Broadband Wireless Internet Access (BWIA) / WiMAX Stories

Sustaining The Municipal Wireless Network

From Government Technology
By Ken DiPietro
September 24, 2007

While the overwhelming majority of today's discussion about municipal wireless networks focuses on the technical aspects, also critical is working out the business models that detail how these networks will financially justify their existence. Whether we continually support these networks using public funds - thereby making them susceptible to political whims - or we turn over network operations to an outside entity, planners must invest a serious amount of thought into the financial aspects of these projects.

One relatively short article cannot address every aspect of these issues, but it can at least highlight the crucial fundamentals.

One point that must be stressed is that your network's hard design specifications will dictate the revenue streams and services your network will achieve. If you build a network that has relatively low throughput and isn't 100 percent reliable, you'll see a direct correlation in the adoption rate, usefulness and return on investment.

Regardless of legal structure - public ownership, public-private partnership, private ownership, nonprofit or any other variations - there are two major financial categories that must be scrutinized. For the purposes of this discussion, I'll define these categories as Government Cost Redirection and Revenue-Generating Services/Applications.

(end excerpt)

Full story at:
www.govtech.com/dc/articles/140765

(Lead for this story from Dewayne Hendricks posting to the Dewayne-net mailing list.)

Analyst: Cisco Eyeballing Navini

From Telephony Online
By Kevin Fitchard
Oct 1, 2007 9:41 AM

Is Cisco Systems aiming to become the next big WiMAX vendor? Technology analyst firm Think Equity believes so, and it’s betting Cisco will make its WiMAX move through the acquisition of Navini.

Navini is long-time broadband wireless company that several years ago shifted development from its proprietary CDMA-based nomadic platform to today’s Mobile WiMAX platform. Navini is also one of the few companies—the only major one being Alcatel-Lucent--to have built its platform on adaptive beamforming technology—something Think Equity feels makes it very attractive to Cisco. While most of the major vendors focus on multiple input/multiple output (MIMO) smart antenna configurations, Navini has plowed its development into creating a beamformed MIMO architecture that steers paired signals to a CPE or device on the network. The intended result is greater capacity on the cell edge, something MIMO in its typical configurations can’t claim.

(end excerpt)

Full story at:
telephonyonline.com/home/news/cisco_navini_wimax_100107/

(Lead for this story from a tip from a colleague.)

Cisco Wooing WiMax Vendors?

From Unstrung
September 27, 2007
By Dan Jones, Site Editor, Unstrung

Cisco Systems Inc. is close to buying a WiMax base-station company in its first real dalliance with the wireless broadband technology, two industry sources tell Unstrung.

The networking giant could buy within a matter of weeks, according to one source. "It's in legals now," the source says.

Both sources agree that Cisco has narrowed it down to a shortlist of potential targets. The names in the frame are said to be Alvarion Ltd. (Nasdaq: ALVR - message board), Aperto Networks Inc. , Navini Networks Inc. , and Redline Communications Inc.

Alvarion and Redline appear to be the favorites on list. Cisco has already had some involvement with Redline in deploying a WiMax network in Paraguay. (See Redline Wins in Paraguay.)

(end excerpt)

Full story at:
www.unstrung.com/document.asp?doc_id=134954

(Lead for this story from FierceBroadbandWireless via email.)

AT&T WiMax Heading South?

From Unstrung
By Dan Jones
September 13, 2007

AT&T (NYSE: T) is preparing to launch WiMax services during the second quarter of 2008, Unstrung has learned from an industry source. The services will likely be in the South of the U.S. where the operator has suitable licenses for broadband wireless services.

The cellular giant is planning to deploy limited WiMax services in the 2.3 GHz band that could be used as a fixed-wireless alternative to DSL or cable offerings, the source says. AT&T is said to have its suppliers for the service lined up now.

Spokespeople for the operator aren't commenting on any potential WiMax deployments. "We would never comment on what we might or might not be doing," one representative for AT&T says.

But this wouldn't be a first. AT&T already has a limited deployment of the technology in Alaska. That initial rollout suggests that AT&T might use the technology to provide better broadband coverage in areas where it has less wireline infrastructure. (See How Close Is AT&T to WiMax?)

