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Configuring a/b and g (and sometimes why): I've had a chance to spend some quality time this morning with new products from Proxim (their Orinoco Gold 802.11a/b ComboCard) and Linksy (the draft 802.11g 54 Mbps WAP54G and WPC54G -- I'll be trying the WRT54G soon as well). My test equipment is a 1999-era Sony Vaio (Z505R) running Windows XP Professional. This is a good testbed because the machine itself can be a little funky, so if a card and driver work on it, they'll work anywhere.
Installing and using the Orinoco 802.11a/b card was a snap. I installed the drivers, placed the card in, and it automatically recognized the two infrastructure points with the same SSID in my office. I plugged in a Proxim 802.11a AP that I'd configured some months ago, and was able to quickly run a site survey, configure a connection to it, and swap over. The card can scan for both a and b networks without losing the current configuration, or you can use what it nicely calls a snoop mode which performs more extensive frequency checking. It's definitely an A-plus product, like all Proxim gear, and a refresh to support a/g would be most welcome for the maximum flexibility.
The Linksys configuration software also continues to improve over time. Their older configuration tools were a bear, requiring IP settings changing, reboots, and other problems. But their newer tools all rely on scanning a network for the specific device signatures and then allowing you to connect and configure. I installed the WAP54G because I already have a DHCP server running (on an Apple AirPort graphite model), and a WAP11 as well. They occupy channels 6 and 11.
I installed the WAP54G, set it up to run with a real IP address and a fresh password, and then had some interesting issue with the WPC54G. Initially, I set the WAP54G to act as another infrastructure point on the same network, but on channel 1. (The WAP11 and WAP54G are sitting on top of one another.) Even though the WPC54G card configured easily and connected to the main network, I could not force it to connect to the higher-speed G access point, even when selecting it from a list in the Site Survey window which shows all active access points, including their MAC addresses.
The solution, unfortunately, after testing several options, was to reset the WAP54G's SSID to a new name, leaving it on channel one. I was then able to set a configuration profile for the card that connected to the new network, and it all worked fine. My AirPort Card was also able to connect with no problems to the WPC54G, and I'll be testing an AirPort Extreme Base Station and 12-inch PowerBook G4 with AirPort Extreme shortly to see how they work in this environment.
My score (all ad hoc, seat of the pants) for the Linksys equipment is a 9 out of 10 for ease of configuration, but 5 out of 10 for simplicity of switching between b and g networks. You'd think the WPC54G would preferentially connect to the higher-speed AP (which also had the highest signal strength).
You can buy Linksys 54G equipment from Amazon.com: the PC Card (WPC54G, $70), the access point (WAP54G, $130), the wireless gateway (WRT54G, $130), and the PCI Card (WMP54G, $70). And did you know the price continues to plummet on the 802.11b side? See, for instance, the Linksys (BEFW11S4, their Ethernet/wireless gateway, which is now $80 with a mail-in rebate. The WAP11 is just $80 without any rebate, while the WPC11 PC Card is $50 with a rebate.
Interestingly, the WAP11 on channel 6 now seems unhappy: even after powercycling, it's not showing up in Macstumbler or the Linksys Site Survey. I wonder if it couldn't handle the competition from its faster brother? Very odd.
Update later in the afternoon: I realized that the WAP11 I was using was an original 1.4 firmware-series unit, but I had a trump card: a WAP11v2.2 in reserve that I'd configured but never deployed back when I was testing something I can't now recall. I powered it up, force reset it, logged in via a Web browser and set its password, WEP key, SSID, and channel (to 6), and voila: all three stations are operating in their nonoverlapping ranges. Oddly, the WAP11v2.2 is showing 100 percent signal strength to my Vaio (through a wall with an open door) while the WAP54G just next to it only shows a 50-odd percent strength. More testing with mobility (walkin' around) soon.
Slouching toward interoperability: another draft of 802.11g approved: Another 802.11g draft, version 6.1, was approved this week but as the article notes, there's yet another draft to come, and the difference between this week's approved draft and the previous one were significant enough that devices conforming to each wouldn't work with each other. The article says that the specificiation could be approved in June and published in July, but it's possible that it would be delayed until a September or even November meeting. It's happened before.
