Earlier at the turn of the century, the cellular networks looked to the third-generation (3G) standards as the future of mobile telephony, with its support for high-bandwidth applications such as video-conferencing and multimedia transfers. The then—and now still—prevalent digital cellular network was GSM (Global System for Mobile Communications) can only support sub-broadband speeds of 56 kilobits per second, or up to the equivalent of dial-up networking, with general-packet radio service (GPRS). Even EDGE (Enhanced Data-rate for GSM Evolution) could only support four times the rate of regular GPRS, or about 230 kilobits per second.

The current standard for WiFi, 802.11G, on the other hand, has a rate of 54 megabits per second, with DSL connections supporting 2 and even 5 megabits per second. Even if the actual throughput were just half that, that’s definitely more than what a cellular network could support. And being Internet-based, there are all sorts of applications that can run over a WiFi network.

VoWiFi, hence, is clearly at an advantage over other contenders for 2.5- or third-generation standards. And since deployment of a WiFi network only costs a fraction of the investment costs of a cellular network—even for upgrades to an existing network—a shift instead to VoWiFi might be the logical move for telcos.

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