(end excerpt)

Full story at:
http://www.unstrung.com/document.asp?doc_id=133853&f_src=unstrung_gnews

(Lead for this story from BroadBandReports.com RSS Feed.)

EarthLink Dedicates Wi-Fi Network In Corpus Christi

From InformationWeek
By W. David Gardner
August 10, 2007

Dedicated this week, the 55-square-mile municipal wireless network traces its genesis to a dog.

Internet provider EarthLink and the city of Corpus Christi, Texas dedicated a 55-square-mile municipal Wi-Fi network this week, thanks in part to a dog.

"It started as a way to protect water meter readers," recalled EarthLink's Donald Berryman in an interview Friday. "It started as a network to meet a city need after a meter reader was attacked by a dog."

The city began rolling out a 20-square-mile pilot project in 2004 and gradually began adding to the deployment. Berryman, who is president of EarthLink Municipal Networks, noted that several hundred Corpus Christi citizens picked up the Wi-Fi signal and began piggybacking on the network free of charge.

Currently, the city's residents can use the system with upload and download speeds up to 1 Mbps for a $6.95-a-month promotional rate for six months and $19.95-a-month after that. A 3 Mbps download and 1 Mbps upload is also available at $9.95 for the first six months and $21.95-a-month after that. Berryman noted that EarthLink expanded the network somewhat after it purchased it from the city this spring for $5.5 million and after the firm committed to spend an additional $900,000 in upgrades.

"This (network) is a true public-private partnership," said Berryman. "You have to realize that each side has to commit to make it work."

(end excerpt)

Full story at:
http://www.informationweek.com/story/showArticle.jhtml?articleID=201400236&cid=RSSfeed_IWK_News

(Lead for this story from DSLreports.com RSS feed.)

WiMAX Looms As Muni Network Option

From Telephony Online
By Carol Wilson
August 10, 2007

(Fourth in a series)

Wireless access in general, and Wi-Fi technology in particular, has been very attractive to municipalities wanting to improve broadband communications for multiple reasons. One of the most obvious is the fact that laptops and PCs now come routinely equipped with Wi-Fi access, and the access network equipment is also widely available and reasonably priced.

But as more cities discover Wi-Fi's limitations, they are also looking at other wireless options, namely WiMAX, the more robust wireless technology that is just now coming to market. Grand Rapids, Mich., is one of the first cities to move in this direction, partnering with Clearwire, which holds wireless spectrum in various places around the country and has been rolling out broadband wireless using pre-WiMAX technology.

Karl Edwards, president of Excelsio Communications, was a consultant to Grand Rapids on the project, and says the choice is based on looking carefully at the business case and at what the city actually wanted from its network. This is a particularly crucial decision for smaller cities or less densely populated areas, where the cost of putting in a Wi-Fi infrastructure is higher.

(end excerpt)

Full story at:
http://telephonyonline.com/wimax/technology/wimax_grand_rapids_081007

(Lead for this story from Google Alerts.)

Struggling Sprint Pushes Its Chips Toward WiMax

From washingtonpost.com
By Kim Hart, Washington Post Staff Writer
August 8, 2007

Survival May Depend on Untested Service

Sprint Nextel is trying to reverse a string of recent disappointments.

Having lost ground to its rivals over the past year and struggled with problems with its old Nextel network, the Reston wireless company is hoping to find its footing by building a high-speed network using an untested technology called WiMax.

Sprint's $3 billion investment has gained support of some technology companies and analysts. On one hand, it has drawn skepticism from Wall Street analysts, some of whom worry there is not enough consumer demand for the nascent technology. But it has the potential to surpass the speed of its competitors' networks and, if successful, Sprint says the network will let customers wirelessly surf the Web at more than twice the speed of current cellular networks.

"Sprint looks like it's in the position where it needs to do this to survive," said Kirsten West, principal analyst with West Technology Research Solutions, a market-research firm in Mountain View, Calif. "Without it, they see themselves as being far less competitive."

(end excerpt)

Full story at:
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/08/07/AR2007080701927_pf.html

(Lead for this story from Dewayne Hendricks posting to the Dewayne-net mailing list.)

