At a gathering in London, the IEEE 802.11n working group has unanimously approved the second draft of the much-awaited next generation Wi-Fi standard. This development, along with the likely approval by the IEEE membersehip, would allow the Wi-Fi Alliance to begin certification of Draft N products by March. Glenn Fleishman of Wi-Fi Net News expects… Continue Reading
Monthly Archives: January 2007
Skype: No Cell Phone Now
High carrier fees are preventing the massive adoption of Skype’s Internet telephone service via cellphone, according to Eric Lagier, who heads Skype’s hardware and software business development division. Skype users can call each other for free via broadband Internet connection and only pay a small amount for calls to normal phones. But most telecommunications network… Continue Reading
Intel Bumps Centrino Wi-Fi To 802.11n
Intel is upgrading its Centrino Duo laptops’ wireless component to enable connection based on the recently approved draft 802.11n specification. The company plans to offer an 802.11 a/b/g/Draft-N PCIe Minicard network adapter card that can work on both the 2.4 GHz and 5.0 GHz spectra. It claimed that the new device can improve performance five-fold… Continue Reading
Skype Revamps SkypeOut Plans Again
Skype revised its pricing structure to allow U.S. and Canadian customers to make calls for free. The changes apply to the Skype Unlimited Calling plan, which costs $29.95 per year. Those who would subscribe to the plan before January 31 will only pay half the said price or only $14.95. In addition, users calling a… Continue Reading
Households Pick Up VoIP
BT boasted that sign-ups for its Broadband Talk and Softphone Voice-over-IP (VoIP) services have reached one million. The figure includes subscribers to the Broadband Talk service and those who have secured a dedicated VoIP number. The company also said many of its 500,000 Business Broadband customers are also VoIP users though it declined to say… Continue Reading
Testing Faster Wi-Fi
VeriWave is mounting a new blade in its WaveTest 90 chassis for testing 802.11n devices. According to VeriWave vice president of marketing Eran Karoly, the company has received requests for 802.11n device tests from infrastructure equipment makers like Cisco. The new WaveBlade houses a channel emulator for multipath signal simulation. It can perform tests on… Continue Reading
Intel To Launch 802.11n Wi-Fi Chipset Next Week
Intel is ready to release its new WiFi chipset code-named Kedron to the market. The firm originally planned to launch the product along with its new mobile chipset code-named Santa Rosa in the second quarter of 2008. Kedron’s 802.11 n draft-capable version will be named “WiFi Link 4965 AGN” while the non-draft n capable variant… Continue Reading
802.11n Devices Are Fully Compatible With .11b/g
SMC Networks has released its first 802.11n draft v.1-compatible products. It is offering SMC Barricade N wireless 4-port broadband router, which enables wired, 802.11b, g, or n wireless devices to share cable or DSL connections. The router features a 4-port 10/100Mbps LAN switch that is integrated with Automatic MDI-MDIX and a wireless access point that… Continue Reading
Report: Apple Will Charge For 802.11n Access
Mac owners will need to pay if they want to enable the 802.11n draft standard in their machines, according to Mac enthusiast websites, AppleInsider and MacFixIt. The said technology is integrated but not turned on in all Macs operating on Core 2 Duo or Xeon processors save for the 17-inch 1.83GHz iMac. The fee is… Continue Reading
WiMAX IPOs Are On The Way
Clearwire and NextWave plan to go public by early 2007 and have already filed their S-1 forms with the Securities & Exchange Commission. Both companies, which are beset by losses, are banking on WiMax for future profitability. Clearwire already secured backing from chip manufacturer and WiMax champion Intel and cell phone maker Motorola for its… Continue Reading
Weigh The Pros And Cons Of VoIP Over Wireless
A study by Infonetics Research predicted that Wi-Fi IP phone sales will grow to $3.7 billion by 2009, a considerable leap from the 2005 level of $125 million. The trend suggests increasing interest among organizations particularly those with a sizable mobile workforce, such as hospitals. Companies like D-Link, NETGEAR, and Linksys are taking advantage of… Continue Reading
Is WiMax Secure?
The IEEE 802.16 committee has introduced mechanisms aimed at minimizing possible security risks associated with WiMax. The committee included support to the Extensible Authentication Protocol (EAP) for 802.16e networks. The amendment is in response to earlier authentication issues. Under the fundamental principle, each subscriber station will carry X.509 certificates that are required for uniquely identifying… Continue Reading
Wi-Fi Cities May Fail To Realise Potential
BT’s Wireless City initiative hopes to make wireless data access pervasive in large U.K. cities such as Newcastle and Birmingham initially as well as six other city centers in the future. The program is limited to allowing local government employees and citizens access to local government content such as tourism information. It does not include… Continue Reading
Mobile Operators Defensive Over 3G Auctions
UK’s 3G market is circumspect over Ofcom’s announcement on spectrum auction. The public sale, the first in six years, will involve the 2500-2690 MHz band, which the British regulator deemed compatible with 3G and mobile WiMax. Although stating that it welcomed the proposal, O2 urged Ofcom to retain its current condition demanding that 3G operators… Continue Reading
Businesses Too Scared To Switch To VoIP
In a new study commissioned by VoIP software company Shortel, some 70 percent of companies cited cost reduction as the biggest reason for adopting VoIP. They also mentioned ‘managing calls more effectively’ and ‘enabling home and mobile working’ as other benefits. But a third believed VoIP is too expensive to deploy and operate. Quocirca principal… Continue Reading