With all the talk about Wireless Internet applications and other
data-related services it’s easy to forget about voice services.
Voice services will still be the bread-and-butter for service providers. Wireless Internet applications and services will
largely complement voice service.
Voice calls in the future will feature new tricks such as:
• Personal chat room effects. The ability to allow multiple users
to join and leave a conversation at will. Similar to text-based
chat, users will have the ability to silence one or more users
and only listen to selected callers. Just as chat rooms allow
users to send private messages to selected users without leaving
the main conversation, future voice calling will offer the
same type of feature.
• Stereo voice. When voice is transmitted in stereo, users will
be able to discern the direction of sounds and more readily
understand who is speaking or making comments during a
conference call.
• Concierge services. During a voice call with a concierge service
representative, the user should be able to request packet
data information from the live person he is talking to. For
example, the caller might ask for a list of restaurants in the
area he is visiting, or a map with the directions to a specific
location. He can receive this document while still on the
voice call and be able to discuss and clarify directions and
recommendations.
• Interactive call waiting. During a voice call the user will be
able to send a message to incoming calls to inform callers
how long the wait will be or to tell them what forms of communication
are currently being accepted. A notification that
the user is willing to accept text messages while on a voice
call would allow the caller to switch into text mode and continue
the communication via text until the existing voice call
is terminated.
The mixing of voice and data will allow features and services
that truly fit the user’s needs and preferences about convenience,
detail, and environment. 203