Meraki's Guerilla Wi-Fi To Put A Billion More People Online

From Scientific American
By Christopher Mims
August 6, 2007

Like some kind of techno-utopian Johnny Appleseed, a start-up called Meraki wants to cover the earth with ad hoc Wi-Fi networks

Harlem's first Starbucks, heralded as a sign of urban renewal when it opened in 1999, sits at the intersection of 125th Street and Lenox Avenue, just down the street from the historic Apollo Theater.  One recent weekday morning, customers of every imaginable race and socioeconomic stratum pour through the coffee chain's doors, where a massive portrait of its most famous investor, basketball great Magic Johnson, graces one of its walls.

I grab a seat near the window and try to get on a wireless network—of the three I can see, only one is open. Seconds later I'm checking my e-mail.

It's a lucky break—for all the promises of universal Internet, finding an open network in Manhattan is about as easy as catching a cab during rush hour. Michael Lewis, chief of the budding nonprofit Wireless Harlem, plans to change that.

"Let's take a walk," he says, when he finally arrives. We head north, past a string of laundromats, dollar shops and bodegas. Ten blocks later we grab a bench in the shade of the first apartment complex to be hooked up by Wireless Harlem.

"The median income in Harlem is $35,000 a year," he says, pulling out a sleek new laptop—well below Manhattan's $47,000-a-year median income recorded in the 2000 census. "At the end of the day when people make a decision about what they're going to spend money on, it's not going to be Internet access."

Enter Meraki. Meraki Networks, Inc., is a three-year-old company headed by Sanjit Biswas, a polite and bespectacled Massachusetts Institute of Technology student-cum-CEO on permanent hiatus from the pursuit of a doctoral degree in computer science. No one at the company ever mentions this to me—there is such a thing as being too earnest—but I later discover that meraki is a Greek word that means putting a piece of yourself into something you create; in other words, doing it with love.

(end excerpt)

Full story at:
http://www.sciam.com/article.cfm?chanID=sa004&articleID=38462CAE-E7F2-99DF-321E78970AEB35C0&ref=rss
or
http://tinyurl.com/3avjsb

Lead for this story from DSLreports.com RSS feed.

"White Space" Devices Get Black Marks From FCC

From ars technica
By Nate Anderson
August 1, 2007

The FCC's Office of Engineering and Technology issued a report late yesterday that gave negative marks to current attempts at building a personal "white space" receiver and transmitter. Such a device could open up the empty spaces in the television spectrum for unlicensed wireless broadband, unleashing a surge of creativity and innovation that could make WiFi look as attractive as a 900MHz cordless phone. That is, so long as such a device actually works.

On the day that the switch over to digital television broadcasts is finalized in early 2009, companies could be free to sell unlicensed devices that can send and receive information in whatever parts of the television spectrum are unused in a given location (well, except for channels 37 and 52-69), so long as they meet FCC engineering criteria. Because the low frequencies used by over-the-air television signals are able to cover great distances and penetrate walls with ease, they theoretically provide a perfect place to deploy wireless broadband technologies over great distances—without having to purchase a chunk of licensed spectrum at auction.

(end excerpt)

Full story at:
http://arstechnica.com/news.ars/post/20070801-white-space-devices-get-black-marks-from-fcc.html

(Lead for this story from Dewayne Hendricks posting to the Dewayne-net mailing list.)

WISP Displaces DSL

From Fractals of Change Blog
By Tom Evslin
July 29, 2007

In an email on another subject, online friend and wireless wizard Craig Plunkett mentioned that Fire Island Wireless, the wireless ISP (WISP) he runs, is starting to displace DSL. Tell me more, I asked.  He responded (decoder for non-nerds follow):

“Grabbing DSL customers is getting a little easier.  First, I think the DSLAM in the CO is maxed out, and VZ isn't adding any more ports.  Second, it's a marine environment, which means getting a clean pair all the way back to the CO is problematic, especially in the far western communities, which are about 3 miles from the CO as the crow flies.  We are price competitive on a yearly basis, with the exception of the CPE and installation cost.  But we have an affluent audience that demands connectivity and has to upload content ( lots of media and advertising folks).  Plus we can deliver higher bandwidth on both the up and download side. We don't do SLA's or provide public IPs (yet), but we get people online @ (1.5u/1.5d).

(end excerpt)

Full story at:
http://blog.tomevslin.com/2007/07/wisp-displaces-.html.

