For years, WiFi telephones and walkie-talkie-like communicators have been available for hospitals and offices.
Now, manufacturers and mobile carriers are preparing to link standard cellular networks to the mishmash of WiFi hotspots, a move that will expand coverage and perhaps allow cheaper mobile minutes.
The technology, called Unlicensed Mobile Access, or UMA, will help those who have high-speed WiFi routers overcome poor coverage at home. It's also a way for mobile carriers to expand their footprint without spending lots of money on new infrastructure.
UMA could enable users of souped-up handsets to download content at broadband speeds at home and take that on the road when they leave.
''Everything from multimedia to audio, video -- when you look at the capabilities of phones now, the options expand pretty quickly," Nokia spokesman Eric Estroff said.
At the conference in Las Vegas last week, Samsung Electronics Co. unveiled its t709 phone capable of seamlessly accessing WiFi and cellular networks. Nokia's 6136 and Motorola Inc.'s A910 were introduced in February at a conference in Spain.
ABI Research expects the market for WiFi-enabled mobile handsets to reach 100 million units annually by 2009. Carriers in Europe have expressed interest. France Telecom SA has said it will be Nokia's first European customer for its UMA phones, while Nordic operator TeliaSonera AB said in February it is moving ahead with trials for business customers.
But US carriers were tightlipped about when they might roll out the service and at what price, despite Nokia and Samsung representatives saying they would start selling functioning handsets in the country this year.
T-Mobile USA, a unit of Deutsche Telekom AG, was expected to be among the first by tapping its 7,400 WiFi hot spots at hotels, airports, and Starbucks coffee shops nationwide. Its logo also adorned Samsung's new model on display here, but a T-Mobile USA spokesman said the company had no comment.