Laotians celebrate, even with computer not running: A truly lovely in depth story on the folks trying to bring computer and Internet service to the way, way out there in Laos. A power surge disrupted the efforts to launch, and some fires and guerrillas may continue to threaten people's lives and connectivity. But it's another tool to make sure these villagers are only as disconnected as they want to be. "The first thing I will do when the Jhai Computer comes is call my daughter in Ohio over the Internet," 78-year-old Pane Vongsenthong said, grinning hugely at the children who were jostling for turns on the bicycle. "I never get to call her now, and I miss her voice.
Air reports: Our correspondent writes from 30-odd-thousand feet in the air: Christopher Maines took advantage of the Boeing Connexion on the Lufthansa Frankfurt-Dulles run this morning (or his afternoon) to send this brief note: I'm at this moment somewhere over Northern Canada near Goose Bay and Labrador City on my way to Washington Dulles. The service is not as fast as I would have hoped, however, it's serviceable. I'm currently averaging between 80Kbps [kilobits per second] and 160Kbps (10KBps [kilobytes per second] and 20KBps). The service is extremely easy to set up; as long as you are set up to use DHCP rather than a hard-coded IP, the connection is automatic. Thanks for the report!
Posted by Glenn Fleishman at 10:21 AM | Permanent Link | Categories: Unclassified
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Pyramid Research's interview with yours truly: I hope I'm not foaming at the mouth in this interview, in which John Yunker and I discuss how Wi-Fi has had an impact or will have an impact on several related industries, including cellular.
Broad Group offers wISP hot spot pricing report: Philip Low of the Broad Group has created an extensive report of worldwide hot spot pricing that would be of use to anyone writing a business plan, methinks. The report analyzes the disparity in pricing in different parts of the world and correlates hot spot rollout with higher prices, interestingly enough. The report is available for 895 pounds sterling.
Laotian bike-powered Wi-Fi: An excellent project to bring necessary aspects of the world to areas that can benefit from it.
Sony's Wi-Fi equipped pocket Web server: GadgetWatch identifies (and offers an English explanation of) a Wi-Fi-enabled portable fileserver! Nifty. 70,000 yen.
Posted by Glenn Fleishman at 10:25 AM | Permanent Link | Categories: Unclassified
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Wired News reports on 24 Mbps 3G chips: The speed is fine, but what about spectrum? You can't just take the current density of cell tower deployment and even the current 3G spectrum allocation and rules and then throw 24 Mbps over it. More bandwidth means more spectrum: the two are interrelated, although more clever techniques can always cram more data into existing ranges -- even though Shannon's Law wins in the end.
Posted by Glenn Fleishman at 7:27 AM | Permanent Link | Categories: Unclassified
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Exclusive story! Excilan offers cell-phone based way to pay for hot spot service : Sean O'Mahoney, CEO of Vancouver, B.C.-based wISP Fatport alerted me to some exciting news from Excilan, a company that's building software bridges for seamless roaming among different kinds of wireless networks, including cell and Wi-Fi. Excilan is launching a system that cell operators and wISPs can sign up for that allows a user at a hot spot location to pull up a gateway page, enter their cell phone number, and receive an automated call. The call prompts the user by telling them the session fee details for their location. The user agrees by pressing a key (such as "1" in the test I ran through using a Schiphol, Amsterdam, test page), which then charges the fee to their cellular bill and authenticates the computer at the hot spot location.
O'Mahoney said that in the initial meeting with Excilan, only European cell carriers were represented, and Fatport was the only North American wISP present. (Fatport is a founding member of Pass-One, which Excilan is apparently part of as well.) But several European hot spot firms were there: Megabeam (Pan-European), Attingo (Netherlands), TLC Mobile (France); O'Mahoney said two others are also involved: Netario (UK) and WLAN AG (Germany). With the proof-of-concept rolling out as an actual service, however, it's expected that other networks and carriers will look at this as an option.