Lead for this story from Fractals of Change RSS Feed.

Universal Broadband

From inRich.com / Richmond (Virginia) Times-Dispatch - www.inrich.com

Monday, Jul 09, 2007 - 12:01 AM Updated: 09:05 AM

By JEFFREY KELLEY
TIMES-DISPATCH STAFF WRITER

last of two parts

Wired or wireless?

Once we find the answer to that question, Virginia localities that are underserved with high-speed Internet service may finally jump into the 21st century.

Here's the kicker: Broadband speed comes in many forms, and the answer is different for every town, city and county. Virginia's political and business leaders are learning as much as they can about high-speed Internet access -- who has it, who doesn't and how to make it affordable for all state residents.

"Broadband is important, not just to rural Virginia, but to every part of Virginia. It's similar to what interstates were when we used to have just two-lane and four-lane highways," said state Sen. William C. Wampler Jr., R-Bristol, a leading advocate for statewide high-speed Internet access. "It's as important as when we first brought electricity to the commonwealth."

Broadband access means more than faster Web surfing and quicker music downloads. It could save lives by allowing health-care providers to rapidly exchange medical records over long distances. It could enable more efficient distance learning so schools could offer more online classes. It can make possible more "teleworking," in which employees save time and gas by using their computers to work from home.

Wireless broadband -- transmitted and received from satellites, radio towers or cell phone carriers -- appears to be a key to opening up the state's most rural locales to high-speed Internet service. But it's not as fast as a wired connection from a cable-television provider or fiber-optic lines, which stream data through light.

(end excerpt)

Full story at:
http://www.inrich.com/cva/ric/news.apx.-content-articles-RTD-2007-07-09-0115.html

Lead for this story from Google Alerts.

World's Largest Wi-Fi Having Growing Pains

From SFGate / San Francisco Chronicle - www.sfgate.com

Taipei's system began 15 months ago, but subscriptions have fallen far short of what city, contractor had expected

Ryan Kim, Chronicle Staff Writer

(04-09) 04:00 PDT Taipei -- Since it began 15 months ago, this city's Wi-Fi system has grown rapidly to become the world's largest, with more than 4,200 antennas and counting. The response of the populace, though, has fallen short of expectations.

The city has struggled to get subscribers to sign up for the service called WIFLY due to some perceived performance issues, competition from free hotspots and a lack of applications.

So far, about 30,000 people are using the system on a consistent basis, well short of original estimates.

Taipei's pioneering experience has implications for cities in the United States that are pursuing similar networks. It is especially relevant in the Bay Area, where many small networks are running and others are planned. Taipei's network is also instructive because of the similarities between the two regions in urban density and an abundance of free hotspots, both potential problems for paid Wi-Fi systems.

(end excerpt)

Full story at:
http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?file=/c/a/2007/04/09/BUGK8P4DCO1.DTL&type=tech

(Lead for this story from Dewayne Hendricks posting to the Dewayne-net mailing list.)

Muni Wi-Fi Powers Hope at San Francisco Housing Project

From Wired.com - www.wired.com

Sarah Lai Stirland
04.04.07 | 2:00 AM

SAN FRANCISCO -- The Westside Courts is a bleak concrete housing project in the city's Western Addition where violence is closer than a high-speed net connection, and one resident's first steps online include plans to create a memorial for the people who've died here.

Last month, volunteers turned on a novel broadband network in this 135-unit block, throwing a digital lifeline to Emma Casey and other tenants. Using a refurbished PC she picked up for $100, the 47-year-old mother of two adult children is now going online to help her son find a job, get health information and, she says, pay tribute to neighbors who've met with violent or untimely deaths.

"I want to get more literate," says Casey, who receives disability payments, and subsists on just over $1,000 a month. "I see other people working on computers, and little kids pecking on the things, and I thought to myself: 'I've got to learn.'"

Academic debates about the reality and cost of the so-called digital divide -- and the ability of individuals to fight economic disadvantage with nothing more than a computer and an IP address -- seem to crumble in a place like this. Like water and heat, internet is a clear necessity in the modern world, opening doors to education, employment and engagement.

