements with Avaya and Proxim. Cisco also has an agreement with Nokia for a converged phone, according to The 451 Group.  Although carriers aren't rushing to adopt such products yet, the vendors are hoping that enterprises will. After reading a report on the product plan by The 451 Group I asked analyst Tony Rizzo about the potential for a converged work/home phone. "There really isn't anything out there that is even remotely viable in combining VOIP and cellular services for consumers along the lines of the Cisco/Moto phone that is now under development for the enterprise," he says.

In a corporate setting the phone will be configured to automatically route calls over the local VoIP wireless network when in range. Ultimately, however, the device will have to  be supported by the wireless carriers. "They will have the carrier partners in hand as part of the package to offer enterprises," Rizzo predicts. But will carriers offer it to consumers as well?

The technology could also tie in neatly in the home, allowing the same phone to connect into your VoIP service by way of your wireless LAN hub. But wireless carriers are unlikely to support that scenario, at least initially, as it would cut into their profits by routing calls off the cellular network and into cheap, competing VoIP services. "I wouldn't expect to see anything in the way of a real consumer product for at least two years," Rizzo says. Even then, carriers won't exactly be champing at the bit to offer them.

Speaking as someone who is unundated with phones (a remote, desk set, and cell for work plus home wall phones, a cell and four remotes which i can never find), the era of the converged phone can't come soon enough.