As London strikes high gear in preparing for the 2012 Olympics, one of the major stumbling blocks has been and still is the expected mobile phone and Internet access stress that will assault London’s telecommunications networks. Today, we take a look at the problems, potential solutions and celebrations of London’s biggest 21st century event and the mobile phone world.

Let’s start with the bad news and get it out of the way: Expect mobile phone blackouts. The expected volume of calls, texts and other sundry actions has prompted warnings of blackout possibilities. BT, the London Olympic sponsor, is attempting to complete its project of adding 500,000 WiFi spots in the London area, and some locations will be offering free access; others, however, are expected to be paid or secured networks.

Additional towers have been, are being and will continue to be raised or locations scouted. However, because of the increasing normal use of smartphones, mobile phones and tablets, full capacity demands are difficult to accurately predict.

Outcome: Expect blackouts in service, especially at peak times.

Some good news is that Samsung and Visa are allying themselves together to develop NFC technology and apps that will allow Olympic viewers to pay for purchases much faster and more easily with the payment processing technology. Since most newer mobile phones and smartphones provide a basic NFC technology already, the partnered efforts are expected to be smoothly integrated and utilized, which is great news for Londoners and visitors from around the world.

Samsung and Visa also are expected to release an Olympics commemorative mobile phone for the 2012 event. The mobile device will provide the NFC technology mentioned above, to be sure.

For those mobile phone users whose device doesn’t have NFC technology, and the Olympics model doesn’t interest you enough for long term use, don’t worry: Part of the Samsung – Visa partnership involves Visa’s efforts to develop a chipset in a microSD card for expanded convenience.

Outcome: Faster-moving queues and easy payment reference.