[LINK] Femtocells vs WiFi (was WiFi)

[Greg Taylor]

The discussion on WiFi vs Ethernet in the home has caused me to ask a 
question arising from the recent Optus announcement offering femtocells 
(at a price) to those with poor mobile coverage.

My mobile phone and iPad use the Optus network via Amaysim, but I don't 
have any coverage complaints so I have no interest in a femtocell.

However, I have wondered about the possibility of a mobile phone using 
WiFi instead of 3G for voice calls when available. It works 
transparently for data on smartphones and other 3G devices (i.e. they 
will preference WiFi over 3G if available), and if mobile calls can be 
routed over the Internet via femtocells, why shouldn't it be possible to 
do the same via WiFi?

The advantage would be better coverage in some areas (office buildings, 
home etc.), possibly cheaper calls, and reduced congestion on cell 
frequencies. Optus has apparently flagged the possibility of cheaper 
plans for calls made via femtocells. Bandwidth should be no different 
from VoIP which now seems very reliable, so it should be quite feasible 
over broadband, and offer another application for NBN (if one was needed).

BTW, I have an Ethernet-wired home (professionally wired that is), but 
still have well-secured WiFi for mobile devices. You can't connect an 
iPad via Ethernet.

Any comments?

Greg