Understanding Fixed Mobile Convergence

Fixed mobile convergence denotes how the discrepancies between permanent line and cellular telecoms are reducing. Many, like the Fixed Mobile Convergence Alliance, believe that in the future phone carriers distinction between mobile and fixed services will evaporate altogether, therefore they'll offer all services in one unified bundle.

The Advantages of Fixed Mobile Convergence to Users

In many ways, fixed mobile convergence currently exists. Some companies are offering free wireless services to consumers of their broadband services. However the FMCA want convergence to develop beyond this in the long term.

The target is to offer users a "seamless service" - consider being able to shift a call from a set line to your mobile, without disruption. Or, being able to employ a wireless network, and then transfer immediately to a mobile connection with no visible interruption to your service. This is the eventuality that carriers believe fixed mobile convergence will bring. Ideally, the service of all suppliers would be agnostic, meaning that your mobile has the capacity to utilize any telecoms lines, no matter who your specific supplier is.

In addition, you would have the capacity to share one number, that would cause your mobile, landline, and voice-over-IP computer software to ring. In addition to having only a single number to recall, you would profit from a sole voicemail to keep track of and the ability to swap between devices as needed.

The Next Generation of Handsets

To correspond with these carrier side advancements, a new generation of handsets has become accessible. These "dual mode handsets" are able to receive and make phone calls by means of Voice over Wi-Fi, and mobile networks. To the consumer, there's no apparent difference in how the call is dealt with. Many times the system being used is disguised from the consumer, and due to Voice Call Continuity technology, it should be difficult if not impossible to understand when a call is being transferred.

VCC is not able to deal with anything besides voice calls. Fixed mobile convergence in its strictest form may incorporate many distinct types of communication multimedia.

The technology to service fixed mobile convergence is currently in place. A number of the more well-known PBX manufacturers, like (but not limited to) Avaya, Cisco and Comdasys currently have a little mobile compatibility integrated into their newest generation PBX systems. A lot of older PBX systems can improve just by using a bolt-on system for mobile compatibility. These bolt-on systems are a blessing for smaller corporations which do not wish to shut themselves in to one specific merchant, but do want to provide their staff a high degree of freedom in regards to handling their communication requirements.

The Future For Carriers

At the moment, there is little incentive for providers to join hands to offer truly carrier agnostic services. The mobile and fixed line world is still fragmented enough that a carrier delivering an in-built solution that's confined to their own mobile, WiFi hotspot, and fixed line solutions is still ahead of the crowd. Hopefully, as increasing numbers of providers offer such solutions, we shall see the networks open up more, to supply more flexibility of choice to consumers.