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SeattleWireless: the COM stands for COMFUSING: Rob Flickenger writes about the confusion caused by SeattleWireless.com, which is not a community networking group, for SeattleWireless.net, which is. The .net folks are building alternative infrastructure to create entirely potentially unrestricted backhaul for community networks. The .com folks are putting out press releases.
The straw that broke the camel's back yesterday that Rob F writes about has to be that .com is accepting credit cards for a service that appears to be based on maps copied from community network groups. Accept no imitations.
Me on mesh: My latest InfoWorld Test Center Insight in which I look at mesh networking's advantages, the companies deploying, and how developments in the near future from Intel's signaled interest could reshape the landscape of point-to-point into something new and strange.
Comprehensive worldwide wISP directory: Bjöaut;rn Thorngren, an analyst at BrainHeart Capital, sent a link to a company resource they've developed that lists every known wISP in the world. Click through on each wISP to read details about current and planned deployments.
Pubs are good hot spot locale choice in UK: The BBC writes briefly about Inspired's plans to roll out thousands of hot spots alongside gaming machines. I'd failed to mention yesterday that British Telecom has already committed to using the vendor-neutral network Inspired is setting up, which allows BT to attain their 4,000 hot spot goal quite a bit faster than installing it on their own.
Powerline products complement Wi-Fi: The powerline HomePlug products use electrical wiring in a house to connect devices without hubs: they bridge networks using Ethernet, USB, and Wi-Fi. Oddly, the article doesn't mention Siemens remarkable SpeedStream product which is both HomePlug (for bridging) and Wi-Fi (as an access point)--and it comes in under $100.
Europe keeps getting smaller: Megabeam bought by Swisscom: Alan Reiter analyzes the purchase of Megabeam by Swisscom, which immediately creates a network of 800 hot spots in several countries. Alan notes the high prices still charged in Europe, in contrast to moderate prices in the US.
Posted by Glenn Fleishman at 7:05 AM | Permanent Link | Categories: Unclassified
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Inspired Broadcast Networks launches in UK: 250 hot spots in two months; 1000 in four months; 3000 by end of year: Guy Kewney's scoop a few days ago breaks to the light of day. The gaming firm Leisure Link already has placement in thousands of locations. Inspired's The Cloud service will piggyback on that. The service will be vendor-neutral host, meaning that you'll be seeing a lot of US and Canadian firms signing up to roam onto that network to increase their hot spot count.
Alan Reiter, as usual, has exhaustive reporting on this, including Ericsson's announcement that they will be building out the infrastructure for Inspired. Watch for Guy Kewney's analysis as well (to come, I'm sure).
I believe we can call today the day the dike broke. Why the UK suddenly went from a few hundred installed and a few thousand committed to tens of thousands in the works and several thousand up in the next months is anyone's guess. There goes that tipping point.
San Francisco Intl Airport might be turning point for hot spot proliferation: Notice I didn't say anything about hot spot profit. O'Reilly Networks very kindly was interested in a few thousand words from me surveying the state of hot spots, mostly focused on the US. It's a deep overview, if that's not an oxymoron.
Monty Python's Flying Dog Food Cans: In a typical display of British yeomanship, a man has used dog food tins (cans) to create a wireless link back to a broadband connection. In the US, a coffee can served the same purpose.
Venture capitalists leave networks open: Downstairs neighbor of Benchmark "borrows" a cup of bandwidth: Sure the servers are password protected, but are they using a security protocol like IPsec on the data transmission? If it's in the clear, then no one needs to break into servers, just passively monitor. [via TechDirt]
Posted by Glenn Fleishman at 10:44 AM | Permanent Link | Categories: Unclassified
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San Francisco International Gets Unwired: As reported earlier in the week, this morning was the official press event and unveiling of T-Mobile's first post-MobileStar-asset-acquisition airport launch. And what a launch it was: San Francisco International, just a bit north from Silicon Valley. I wasn't at the location, but I expect there will be a pile of press reports.
