A western US company has purchased 11 of GigaBeam’s WiFiber links with compound semiconductor chips, according to the Virginia-based broadband wireless access equipment vendor. According to GigaBeam chairman and CEO Lou Slaughter, the company’s client “is taking advantage of WiFiber, instead of terrestrial fiber, to build out a metropolitan network at a fraction of the… Continue Reading
Category Archives: Deployment
Switching From Cell To Wi-Fi, Seamlessly
T-Mobile USA is due to begin offering a new service for mobile phone users that will allow seamless switching between its cellular network and their home Wi-Fi networks. The company will use unlicensed mobile access or UMA to enable the new service. T-Mobile, several blogs reported, has performed a trial of the service in the… Continue Reading
Silicon Valley Wireless Project Moves Forward
The Wireless Silicon Valley Task Force has chosen Silicon Valley Metro Connect to build and run a wireless network that will stretch over 1,500 square miles of the region. Metro Connect is a consortium involving Cisco Systems and IBM. The project, however, still requires the approval of individual municipalities before the construction of the network… Continue Reading
Clearwire Gets More Dough
In the past two months, Clearwire has received over $1.1 billion to develop a nationwide WiMax network. It won $900 million in investment from IntelCapital and Motorola Ventures for the project in July. It secured a further $100 million from two investors and $125 million in debt financing from Morgan Stanley, Merrill Lynch, and JP… Continue Reading
Wi-Fi Mobiles Offer Free Calls – All Over The World
Mobiboo and Belkin are now offering handsets that can perform VoIP calls using connection to wireless networks, i.e., The Cloud for Mobiboo and Skype for the latter. Calls from a Mobiboo handset — either the £99 Mobiboo F1000 unit or the £179 Mobiboo F3000 model — to other Mobiboo users are free, those to UK… Continue Reading
Speedier Wireless On The Way Via 4G
3G is barely deployed and now there is talk about 4G. Sprint is aiming to use WiMax as thier 4G technology of choice, expecting to put $3 Billion into the technology in the next 2 years. Faster speeds are one factor for the choice of WiMax but chipset costs and availability have also influenced the… Continue Reading
WLANs Break The Enterprise Security Model
Aruba CEO Dominic Orr expects wireless connectivity to become a standard segment of enterprise net infrastructure and will therefore be less interesting. Orr said: “‘WLAN’ is, if not dead, then uninteresting. Once it’s ‘spec-able’ by the IEEE, most of the profit goes to the silicon makers. Eighteen months after 802.11n is standardized, the WLAN is… Continue Reading
Google Wi-Fi Gift Has A Catch
Google’s municipal WiFi project in Mountain View, CA. has a catch, no live tech support. The network is being provided for 5 years at a cost of millions as a ‘perk’ to the city, but as the saying goes; “you get what you pay for”. The free network will not have any live tech support… Continue Reading
A Net Pioneer’s Wireless Wager
After Earthlink, Sky Dayton is now focusing on two new ventures, Boingo Wireless and Helio, both of which have tight connections with the pioneering Internet service provider. Earthlink, which won contracts to build WiFi networks in cities such as New Orleans, San Francisco, and Anaheim, California, pays for its clients’ use of Boingo software. The… Continue Reading
Minneapolis Goes Wi-Fi, With WiMax To Follow
Minneapolis aims to create a citywide wireless network with the help of BelAir Networks and US Internet. Minneapolis Mayor R. T. Rybak said the city “has chosen both a business model and a technology solution that ensure immediate, ongoing, and sustainable benefits.” Under the plan, the suppliers will develop a 54-squre-mile network that will initially… Continue Reading
IBM-Cisco Group’s Bid Wins Valley Wi-Fi Contract
Silicon Valley has chosen MetroConnect, a coalition involving IBM Corp., Cisco Systems Inc. and wireless Internet firms Azulstar and SeaKay, to provide wireless Internet coverage to most of the area. Under the contract, the group will shoulder the costs of developing the massive hotspot spanning over 1,000 square miles of Silicon Valley. Joint Venture Silicon… Continue Reading
Wi-Fi Guidance Becomes Law In California
California lawmakers endorsed a bill that will require manufacturers of wireless internet equipment to provide guidance on data security for wireless connections. The legislation, which still needs Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger’s signature, is expected to take effect on October 1, 2007. Under the law, companies must ensure WiFi-capable products have warning labels — box stickers, special… Continue Reading
Telkom Set To Offer Wireless Broadband In 2007
Telkom hopes to start offering WiMax in South Africa next year, Papi Molotsane, the company’s CEO, told participants at a Telkom-hosted event at Spier outside Stellenbosch. It has been testing the technology for two years now and announced that WiMax will be an essential part of its next generation network. The fixed-line operator has repeatedly… Continue Reading
Taipei Becomes Wireless City, Offering Residents Access To Internet Anywhere In City
Taipei, according to its mayor Ma Ying-jeou, is now a wireless city. Over the last two years, city officials have installed around 4,000 access points in several buildings to allow anyone to connect to the Internet anywhere in the area for a fee. Residents need to pay 400 New Taiwan dollars or about 12 US… Continue Reading
Wi-Fi Gives Kids Access To Unchaperoned Net
New portable gaming devices with wireless capabilities like Sony’s PSP (PlayStation portable system) and Nintendo DS are raising concerns among parents. Parents have less control on these gadgets unlike with PCs, which allow them a number of options to restrict or monitor their kids’ activities, such as installing Net Nanny, a program to block pornography… Continue Reading