NetStumbler.com

Broadcom has unveiled BCM4325, a chip that supports WiFi, Bluetooth and FM radio. With the use of proprietary “InConcert” algorithms, the chip is able to address interference issues between Bluetooth and WiFi. Such problems normally happen in the past when radios operate in the same spectrum — both Bluetooth and WiFi tap the 2.4GHz band. The company claimed that the combined features would reduce active and idle power consumption by 40 percent and create 50 percent free space on the chip.
Via [cbronline.com]

Skyriver Communications and Comerica Bank have signed an agreement giving the former both a working capital line of credit and equipment financing line. The wireless broadband service provider plans to use the money to finance its plans to expand its coverage into Los Angeles and Orange County and upgrade its existing network using next generation WiMAX technology.
Via [unstrung.com]

NTT DoCoMo announced that its field experiment of fourth-generation radio access in Yokosuka, Kanagawa Prefecture on December 25, 2006 saw the attainment of a maximum packet transmission rate of about 5Gbps in the downlink using 100MHz frequency bandwidth to a 10km/h mobile station. The development followed the company’s decision to increase the number of MIMO transmitting and receiving antennas from 6 in a December 14, 2005 test, where the maximum speed reached 2.5Gbps, to 12. The ratio of data transmission rate to channel bandwidth from the previous to the latest testing also increased two-fold from 25bps/Hz to 50bps/Hz (5Gbps/100MHz). DoCoMo plans to report the experiment’s details before the 3GSM World Congress 2007 in Barcelona, Spain.
Via [physorg.com]

Boingo Wireless has launched its new global Wi-Fi service for mobile phones and devices. Boingo Mobile, which the company offers for a monthly flat rate of $7.95, allows users to get high-speed Internet connection in airports, hotels, restaurants and convention centers across the globe. The service can run with Windows Mobile 5.0-based Smartphones or Pocket PC devices.

Boingo Mobile subscribers can use Internet-enabled applications on their phones, such as making VoIP calls, sending SMS messages, receiving push email, viewing online news or video, uploading and downloading photos or videos, surfing the Internet, and accessing Intranet services. The company said the service is available for Belkin’s Wi-Fi Phone for Skype and expects its coverage to expand to other Wi-Fi enabled devices like mobile/cellular handsets, VoIP phones, mobile gaming consoles, MP3 players and digital cameras, in the future.

Meraki Networks is testing a WiFi network that aims to provide affordable wireless Internet connection. In several neighborhoods, the Mountain View, California-based start-up has installed $49 boxes, which is equipped with a Wi-Fi router-on-a-chip and software that supports a “mesh network”. This network redirects signals when boxes are removed or added and when network performance fluctuates due to environmental conditions. Michael Burmeister-Brown, a director of Portland, Oregon-based non-profit group NetEquality, put the Meraki “mini� to a test in several low-income communities. The service delivered a bandwidth that is similar to DSL but was reduced to dissuade bandwidth-consuming downloads. According to Burmeister-Brown, web browsing was quite fast and, privacy is not compromised if standard Wi-Fi security protocols are enabled.
Via [nytimes.com]

Michael Chen, Intel’s Asia-Pacific director of embedded sales group, clarified that the new 802.11n Centrino chips will not support channel bonding if they run on the 2.4GHz spectrum. The said function involves using two channels in the WiFi spectrum to enable higher data transmission, as compared to current WiFi technologies that employ only one channel. Interference, however, is very likely if channel bonding is carried out on the 2.4GHz band, which existing 802.11b/g Wi-Fi gear and digital cordless phones are using. Sans channel bonding, 802.11n can still deliver sustained data rates of 50 Mbps, twice faster than 802.11g but half the maximum speed of 802.11n with channel bonding.

Aside from Intel, several companies like notebook makers Asus, Acer, Gateway and Toshiba, and network equipment vendors Belkin, Buffalo, D-Link and Netgear are ready to ship devices supporting 802.11n standard. Gartner, however, warned against premature adoption of the 802.11n standard. The analyst sees more discussions prior to the ratification of the specification, which might entail further changes and therefore need interoperability testing by the Wi-Fi Alliance. Gartner also fears that 802.11n compliance claims by vendors could mislead customers, who may think that the products “can be made compliant through upgrades.”
Via [zdnetasia.com]

There are several ways to make calls online. Vonage allows unlimited calls from anywhere in the U.S. to Canada, France, Ireland, Italy, Spain and Britain for a monthly fee of $25. But a user needs to plug an existing home telephone handset into a little adapter box — worth $60 after rebate — and plug this into a broadband Internet jack such as a cable modem. The company also offers V-Phone and this would do away with the use of a telephone line. The service, however, requires an additional fee of $25 per month. Skype Out, meanwhile, enables a Mac or PC to call normal telephones for $30 a year. But Skype charges another $38 if users would opt to have a phone number for incoming calls.
Via [iht.com]

People who find using Skype to contact landline or mobile phones expensive can use other methods to save on call fees.

