A Collaborative Peer-to-Peer Handphone...Free of Charge !!!

A new way of making calls directly between phones, for free, is being trialled by a Swedish company.

Swedish company TerraNet has developed the idea using
peer-to-peer technology that enables users to speak on its handsets
without the need for a mobile phone base station. The technology is designed for remote areas of the countryside or desert where base stations are unfeasible.

The TerraNet technology works using handsets adapted to
work as peers that can route data or calls for other phones in the
network. The handsets also serve as nodes between other handsets,
extending the reach of the entire system. Each handset has an effective
range of about one kilometre. This collaborative routing of calls means there is no cost to talk between handsets. When a TerraNet phone is switched on, it begins to look
for other phones within range. If it finds them, it starts to connect
and extend the radio network.

While individually the phones only have a maximum range
of 1km, any phone in between two others can forward calls, allowing the
distance to double. This principle applied many times creates a mini
network.


TerraNet phones currently only work with a special handset -
although Mr Carlius said he hopes that it will eventually be a feature
available on all phones, like Bluetooth. He said that were this to happen, it could potentially
spell the end for the current Global System for Mobile (GSM)
communications model. About 70% of all mobile phones use this
technology.

Mr Carlius said that mobile phone manufacturer Ericsson
had invested around £3m in TerraNet, and this indicated that the
business model for the network is sound.

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