Until now, Casey and her neighbors have endured spotty access to computers and the internet at a local community center a few blocks away. Time on the communal PCs is limited, and many residents of Westside Courts fear working on computers in an open environment in the neighborhood because of the ever-present threat of random violence.

Full story at:
http://www.wired.com/politics/onlinerights/news/2007/04/wifiproject_0403

(Lead for this story from Randy Burge / Dewayne Hendricks posting to the Dewayne-net mailing list.)

Wi-fi buses drive rural web use

From BBC News - www.bbc.co.uk

By Jason Margolis
Technology correspondent, Boston

Buses equipped with wi-fi are being used to deliver web content to remote rural villages in the developing world.                                      

In rural India and parts of Rwanda, Cambodia and Paraguay, the vehicles offer web content to computers with no internet connection.

The buses and a fleet of motorcycles update their pages in cities before visiting the hard-to-reach communities. As well as offering popular pages, the United Villages project also allows users to request specific information.                              

A small box, with an antenna, onboard the buses and motorcycles communicates with the rural computers.

Local business

In many parts of the developing world it is too expensive to lay the fibres and copper cable to deliver a standard internet connection. Wireless technologies also do not reach many remote places.

The founder of the United Villages initiative Amir Hassan said the company had been set up to give those people in these areas a slice of the web for a fee.

"There's only 0.003% percent of the web that rural India cares about," he told BBC News.

"They want to know the cricket scores, they want to see the new Aishwarya Rai photos, and they want to hear a sample of the latest Bollywood tunes."

The village computer was often in the local store, he added.

Every time the wi-fi bus rolled by the village - up to six times a day - the pages were updated, he said.

Full story at:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/technology/6506193.stm

(Lead for this story from Dewayne Hendricks posting to the Dewayne-net mailing list.)

Wireless Broadband Grants Announced By N.H.

From Foster's Online - www.fosters.com

Saturday, March 24, 2007

Wireless broadband grants announced by N.H.

The New Hampshire Division of Economic Development's Telecommunications Advisory Board has unveiled a $100,000 matching grant initiative to stimulate and support wireless broadband public/private projects throughout the state.

"This is good news for the state of New Hampshire," said Gov. John Lynch. "This will help us reach our goal of ensuring there is broadband connectivity throughout the state, especially in the North Country and the western part of New Hampshire."

Full story at:
http://www.fosters.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20070324/FOSTERS01/103240184

(Lead for this story from Dawn DiPietro posting to the isp-wireless mailing list.)

Finns Get City-wide Mesh Network

From ZDNet.co.uk News - news.zdnet.co.uk

Andrew Donoghue
ZDNet UK
Published: 22 Feb 2007 17:24 GMT

One of Finland's largest cities is building out a metropolitan mesh network to provide high-speed voice, video and data access to its citizens.

The city of Oulu announced on Thursday that it is using mesh-networking technology from wireless networking manufacturer Strix Systems to double its existing outdoor Wi-Fi coverage with an extra 60 outdoor mesh nodes in the city centre.

Overall, Oulu is committed to adding around 210 extra access points to the network — known as panOULU — by the end of 2007.

"This is a good example of an innovative public and private partnership that can be established to enable large-scale wireless access networks and bring entire cities online," said Jim Mooreland, vice president of worldwide sales for Strix, on Thursday at NetEvents in Geneva.

Mesh networks are made up of individual mesh nodes, which have the ability to automatically form connections with other nodes within range, and reroute traffic if a node drops offline. This makes the networks self-organising.

Full story at:
http://news.zdnet.co.uk/communications/0,1000000085,39286034,00.htm

(Lead for this story from Frederick Wamsley via email.)

Govt Delicenses 50 MHz Of Spectrum In 5.8 GHz Band For WiMAX Use

From Indiatimes, The Economic Times, News By Industry, Telecom - http://economictimes.indiatimes.com

Joji Thomas Philip
Times News Network, Monday February 19, 2007 02:16:44 AM

NEW DELHI: In a move that will help roll-out of WiMax services, the government has delicenced 50 MHz of spectrum in the 5.8 GHz band for commercial use. The move assumes importance as the global WiMax forum has identified three frequency bands —- 5.8 Ghz, 2.5 Ghz and 3.5 GHz — to deploy systems using this technological platform.

