Elgan: Your cell phone wants to be a Wi-Fi hot spot

Computerworld - For years, "Wi-Fi" has been synonymous with "wireless" for the majority of laptop users looking to connect on the go.

Recently, mobile broadband -- the kind of wireless you use for surfing the Internet and doing e-mail on your cell phone -- has been growing fast. For example, a study from comScore found that mobile broadband use rose by 154% in 2007.

Some observers, most recently LM Ericsson Chief Marketing Officer Johan Bergendahl, predicted that Wi-Fi will go the way of the analog modem and be replaced by mobile broadband. Others disagree.

Will mobile broadband kill Wi-Fi and replace it? The answer is no. An exciting new wireless model is suddenly emerging that combines mobile broadband and Wi-Fi to get the advantages of both.

Mobile broadband gives you far more places where you can connect, enabling Internet access just about anywhere your cell phone can make calls. Wi-Fi, on the other hand, is often easier and connects to a larger number of devices.

Wi-Fi is traditionally used to enable nearby users to connect to a home DSL or cable Internet connection, a business T1 line, or another cabled, nonwireless connection via the company network. But a new generation of products is hanging that Wi-Fi access point on the end of a mobile broadband connection.

Who's combining mobile broadband with Wi-Fi?

Chrysler announced this week that it will add in-car Wi-Fi as a standard feature on some models. Car owners will need a mobile broadband connection (for which they'll be billed separately), and electronics in the car radios will open that connection to other devices in and near the car via Wi-Fi.

New software called WalkingHotspot, unveiled this week by TapRoot Systems, enables owners of Symbian S60 or Windows Mobile smart phones to share their 3G connections with nearby devices via Wi-Fi.

A line of products that iBox2Go launched in January provides mobile broadband connectivity to the Internet, plus a Wi-Fi router that enables up to 10 users to share the connection.

The CradlePoint PHS300 Personal Hotspot is a little box that you connect to your phone to create your own Wi-Fi network. A new software update issued this week extends support to include EV-DO and HSDPA devices.

All these products are new, and all involve the use of Wi-Fi to share a mobile broadband connection. A trend? Absolutely, and one that points to a new way to use your cell phone.

The coming wave of 'hot-spot phones'

Two obvious trends -- Wi-Fi access-point electronics are getting smaller, and mobile broadband is getting faster -- will result in another inevitable outcome: the use of cell phones as Wi-Fi hot spots. Call them "hot-spot phones."