The press release notes that SFO will be unwired during 2003. The first phase launched today include gates 80 to 90 in Terminal 3 (including food court and lounge), the United Red Carpet Club, and the ticket and lobby area of the international terminal.
RV park Wi-Fi: RV parks start cutting the cord in a natural combination of folks moving around while wanting to stay connected. The charges are just $2.50 per day or $21 per month in the example cited. Jim Sullivan, who sent the item in, also pointed to CampLAN.
Posted by Glenn Fleishman at 11:45 AM | Permanent Link | Categories: Unclassified
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Wayport scores CNN arrangement, still must negotiate with airports: Wayport has signed a deal with CNN, according to internetnews.com, that allows them to build out vendor-neutral host access points at the 38 airports at which CNN has its airport television network. The rub: Wayport still needs to negotiate with each airport, but it doesn't have the same kind of infrastructure cost as going it alone.
As you may have read in this space before, most airport authorities and an increasing number of commercial venues are looking for vendor-neutral situations in which one company acts as the infrastructure provider and fee settlement firm, while other networks have full roaming access for the fees set in those locations. The only complication is that some of these hosts require daily fees, not monthly memberships, so even an unlimited service plan wouldn't include the location. This will certainly change, but the fee settlement will be complex.
Those with long memories will recall Global Digital Media, a company I mentioned in Feb. 2001 in the New York Times article that led me into covering field. GDM had signed a deal with CNN, the head of GDM said, that let them into the same sort of relationship. I've been waiting for this to resurface. [via Joe Brancatelli]
Intel promotes Asian roaming: Intel is working with several companies in Asia to try to develop integrated roaming and billing systems. Research firm IDC estimates 150,000 Asian Wi-Fi users outside Japan and 2.7M by 2007.
Joe Broke Me: Configuration-less hot spot might need tech support: Joe Sharkey, the business travel columnist of The New York Times, writes about his experience using Wi-Fi in a London hotel that's pushing the service. For him, it worked fine -- with a laptop configured by the hotel. But when his colleague Joe Brancatelli fired up his own machine, no go. Brancatelli told me that it the tech guys wrestled with his machines, but it turned out (later) to be a setting that forced a connection through a dial-up modem. Unchecking a box gave him access. So much for automatic configuration: tech support is always needed, and hopefully, they'll actually check the network settings next time.
Alan Reitermania: Alan on Toshiba's hot spot plans and Guy Kewney's scoop on 30K hot spots in Britain: Alan covers two interesting stories today. The Toshiba announcement is fascinating; the company has been selling turnkey hot spot systems (see my turnkey rundown) for some time. However, they've moved into high gear: they want to get 10,000 hot spots set up by selling their system for $199. Alan reports that they will be advertising heavily in four test markets to support merchants who adopt the system. A few days ago, Toshiba of Canada announced plans to roll out Canadian hot spots themselves.
Meanwhile, Alan also reports on Guy Kewney's remarkable scoop: a UK gaming company that already has DSL lines to 3,000 pubs and other locations that feed their gambling machines. These machines were connected to allow high-speed upgrades of new games and other services, and their security is as airtight, they say, as you'd imagine a gaming operation to be. It's a breeze for them to turn on Wi-Fi service in those 3,000 locations. They've also placed an order for 21,000 DSL lines over three years. Guy doesn't explain how that turns into 30,000 hot spots at year's end, but perhaps some of these locations would be linked locally instead of via DSL.
Seattle, Portland (Oregon), Vancouver (BC): we've cut more cords: An Intel-sponsored Best Places study shows that the triumvirate of Northwest cities has more density of hot spots than elsewhere, and the west coast is heavier than the east coast in spots to unplug. There are lots of local stories based on this report.
Taiwan, Inc., to offer wholesale prices of $10 per 802.11 PC Card: It's expected that by the second half of this year, wholesale prices for 802.11b PC Cards will be $10; they're already as low as $16-$17. These cards are typically rebranded and coupled with OEM-customized software.
