Google Wireless Project Could Launch Within Weeks
Google (GOOG) apparently isn’t wasting any time in getting right down to it with its impending wireless service.
Word emerged in late January the search giant had signed reseller deals with telecoms Sprint (S) and T-Mobile (TMUS), the third- and fourth largest wireless carriers, to sell wireless service directly to end customers in rebranding, wholesale deals, effectively making the search giant a mobile virtual network operator, or MVNO. Then, in short order, more buzz surfaced that Google’s wireless service could enable users to locate the best signal from multiple carriers rather than relying on a single network to provide cellular or Wi-Fi connection.
Now, Google is said to be only weeks away from kicking off its wireless network but with one fairly substantial caveat–the service only will work on its latest Nexus 6 smartphone, the Wall Street Journal reported.
The explanation for confining the service to the Nexus 6 has to do with toggling back and forth between Wi-Fi, Sprint and T-Mobile’s network to find the best signal, a capability that requires Google to engineer hardware and software changes that, at least for now, it can only execute on its own devices.
And, as the Journal suggested, the Google-designed and Motorola-built Nexus 6 is a perfect platform for the company to showcase to other Android handset makers its wireless service. Android 5.0 enables users to switch between wireless networks based on optimizing app performance.
At Mobile World Congress (MWC), Sundar Pichai, Google products senior vice president, hinted in a keynote that the results of Google’s MVNO mobile network project will be evident shortly.
“The core of Android and everything we do is to take an ecosystem approach and [a network would have] the same attributes,” he said. “We don’t intend to be a network operator at scale. We are actually working with carrier partners. Will announce something in the coming months.”
Hardware for 2.5Ghz WiFi and
Hardware for 2.5Ghz WiFi and LTE 4G will have software that will shake hands with WiFi and LTE compatible HW/SW in mobile devices. In short order, o proof of concept will show that people walking or sitting in public thorofares can be reached by accurately beamed info steered to their position. Same goes for planes trains and automobiles.
Google knows that high value personal assistance from Google Now serves most users the most important info while they are moving. Info that must be encrypted and hide user identifying location data. Qualcomm, Nvidia and others are racing to combine GPUs capable of encrypt/decrypt on a chip. Proof that Google can service its customers while they are moving about without spilling the beans to telcos while using a hundredth of the telco bandwidth should cap telco charges for the same info at cents on the dollar.