O'Mahony pointed out that this authentication system works both directions: it removes friction for hot spot operators in having users connect to their service; no credit card number is required, and the cell phone call implies another layer of security and accountability. But the other direction is that cell operators can tie into a network of how ever many wISPs sign up for the service. A cell company can essentially offer a branded (even discounted) hot spot service in this way without building any infrastructure or even modified their systems outside the Excilan billing hookup. The wISPs will offer a wholesale rate which the individual cell companies can choose to mark up however they wish. (wISPs would almost certainly offer a direct rate, as well.)
It's not convergence, but it's an interesting step on that road, by providing cell operators with a real chance to judge how frequently their users would engage in this option.
Business Week's sensible security advice: Stephen Wildstrom offers well-explained, sensible security advice for consumers and businesses, including a good explanation of WEP's weaknesses and the coming Wi-Fi Protected Access fix -- a good article to refer to those who have questions and don't want all the protocol detail.
Rant on draft 802.11g incompatibilities: A not unreasonable reasoned rant about the early release of non-interoperability-tested, non-backward-compatibility-tested 802.11g gear from many manufacturers. Guy points out quite notably that the plug-test (or unplug-fest) informal test conducted recently was under non-disclosure, so there's no good way for information to filter directly from makers to users. Expect a load of frequent firmware upgrades for g devices.
Nomadix and iPass partner: People deploying Nomadix hot spot systems can now support iPass customers. iPass is an aggregation service partnering with 200 networks for dial-up and broadband roaming worldwide. (Does that sound like an ad? It's just a succinct summary of what they do.)
You'll believe a tech writer can fly (and Wi-Fi): Pete Lewis of Fortune files from the air in a 737 configured by Boeing to show off their in-flight, high-speed Connexion service which offers wired (business/first class) and wireless (everywhere on the plane, one assumes) Internet access while flying. The service is currently only available on a single Frankfurt-D.C. Lufthansa flight, but a bigger rollout is expected. As far as in-flight technology goes, being able to charge a flat rate ($15 to $35 is expected depending on the flight's duration) coupled with a relatively simple set up (not as complicated as interactive video, that's for sure) could make this service actually profitable. I know that on a 4 to 10-hour flight, I'd happily pony up the money if I really thought I needed to work. Thirty to 60 minutes of work pays back a $15 to $35 tab depending on what's on the agenda. Continuous access at the flat rate and the relatively high speed (5 Mbps down) makes it a no-brainer for most business people--who will probably press for subscription service with discounts.
Fuel cells to power future laptops to keep Wi-Fi flowing: Intel Capital and others have invested in Neah, a company that plans to make fuel cell-based batteries with stable, less hot reactions than competitors that could have three times the longevity of today's laptop battery. My iBook's 4+ ampere hour (AH) battery, which I gather is about 50+ watt hours (WH) (watts over 12.8 volts equals amps), gives me about three to four hours of carefully husbanded use or two hours of playing a DVD with the screen brightness up. I've tested an external NCharge battery from Valence weighing just over three pounds which has 10 AH or 128 WH and costs about $300. This NCharge battery uses conventional technology; the fuel-cell battery would fit in an existing drive bay while ostensibly reducing weight as well (though that's not spelled out). [via Dana Blankenhorn]
Posted by Glenn Fleishman at 10:05 AM | Permanent Link | Categories: Unclassified
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Proxim offers inexpensive, upgradable access points, plus their 802.11g plans: Their new AP-600 comes in an a and b version, but can be upgraded through a mini-PCI format plug-in card to handle g or other future revisions. These access points can't be managed by their Harmony system, but they have most of the attributes of enterprise-class equipment, including full 802.1x support with EAP-MDS, EAP-TLS, and EAP-TTLS (but not PEAP) handling. They also support Power over Ethernet.
The 802.11b version is $280 (street price), while the a version is $390. The 802.11g version is expected to run about $350, and an upgrade card will cost $100; they'll be available during the second quarter. However, Proxim will include a $25-off coupon to make it the same price to buy an 802.11b AP now and upgrade it later.
