Ottawa Wireless, the company in Michigan which is making whole towns wireless using a combination of 802.11b and an 802.11a backhaul service plans to launch a VoIP service later this year.
Now you ask, who needs this kind of service when a cell phone already exists. Well that’s right, but this is cheaper for staters. Second imagine assigning each kid in the house one of these, that they can now take with them. Now go to the next level, imagine being the parents and having the ability to lock out the use of the phone during school hours, except between family members.
The service, currently in beta, will use the Zyxel Prestige 2000, the WiFi phone I’ve been playing with and enjoying, will of course only offer phone service. For this to really take off the WiFi phone needs to be a combined PDA/Phone that offers instant messaging and SMS like ability.
All of that said, the Michigan beach town that Ottawa Wireless is starting off in doesn’t realize how good they have it. The sheer thought of ubiquity for connectivity is clearly upon me. If I’m T-Mobile and HP I’m all over this figuring out how to integrate in, perhaps with some of the slick Bridgeport-Networks technology that would make one number, with WiFi roaming a reality. The next step. Watch Michigan Bell, a subsidiary of SBC via the Ameritech merger lose customers fast in the communities which Ottawa Wireless starts serving.