ABSTRACT
Dropped any cell phone calls lately while you were walking down a hallway or in a stairwell? What if your
cell phone vendor could deliver an appliance that would keep you connected by seamlessly routing your
call to a wireless local area network (WLAN)? “Voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP),” you gasp, “and
wireless at that? No way!” Yes, there is a way. Welcome to the era of merging wireless connectivity with the
technology of VoIP. This merger could help revolutionize the telecommunications industry. Other
landmark technologies have had major impacts on the way we communicate. We saw how the land-line,
analog telephone ushered in a new era of one-on-one communications. Then, when analog cell phones
arrived, they heralded a new concept of handheld, “mobile” communications-one could actually have a
phone conversation and not be restricted by a cord. Now, Voice over Wireless LAN (VoWLAN) has
entered the scene and is propelling us closer to a mobile communications panacea by using a public
infrastructure (the Internet) to connect us globally. The technology that allows us to sit at our favorite
Wireless Fidelity (WiFi) hotspot, sipping a beverage, transmitting our latest proposal, and communi-
cating using Voice over Wireless Fidelity (VoWiFi), exists today and is in current use. This chapter
presents the principles behind Voice over Wireless LANs, its challenges and current applications, and
the potential of this up-and-coming technology, which could very likely replace the traditional
phone system.
