News reports that Nokia “has started to tests technology that allows users to roam seamlessly between phone networks and Wi-Fi wireless hotspots.Fifty families in Oulu near the polar circle in northern Finland will test the technology over the next two months, Nokia said.Mobile subscribers with handsets enabled for so-called unlicensed mobile access, or UMA, can make calls over the internet when they are in range of an unlicensed wireless network such as Bluetooth or Wi-Fi. When they move out of range, the connection will automatically revert to a GSM, GPRS or UMTS mobile phone network. The technology has the advantage that carriers can add coverage, for example in remote areas, at low cost with Wi-Fi hotspots instead of having to build expensive base stations”.

Nokia tests Wi-Fi mobile