Swisscom Mobile is the largest mobile operator in
Switzerland. The company was the first mobile operator
in Switzerland to launch UMTS earlier this summer
and it was one of the first mobile operators worldwide
that understood the potential of wireless LAN technology
early on and launched a network of wireless LAN
enabled hotspots that quickly grew from a 100 available
hotspots in Switzerland in late 2002 when the service
was launched to around 800 hotspots the company
plans to have operational by the end of this year.
With a strong commitment in offering superior network
quality to its customers, the company was challenged to
translate this effort into an attractive data product.
With the announcement of the availability of Mobile
Unlimited the company has found a solution to address
the needs of the Swiss business and corporate market
for wireless connectivity services.
Mobile Unlimited is
a mobile data solution that allows business professionals
to securely access their corporate network via GPRS,
UMTS or Wi-Fi.
Mobile Unlimited is a data product, comprising of a
number of innovative features:
(1) A data card that supports GPRS, UMTS and Wireless
LAN in one device. The card that has been jointly developed
with Option of Belgium will be marketed under
Swisscom Mobile�s own brand. Mobile Unlimited can
be used on laptops with Type II PCMCIA slots and the
Windows XP operating system. Mobile Unlimited was
comprehensively tested in the Microsoft software environment.
The Office 2003 product family in particular
supports the new form of mobility offered by Mobile
Unlimited. Other operating systems are planed, though
no dates are available yet.
(2) Furthermore, Mobile Unlimited gives customers
Internet and intranet access through all available network
services. It offers transmission speeds of up to
384 kBit/s (UMTS) or 54 MBit/s (Public WLAN). For
locations that currently offer only GPRS, transmission
speeds between 30 and 40 kBit/s are available. Bundling
the connectivity services ensures that the customer gets
wireless data access no matter where he is. Thus the
offered connectivity services complement each other.
Swisscom Mobile has a dedication to offer their customers
a wireless broadband experience. By the end of 2004
the company plans to have around 800 public hotspots
available and to reach about 83 % of the population with
its recently introduced UMTS service.
(3) In addition, the bundle comes with the Unlimited
Data Manager software, delivered on a CD-ROM when
purchasing the product. Once installed, the software
takes over, ensuring secure, reliable connectivity for
the user irrespective of time or location. With no action
required on the part of the user, Mobile Unlimited
switches seamlessly from UMTS to GPRS or WLAN,
automatically selecting the fastest transmission technology
available in any given location. In addition, the
software supports seamless handover functionality; i.e.
automatic, uninterrupted switching between different
types of transmission technologies.
(4) The price structure of Mobile Unlimited is rather
complex. Mobile Unlimited requires a data subscription
that costs CHF 10 per month for private customers and
between CHF 5 and 10 (dependent on the number of
subscriptions) for corporate customers.
In addition to the subscription fee, usage is charged on
a volume basis and comes with two optional price plans
(1) Unlimited Pack is based on a monthly volume package.
The user can chose between three volume sizes (40
MB at CHF 70, 100 MB at CHF 130 and 200 MB at CHF
200). (2) Unlimited Basic is optionally available as payas-
you-go service where customers pay for the volume
they actually consumed.
Unlimited Packs are recommended for the SOHO market.
Customers that use Mobile Unlimited regularly are
advised to go with the Unlimited Pack. It provides a
better value than the Unlimited Basic, which is recommended
for those customers who do not use the service
very often.
For Corporate customers there are also Unlimited Group
Tariffs available. This price plan allows companies to
buy a data volume for a whole group of users. Swisscom
Mobile says that the Unlimited Group Tariff becomes
attractive starting at 20 users.
W E B L I N K S
http://www.swisscom-mobile.ch
C O N TA C T S
Carsten Roetz Swisscom Mobile
Source:
WLAN Report
Posted on Thursday, 30 September 2004 by admin
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