Bellsouth is pushing thier WiMax service, setup after Hurricane Katrina, as backup for broadband service in New Orleans. The $29.95 service is bundled with landline broadband service. Via [wirelessweek.com]… Continue Reading
Daily Archives: March 27, 2006
Sprint Offshoot Tries Muni Wi-Fi
So the telco’s jump up and down and lobby states to pass laws prohibiting municipalities from offering Municipal Wifi themselves, but are more than happy to step up and do it themselves. Sprint’s offshoot, Embarq is testing a few sites in Henderson, Nevada after the city expressed interest in municipal wireless in October. Via [wi-fiplanet.com]… Continue Reading
Fixed WiMax To Slash 10Mbit/s WAN Costs
Urban WiMax is set to provide 250 London businesses with 10Mbit/sec service through thier fixed WiMax service. The company plans to undercut competing landline providers by up to 50% while also providing redundant internet connections through 2 different providers. Could there be a bandwidth price war in the near future if they are successful? Via… Continue Reading
WiFi’s Security Secret – Authentication
Knowing that the access point your connecting to, be it the one in your home or the one in your favorite coffee shop are authentic is a major concern for users. They might not be who you think and rigged up to sniff your passwords, credit card or anything else you might send. Various services… Continue Reading
Intel To Unwire Emerging Indian Tech Hub
The city of Pune, India is going to be unwired by Intel over the next year. The plan is to use WiFi and WiMax technologies to cover 400 square kilometers of the emerging tech hub city with wireless net access. The area is riddled with high tech companies who definatly know a few things about… Continue Reading
Wi-Fi Fight Brews In Big Easy
In the wake of hurricane Katrina, with internet service unavailable to many business due to flodded central offices, the city of New Orleans opened it’s wireless mesh network for anyone to access. This helped in an emergency situation and helped sustain businesses. Now 6 months after Hurricane Katrina, with a third of the city New… Continue Reading
Wi-Fi Phones Still Rough Around The Edges
WiFi phones are a neat concept, but are’nt quite ready for prime time. Besides obvous association problems and lack of styling, the hardware Wi-Fi phones are’nt nearly as good as ‘softphones’ which run on PDA’s and laptops. While definatly a good idea, it’s not enough to make anyone want to ditch thier cell phone quite… Continue Reading
US Cities Warned On Long-term Costs Of Free Wireless
Municipal WiFi costs are a tricky thing. Who pays for it, how, who runs it, what happens if it fails. Municipalities should be very cautious and go in with eyes wide open about the realities of providing a new utility to it’s residents. Unexpected costs can easily soar without proper planning. Via [msnbc.msn.com]… Continue Reading
BellSouth’s WiMax Offered As Broadband Backup
Bellsouth is offering WiMax as backup service for broadband customers as a value added addon service for regular broadband custoemrs. The system was implimented after hurricane Katrina flooded central offices and delayed restoring broadband service. Using WiMax as a backup is a very good niche for WiMax to be in, however if your buying service… Continue Reading
WiFi Suppliers Try To Avoid Big Squeeze
The market for wireless devices is high, however profits are down because the per unit cost is falling. Manufacturers are scrambling to find ways to prop up sales of thier products. One way seems to be the ‘ala carte’ method of a modular wireless network where the customer only buys what they need and can… Continue Reading
Airvana Aims To Bridge Gap Between Cellular, IP Networks
Airvana is joining the convergance train and releasing a gateway to allow cellular and IP based networks to seamlessly roam from one protocol to another. The point is made though that such hand offs can have major security implications that haven’t been dreamed of yet. Only time will tell if this technology is really used… Continue Reading
MIMO Blasts WiFi Through Walls, Says Airgo
MIMO (Multiple in, Multiple Out) technology stands to greatly increase the coverage and stability of Wi-Fi networks. Chipmaker Airgo is starting to demo 200Mbit/sec wireless networking at various trade shows. Until the 802.11n spec is ratified, Airgo and other MIMO vendors stand to continue selling alot of units to cover ever increasing demands of users.… Continue Reading
Can Muni Wi-Fi Be Free?
Craig Settles, noted Muni-wireless pundit has released a study of proposed muni-wifiinstallations and has found that very few realize that at the end of the day, someone has to pay. Touting it at a ‘free network’ is just plain wrong as it eventually becomes a bait and switch with residents and constituents. Politicians think in… Continue Reading