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 communicating 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.
