Bob Braden writes:
> -----Original Message-----
>
> Jon Postel would have said: If it speaks IP (UDP/TCP are not
> necessary), then it's Internet, else not.
I will add a bit to this discussion.
1. A WAP phone without an IP address is not an Internet device. And,
no one claims so.
2. A WAP device can have both IP and non-IP addresses. So a WAP device
could be an Internet device at one time and non-Internet device a bit
later (at least in theory).
3. An IP address is not very useful on most mobile (cellular) devices.
A lot of useful services and applications can be provided without IP
on the wireless devices. That includes sending and receiving mails
to/from the Internet, and limited web browsing via proxy gateways.
4. Wireless web access using IP is already here, but very few bother
to use it. Networks with the ability to handle IP traffic such as CDPD
have traditionally very low (as per my info, under 15% or so) capacity
utilization and just about every network is under utilized, and in big
loss situation, so much for IP access in wireless devices. At the same
time GSM SMS which needs no IP addressing has a tremendous demands. So
go figure out utility and economics of IP addresses in wireless
devices for now.
Cheers,
--brijesh
Ennovate Networks Inc.