Both parties can call for free if they have instant messaging applications such as MSN Messenger downloaded on their computers, plus a headset with microphone. Jajah.com, meanwhile, allows anyone from North America, Australasia and Europe to make calls using normal phones so long as both parties have subscribed to the hybrid “web-activated” service. One of the users just needs to type both phone numbers onto the web page and this will let the parties talk for free. In addition, by loading £10 into their account every few months, users of VoIP Stunt and VoIP Cheap can make web-to-phone calls to most of Europe, North America, Australasia and southeast Asia for free.
Via [business.timesonline.co.uk]

Atheros has rolled out the new Atheros AR3011, the company’s first Radio-on-Chip for Mobile (ROCm) product for shorter-range wireless technology, which is normally used in cell phones. But the chip, according to Srinivas Pattamatta, senior product marketing manager for mobile and embedded products at Atheros, is intended primarily for PCs and not mobile handsets. Pattamatta said the 6×6mm square package houses 60 percent fewer components than similar products. This in turn results in cost savings amounting to 20 percent.

The AR3011 complies with Bluetooth 2.1 + Enhanced Data Rate (EDR) specification, which the Bluetooth Special Interest Group (SIG) under the code name of Lisbon is currently finalizing. The company intends to offer the product along with Wi-Fi chips supporting draft-802.11n, 802.11a/g or 11g by itself.
Via [wi-fiplanet.com]

A new study shows that users of residential VoIP service will reach 267 million by 2012. ABI Research principal broadband analyst Michael Arden said major regions will see differing trends in this area. Competition between cable operators and telcos, according to Arden, will spur the growth in the U.S., while European carriers are expected to include VoIP as part of the ongoing upgrade of Ethernet networks. In Japan, he said, the development is fueled by third-party broadband players like SoftBank. Arden attributed the current popularity of VoIP among consumers to lower cost and simplified billing but expects the technology’s potential to be converged with video, online gaming and other services as key to its long-term success.
Via [vnunet.com]

With the release of the Next-Gen Wireless-N component for Centrino laptops, Intel became the latest company to unveil a product supporting IEEE 802.11n. Other vendors like Asus, Belkin, Buffalo, D-Link and Netgear have also shipped 802.11n hardware, which would require a firmware upgrade to be fully consistent with the specification when it is ratified. A spokesman for WLAN security supplier AirDefense warned that 802.11n equipment, though unlikely to deliver speeds of 300-400Mbit/s as claimed by companies, can experience problems even with rates of 10/100Mbit/s. He said that 802.11n access points supporting 100Mbit/s data streams across a corporate network could cause problems, particularly for services like IP telephony.
Via [computing.co.uk]

It is now possible to make VoIP calls without having to use a traditional software client. This can be done via SIPphone’s Gizmo Project, a downloadable flash plug-in that enables users anywhere in the world to call most landline or mobile phones via any Internet browser.

Everyday, Gizmo users get five minutes of free calling but that could go up to 10 minutes if they register. But making additional calls, according to the company, require subscribers to buy Gizmo Call Out minutes in $10 increments.

Gizmo currently runs on Windows as well as Macintosh operating systems, and soon in Linux. It calls for the installation of Adobe Systems’ Flash 9 on the computer and is compatible with Internet Explorer, Opera, Firefox and Safari browsers.
Via [news.com.com]

Research firm Wireless Intelligence predicted that cellular connections will grow to 3 billion by the end of 2007, up by half a billion from September 2006. Asia-Pacific would account for most of the increase, with India, Pakistan and Bangladesh seeing the fastest growth rate. About 75 percent of Western Europe, according to the firm, will have over 100 percent market penetration. High speed networks will remain the fastest growing technologies as they are expected to secure 3 percent of global market share by 2007.
Via [digitimes.com]

Qualcomm expects its legal costs to double this year to $200 million amid a slew of lawsuits from firms accusing it of charging unjust fees for the use of its patented technologies. The company owns 1,900 patents in the U.S. for code division multiple access (CDMA), a wireless standard that is crucial for cell phones and cellular networks. Last year, licensing fees generated a third of Qualcomm’s $7.53 billion revenue and three-fourths of its pretax profits worth $3.16 billion.

Qualcomm is now insisting it should get the same royalties for wideband CDMA or WCDMA, a protocol used to enable faster Internet downloads by GSM-based carriers like Cingular Wireless and T-Mobile. But equipment makers stressed that such position would disregard inputs from Nokia, LM Ericsson and Motorola. Although it proved victorious in an antitrust complaint by Broadcom, Qualcomm continues to face challenges from Nokia and others. The Finland-based handset maker cited a 2005 study stating that Qualcomm only has rights over 38 percent of the standard’s 732 “essential” patents. In response, the company released “white papers” that disproved Nokia’s report, touted its contributions to WCDMA, and defended its business model.
Via [canadianbusiness.com]

The IEEE working group for RuBee (IEEE 1902.1) is due to meet in Boston on February 20. RuBee, a wireless networking protocol deemed as an alternative to RFID, is expected to enable networks to run on long wavelengths and cover thousands of radio tags working below 450 kHz. It allows for real-time inventory under harsh environments, even close to metal and water and amid electromagnetic noise.

Because of its relatively slow speed, the specification is not appropriate for tracking scores of moving products in a standard warehouse but it is helpful for transmitting data directly to the Internet. With the use of lithium batteries, the battery life of RuBee radio tags is seen to last ten years or more.

The IEEE is encouraging “anyone interested in helping develop this standard” to be present at the February gathering. RuBee supporters include Tesco group in the U.K., Germany’s Metro chain, France-based Carrefour and BestBuy in the U.S. Chip makers, network equipment designers and systems developers like Hewlett-Packard, IBM, Sony, Panasonic, Motorola and NCR also back the development of the protocol.
Via [informationweek.com]