Proxim also announced a CardBus PC Card 802.11g adapter which will sell in second quarter for about $90. (The Orinoco Gold is now $70 and the Silver $50. Oddly, the Silver should also be upgradable to WPA which has no key size differences, so it's unclear why Proxim continues to differentiate the two cards.)
Austrian hot-spot operator Metronet adds gas stations: Alan Reiter runs down the advantages of hot spot deployments in smaller countries, while criticizing the high price of access. (Hey, gas is $5.00 a gallon, too, Alan!) Metronet has 250 hot spots, and will introduce 15 at these gas stations, in addition to 20 hot spots close-by to existing highways.
Another reason to love German is from the press release: Ab Mitte Februar können OMV Kunden mit WLAN-fähigen Notebooks oder PDAs die Tankpausen zum drahtlosen Abrufen und Versenden von Emails oder für einen VPN-gesicherten Zugriff auf das eigene Firmenlaufwerk nützen. In English: By the middle of February, OMV customers can (take a deep breath) -- with WLAN-capable notebooks or PDAs -- the time while filling a tank with wireless sending and receiving of email or with a VPN-secured connection to their own company network (release breath) use.
Andrew Seybold says hot spot business bankrupt idea: Seybold points out that venues need a crush of users just to break even, but everyone is running headlong into the business of installing hot spots. I'd argue that the difference between now and a couple of years ago is that the headlong rush is for wireless ISPs to encourage venues to install hot spot hardware and share revenue with the wISP as a billing/aggregator/infrastructure supporter. (Shades of The Onion's headling that Americans agree that mass transit should be used by other Americans.) In the olden days of 2000-2001, Wayport, MobileStar, and many others poured millions into building out infrastructure and even paying fees to have access to venues. The current model is partnership in which the venue bears the capital cost typically in exchange for a relatively high short-term return.
Seybold asks what Cometa's business model is -- he's still waiting to hear from them on that answer. I've maintained for months that Cometa is not pouring money down that old drain, but rather will use its strategic resources to find venues willing to bear the cost of installation, using their funds to handle marketing and back-end services.
Seybold's analysis of costs and revenue isn't exactly on track, to my mind. Seybold is assuming first that venues or partners are recovering just $1 per user per day (Boingo's payment rate) and second that costs are a few grand a month or about $50 per day. Some of this might be on target, but bandwidth costs can be as little as $50 to $200 per month (for sites that opt for xDSL), and venue fees could be higher. The businesses in which $1 per user is received will opt for the cheapest bandwidth they can get, and will also have justified the cost of service for their own business purposes.
Surf and Sip expands to 100+ coffee shops in England: Rick Ehrlinspiel, head of Surf and Sip writes from a 400-year-old pub in York, England, that they have 16 locations online and will be up to 35 in the country by the end of the month. To boot, they signed a leading coffee chain (107 outlets) and starts deploying next week. The price for service will be £20 per month (1-year commitment) for unlimited use or £30 for month-to-month. They also offer 24 hours for £5. Surf and Sip members get free roaming across all served countries. Next stop: France and Spain.
Australia offers worldwide community node-mapping server: Duane from Sydney Wireless want to alert me and the world that the NodeDB site is back from an overload and better than before, mapping nodes worldwide. He writes: NodeDB.com, after its hardware and code updates, is more capable ofhandling higher loads, and also gained a much better user interface with greatly increased feature set. NodeDB.com was expanded upon to cover the globe, with new areas and nodes constantly being added. Currently there are over 4,400 sites listed in about 350 separate geographical locations, with no sign of slowing down in sight.
Long-haul mailing list: Simon Woodside has launched a discussion mailing list for dealing with low-cost, long-distance and rural wireless Internet connectivity. The topics include, point-to-point, point-to-multipoint, long-haul or back-haul data links. Generally oriented toward commodity, open-spectrum products, like 802.11b (Wi-Fi), 802.11a, 802.11g, etc. as well as HF and packet radio. To subscribe visit this link.
Posted by Glenn Fleishman at 9:20 AM | Permanent Link | Categories: Unclassified