All you need to know about Fixed Mobile Telephony

Telecom PSU BSNL on 16^th of January 2017 has launched a service Limited Fixed Mobile Telephony(FMT). As the name suggests it slightly differs from the earlier Fixed mobile Telephony that it launched last year which was put on hold following opposition from cellular operators. Now, this new Limited Fixed Mobile Telephony service is restricted within your home premises instead of international and national roaming service that it has in its earlier version. Today we will try to understand some basic things about this technology.

Quick Glance On Fixed Mobile Telephony

The BSNL press release has to say this about Limited FMT service – Limited Fixed Mobile Telephone is a facility of fixed telephone (Landline) number with Outgoing and Incoming calls on smart mobile devices such as smartphones with Wi-Fi facility. The smartphone need to download App and with connectivity with BSNL broadband modem, (say on Wi-Fi) the customer can receive and also able to make outgoing calls using Limited Fixed Mobile Telephony App available on smartphone handsets. This service is in no way linked with mobile operator service/customer SIM in a mobile handset. This service can be availed as add-on service for existing BSNL customer having BSNL broadband / Combo or new customer opting for BSNL broadband Combo. A separate telephone number will be provided to the customer to avail this service.

You might be wondering about the practical application of this service in our daily life. Read through the post to find out.

Applicability

Let’s assume you have a traditional fixed line or landline at your home or at your office and you are also using the internet over the same line using DSL modem. Chances are high that your DSL modem has wifi facility. Now with fixed-mobile telephony service, you can turn your smartphone to work like a cordless phone within the wifi coverage area of DSL modem using an app. I have envisioned four situations which will help you understand the usability of Limited FMT.

Situation 1: suppose your land phone is at your office cabin and you are in a meeting with someone in a conference room. Suddenly the land phone rings and you can not go all the way to your cabin and also you do not want to miss that call. The Solution is Fixed Mobile Telephony, receive the call on your smartphone using the app.

Situation 2: This one is for lazy people like me. You are watching an important match on TV in your living room and suddenly the land phone at your bedroom rings. No, you can’t miss the match. Use your smartphone to receive the call.

Situation 3: You are having poor cell phone signal reception at your apartment. At that time you can use the FMT app installed on your smartphone to make a call via your Land phone as there is no such thing called poor signal on a Landline.

Situation 4:  It is really annoying to dial a phone number everytime you want to make a call from the landline. Stop doing it. Use your smartphone’s call logs and contact list to dial directly from your smartphone.

The FMCA Definition and fortune of FMT

Although the BSNL’s launched service is called limited FMT which is also known as Fixed Mobile Convergence(FMC) in other parts of the world and unlike BSNL it is not limited.The definition of FMC according to Fixed-Mobile Convergence Alliance(FMCA) goes like this

“Fixed Mobile Convergence is a transition point in the telecommunications industry that will finally remove the distinctions between fixed and mobile networks, providing a superior experience to customers by creating seamless services using a combination of fixed broadband and local access wireless technologies to meet their needs in homes, offices, other buildings and on the go” -FMCA

.

In this definition “fixed broadband” means a connection to the internet, be it 3G or 4G or DSL connection. “Local access wireless” means Wi-Fi or Bluetooth or something like it. The word “seamless service” refers to seamless handover which means an in progress call can move from mobile network to the fixed landline network in order to provide a user better call quality. This service allows a user to roam nationally and internationally without being worried about getting a new phone number. Although this service has been out there for quite a bit time but it is not much popular among fixed line users. As far as BSNL’s limited FMT service is concerned only time will decide its fate. It is still not clear from BSNL how a subscriber would avail this service or which app to use for. I will try to update as soon as I get any further information.

Please help us to grow more by sharing this post and clicking the like button on our Facebook page and follow us on Twitter and Google +. Take care and ba-bye.

Image attribution credit: Bernhard Benke, stwn.

Featured Image credit:  Henrik Johanson