Of these three frequencies, the world over, only the 5.8 Ghz is a licence-exempt band, and therefore the Department of Telecom’s move to delicense this frequency puts India in line with global standards. DoT has already initiated moves to get spectrum vacated for Wimax services in both the 2.5 GHz and 3.5 Ghz frequencies, currently in use respectively for Insat series of satellite communications and satellite television broadcast.

When asked on the commercial implications of the move, Rajesh Chharia, president of Internet Service Providers Association of India told ET: “A lot of ISPs are likely to offer services in this frequency as it is now free. However, if a large number of ISPs switch, then this frequency can get choked, as only a total of 50 Mhz (from 5.825 to 5.875 Ghz) has been delicensed. This can result in poor quality of services.”

Full story at:
http://economictimes.indiatimes.com/Telecom/Govt_delicenses_50_MHz_of_spectrum_in_58_GHz_band_for_WiMAX_use/articleshow/1635433.cms

(Lead for this story from Dave Hughes / Dewayne Hendricks posting to the Dewayne-net mailing list.)

L.A. Mayor Wants Citywide Wireless Access

From Los Angeles Times / latimes.com - www.latimes.com

 

Antonio Villaraigosa proposes a Wi-Fi plan that would provide free or low-cost Internet services over 498 square miles in 2009.

By James S. Granelli and Tony Barboza, Times Staff Writers

February 14, 2007

Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa outlined plans Tuesday to blanket Los Angeles with wireless Internet access in 2009, in what would be one of the nation's largest urban Wi-Fi networks.

The L.A. Wi-Fi initiative would give Los Angeles residents, schools, businesses and visitors  uninterrupted high-speed Internet connections — for work, research, Web browsing or even phone calls.

More than 300 municipalities nationwide already have launched plans for similar networks based on the Wi-Fi technology that has become popular at coffee shops, bookstores, public parks and countless other so-called hot spots.


Full story at:
http://www.latimes.com/business/la-fi-wifi14feb14,1,6392577.story?page=1&ctrack=1&cset=true&coll=la-headlines-business

(Lead for this story from Dewayne Hendricks posting to the Dewayne-net mailing list.)

Vast Wi-Fi Network Will Blanket Houston

From Dallas Morning News / DallasNews.com - www.dallasnews.com

08:07 PM CST on Tuesday, February 13, 2007
Associated Press

HOUSTON – City officials said Tuesday they had struck a deal with EarthLink Inc. to build a citywide wireless Internet network that would eventually be the nation's largest at about 600 square miles.

Houston would join more than 250 communities across the nation that plan to or already offer wireless Internet to residents, businesses and government workers. Once completed, Houston's municipal Wi-Fi network would be the largest in North America, EarthLink officials said.

"You can certainly say things are bigger in Texas," said Craig Setters, an industry analyst and author of the book "Fighting The Good Fight For Municipal Wireless."

At an afternoon news conference, Mayor Bill White used the word "enormous," citing the estimated $50 million that EarthLink would invest in setting up the infrastructure and the 10,000 transmitters that will be placed on light and utility poles throughout the city. No taxpayer dollars would be spent the project, White said.

Full story at:
http://www.dallasnews.com/sharedcontent/dws/bus/stories/021407bizhoustonwifi.128d0ce.html#

(Lead for this story from Dewayne Hendricks posting to the Dewayne-net mailing list.)

The MeshMAX Combo

From Wi-Fi Planet - www.wifiplanet.com

By Eric Griffith
February 6, 2007

Proxim Wireless this week released a new product to take on the other mesh providers by incorporating not just Wi-Fi for client access and mesh connections to extend the network, but also WiMax for backhaul. The three-radio unit is called MeshMAX.

"We've seen in a majority of deployments that municipalities and providers have a need for backhaul connectivity," says Geoffrey Smith, head of marketing and product management for Proxim. "It either isn't where they need it, or at too low a data rate." Their solution is to build in the WiMax support for both licensed (3.3 to 3.6 GHz) and unlicensed (5.1 to 5.8 GHz) radio frequencies, whatever the provider may want.

Full story at:
http://www.wi-fiplanet.com/news/article.php/3658276

(Lead for this story from Glenn Fleishman writing in WiMAX Networking News, via RSS.)