Sony Ericsson to introduces 802.11b/GSM/GPRS: Sony Ericsson's card supports three GSM bands, GPRS Class 10, and 802.11b, and will allow roaming when more of the backend components are built. This card would allow a carrier to bill using EAP SIM, which encapsulates messages over the GSM network to allow Wi-Fi network authentication using the SIM authentication module. I'm unclear whether this will use simple MAC address clearance -- your MAC address sent over GSM and then the hot spot unlocking access for that address -- or something more sophisticated. If just MAC address unlocking, it's easy for someone with a sniffer to clone your address. According to IETF presentations a few months ago, all of the EAP-plus-method flavors lack cryptographic binding between network layers, which allows address spoofing, but not necessarily network access.
Posted by Glenn Fleishman at 11:54 AM | Permanent Link | Categories: Unclassified
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San Francisco International Airport (SFO) finally, finally gets wireless service: On Wednesday, Willie Brown, Andy Grove, and other executives and dignitaries will be on hand at SFO to announce T-Mobile's new hot spot service there. I don't have details on the scope of terminal coverage yet. The IT&T director told me back in Nov. 2001 that the entire international terminal, newly built, had high-speed Ethernet throughout, making the infrastructure part of deployment for that building a snap. That's where the press event will be.
SFO has a history of being jilted. I've been told by multiple sources that at least two companies had agreed in 2000 and 2001 to provide service for SFO as a sort of flagship airport and then reneged because of the costs to get in there. SFO was originally asking a relatively high amount of money; one source told me $2,000,000 as a cost of entry. AerZone and MobileStar apparently were the two firms, and dead companies tell no tales. Sources now say that SFO's franchise fee was more on the five-digit order.
T-Mobile also announced that its hot spot network had been certified as Centrino verified by Intel, and that they would launch a co-marketing program. Most of the hot spot networks have announced the start or completion of verification by Intel, which plans to pump hundreds of millions of advertising dollars into the entire Centrino campaign, much like they threw their efforts behind various Pentium branding programs. Some of this money will be used to co-market hot spots.
Centrino has better battery life and the integrated Wi-Fi helps towards that end, making Centrino laptops a way to push laggard comptuer sales as traveling business folk want a machine that works faster and lasts longer between charges.
Among other hot spot networks that will co-market with Intel include Hotspotzz, a company whose 75 hot spots (they list 75, but claim over 100 in their press release) originally included mostly former AirWave-cum-WiFi Metro locations, and which bizarrely continues to claim that it is the leading wireless Internet service company in the high-speed wireless Internet industry. There's a teriyaki hole in the wall down the street from my office that has a sign saying it's the best food in Seattle. I mean, can't they come up with a reasonable claim? (At least the press release on the Centrino co-marketing deal says one of the leading...)
Cometa and iPass ink tentative agreement: and iPass ink a deal to allow iPass members to use Cometa hot spots when they start appearing in Q4 2003. However, it's always good to read the fine print:
The agreement in question provides for iPass and Cometa to agree upon pricing and certain other aspects of the relationship in the future. If iPass and Cometa are unable to agree to these additional terms, either party will be able to terminate the agreement.
Even with a general air of mistrust surrounding it, wireless gains traction in the enterprise: 41 percent of enterprises surveyed in a Yankee Group study have WLANs deployed; 27 percent more plan to within 12 months. InfoWorld's own study showed 42 percent deployed and 33 percent more within 6 months. These numbers nicely counter the tropes deployed in many security-focused Wi-Fi articles which claim that security concerns have suppressed WLAN installation.
An interesting sidenote in the piece is that some vendors are offering multiple WLANs in a single device allowing WLAN separation instead of just VLAN separation: users with less access actually connect to a different network.
Migrating from point B to point A with Cisco: This related article examines the cost and issues involved in migrating in an enterprise from 802.11b to 802.11a.
