By Ben King, 28 June 2001 17:48
NEWS BT has made the first ever 3G video call on its test network on the Isle of Man. Engineers from BT subsidiary Manx Telecom made the call yesterday, the company said, using handsets built by NEC. It took place nearly a month after the network was meant to go live, at the end of May. Public trials are due to start in the late summer. BT wouldn't say what the first words actually were, but a spokesman confirmed that they were "nothing poetic" and something along the lines of "Hello. I can see you." Vodafone made its first ever 3G voice call on 16 April, and similarly missed the chance to make a dramatic statement. Vodafone engineer Andrew de la Torre said: "Hi? Who am I talking to?" Brian Hearty from Ericsson replied "Hi! It's Brian Hearty." They then complained about the weather and having to work on Easter Monday. silicon.com is asking readers to suggest more inspired things they might have said. Alexander Graham Bell, making the first ever fixed line call, told his assistant: "Watson, come here I want you." But modern employment law probably prohibits remarks like that today. They could have followed Neil Armstrong, saying: "I am making a small step on Man, after a long delay for mankind." We would have been tempted to say, "Waassssuuup!" What would you say on a videoconference with destiny? Enter your suggestion here...
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