Workers to get more speed

Businesses looking at how to invest in mobile technologies over the next few years can expect to feel a little overwhelmed. Competition and choice is exploding, with competing technology platforms, network providers and application developers all vying for the lucrative New Zealand business dollar. So what do you need to know?

By the end of this year, New Zealand's two key cellular mobile network providers Vodafone (2,024,000 mobile customers) and Telecom (1,601,000 mobile customers) will upgrade their mobile data networks to transmit voice, data and video calls at faster speeds.

Vodafone's upgrade will be called '3G Broadband' which Vodafone says will perform at download speeds of up to 3.6Mbps; Telecom's upgrade will use the existing T3G brand name, and, says Telecom, will perform at download speeds of up to 3.1Mbps and uplink speeds of around 1.8Mbps.

Whatever the actual speeds are, both networks are likely to perform faster than current offerings - good news for businesses keen to mobilise sales and service teams.

Useful mobile business applications include those that let mobile employees receive and update jobs or cost spare parts on the spot, or sales staff process orders, update customer information and check stock availability while on customer premises. Business critical mobile applications include those that deliver converged mobile messaging and telephony services - so that whether a message is voice, email, text or video, it can be received and responded to over one mobile device and in any one of those ways.

Alternative mobile network services to Telecom and Vodafone's exist, but for different reasons are presently more limited. While communications over public and privately managed radio frequency is gaining ground - the best known technology standard being WiFi - WiFi access is only possible within WiFi coverage areas and these tend to be just a few hundred metres in size (the 'hot spots').

Businesses can save money by connecting a mobile device wirelessly to an office network or the internet via a WiFi hot spot, but mobile employees need to find a hot spot first - hardly an ideal mobile solution. Further, while many customer premises now have their own WiFi hot spots available, their business network software will ideally restrict, monitor or quarantine unknown mobile devices attempting to access the wireless network.

In the future, superior wireless radio frequency technology standards such as WiMax - tipped to provide fast wireless connection within big 'hot spots' of up to 40 or 50 kilometres and to support seamless call transfer between WiMax to cellular networks - may make a difference and many mobile network service providers are quietly trialing WiMax.

In the meantime, the most common mobile communications model is for mobile workers to seek out a cheaper WiFi hot spot service for non-critical connections and use a cellular mobile data service for on-site, business-critical connections such as when a customer is waiting, or the employee's need for information is urgent.

Using satellite for mobile communications is suitable for businesses that need mobile connections, but are positioned outside of both cellular network coverage areas - adventure tourism is just one example. Despite Telecom and Vodafone's best efforts, both have several non-coverage areas dotted throughout New Zealand.

Unfortunately, satellite services are limited by the type of data that can be transferred, and by speed. Most satellite phones are only able to send small amounts of text and their main purpose is voice calls. Another disadvantage is the exorbitant cost of satellite handsets (usually over $2500), the monthly subscription rate to own a satellite phone number (US$30 month for Iridium phone numbers) and the per-minute call cost (usually between $1 and $4.)

Telecom is presently finalising a deal with satellite service provider GlobalStar to make dual cellular/satellite phones available to customers at (hopefully) better rates.

On the mobile device front, a raft of new Blackberry-like email devices will soon be released by phone handset makers; as will new versions of competing smart phones and PDAs with great wireless connectivity options; qwerty keyboards, colour screens and either the Windows Mobile or PalmPocket operating system.

These are a viable alternative to laptops for mobile workers who want a 'pocket a PC', rather than lug one around and risk damaging it. Laptop makers including Lenovo, Dell, HP and others are making ever-lighter, smaller laptops; some now with built-in cellular network chipsets so users don't have to buy separate data cards for laptop mobile connection.