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UK fixed-line telecoms company BT has announced that it is taking on the likes of Vodafone and Orange by launching a new service that enables customers to make free mobile phone calls.  The service will only work with WLAN-equipped smartphones, such as the forthcoming new Nokia phone, the N91 (left), which will use BT software that routes calls free of charge through local area wireless connections to the Internet.

 

BT is expected to announce details of the service before Christmas and it will available early next year. The calls will be free, but there will be a flat charge to use the network.

 

More details on BT’s free mobile phone calls service after the jump

 

 

This is a neat move by BT, who sold off what is now O2, their old mobile phone arm, a few years ago to help pay off some massive debts.  Since then, they've had virtually no presence in the mobile phone market. By harnessing WiFi, though, as well as the new WiMAXX technology, which extends the range of WiFi to several miles, BT will re-enter the mobile market at a vastly cheaper price than the incumbent mobile operators, and without any legacy mobile network services to protect. Already BT is extending its OpenZone WiFi hotspots across the country, and upgrading the service to WiMAXX.

Will anyone use BT's new service though? Well, consider this: do a search on Mobile Mentalism for WLAN or WiFi, and you'll find several new smart phones form most of the major players that already include WLAN.  Samsung and Motorola are also to launch WiMAXX mobiles in the new year that will enable users to make free internet mobile calls when walking down the street in the way they now use the mobile operators’ high-tariff mobile networks.  All you need do is buy a Pay As You Go SIM card for £10 for when you're out of WiMAXX range, pay BT a small monthly fee for their service, and you can consider your mobile phone bill slashed by 70% a month. Not to mention super-fast super-cheap data transfer. I think we've just seen the death knells of 3G.