38 percent of US adults know what Wi-Fi is: And 14 percent of those adults (or 5 percent of all adults) have Wi-Fi in the home. Good numbers.
FatPort lowers prices: "What is it Obi-Wi Keno-Fi? Do you sense a great disturbance in the force as if millions of users were silenced?" "No, just a slight price reduction." In what appears to be the start of a trend, FatPort has reduced its pricing to be more in line with one-day/US$10 prices. Their new rates are Canadian(C)$5 per hour (unused time expires in 90 days); C$7 for a four-hour session; C$10 for a 24-hour session; unlimited use for C$35 per month (no commitment); and a C$160 for a wireless card and three months unlimited access.
Spotnik goes live, announces pricing: In a complete coincidence -- FatPort swears and I believe them -- their first large-scale Canadian competitor launches with over a dozen hot spots at about 150 percent of the cost of FatPort's new pricing (see just above). Spotnik charges Canadian(C)$9 per hour, C$15 for 24 hours, and C$50 for a month (no commitment).
Ziff-Davis aggregates wireless articles into site: Ziff-Davis launched (quietly) its Wireless Supersite, which aggregates articles across all of its publications and sites into a single superstructure. [via Alan Reiter]
San Francisco hot spot directory: Sean Savage is building a directory out of SF cafes with free wireless access.
Down Under: Telstra unwires McDonalds and Optus to build 500 hot spots: Two Autralian telco giants are pushing out Wi-Fi suddenly. Telstra had purchased SkyNetGlobal's assets, including Wi-Fi hot spots; SkyNetGlobal was an early international roaming partner of some US firms. Optus will launch in Melbourne and Sydney this month, and plans to offer roaming with other networks. [via Whirlpool News]
Posted by Glenn Fleishman at 8:28 AM | Permanent Link | Categories: Unclassified
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More chain numbers: Yesterday, in discussing Frank Boosman and my conversation about the largest chains in the US, I listed several he researched, mostly food-oriented. Jacques Caron wrote in to suggest that gas stations, mid-range hotels, and convenience stores should also be considered.
I'd agree in part: gas stations and convenience stores wouldn't be places people could work, but they could recharge: check email, download files, transmit information. There are some deals afoot in the US and abroad with both kinds of retail location, such as Circle K.
Mid-range hotels would make much more sense, although they require more infrastructure -- more access points and wiring -- to serve. I did a little quick research to get some numbers on the largest non-premium hotels. These days, many business travelers who used to stay at W, Hilton, Radisson, etc., are staying at Best Western, Holiday Inn, Quality Inn, and Comfort Inn.
US hotel numbers for several major chains and ownership groups:
Lightly informed Reuters article on 802.1g: Is it my job to act as the unofficial reporter of errors on wireless in news reports? I guess so. The reporter says that Wireless G is the name of the new technology, when that's Linksys's trademarked name for its 802.11g equipment. It says the new equipment is 50 percent more when that's probably worth mentioning that it's just temporary, and Apple shed $50 to $100 off its 802.11b device. 802.11b equipment prices will plummet as they're phased out when g is ratified and certified Wi-Fi.
The general point, a little lost, is that home users should have other new uses for more bandwidth for home entertainment equipment. I'll get on my soapbox for a moment: Only if the various interests engaged in promoting the DMCA (Digital Millennium Copyright Act) stop their fight against fair use. If the recording and movie and television industries succeed at their attempt to control the entry and exit of all digital media from all devices for any purpose, then you won't be allowed to stream media from your DVD player to your TV or your CD player to a receiver on the other end of the house. This is another reason why the electronics companies should be ont the side of consumers.
(Full disclosure; I'm a plaintiff in the Newmark v. Turner case handled by the Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF) in which I and four other ReplayTV owners have prophyactically sued a variety of media companies to protect the interests of consumer fair use and privacy, specifically time shifting, space shifting, and commercial skipping. There's no money involved, just our rights.)
Posted by Glenn Fleishman at 2:22 PM | Permanent Link | Categories: Unclassified