Good Day, BWIA is a light compendium of news, items of interest, irreverent commentary, and occasional light analysis relating to Broadband Wireless Internet Access (including WiMAX, public access Wi-Fi, etc.).
Portent of things to come - VOIP over Mobile WiMAX in Germany It's come to pass - VOIP over Mobile WiMAX by NeckarCom Telekommunikation GmbH (no, I've never heard of them either... which is part of the point). Kilobits of voice being transmitted over a network designed for Megabits of data... is the Voice Over Internet Protocol traffic even noticeable? Yes, because there's overhead in maintaining a stream of data, no matter how small, but imagine how much VOIP such a network could sustain - Kilobits on a Megabits network. This network being in Germany, I'm sure that the voice traffic is heavily tarriffed and regulated... but imagine what some aggressive new startup could do with offering voice services over Mobile WiMAX in a developing area that didn't necessarily have to connect with the Public Switched Telephone Network (PSTN). It seems to me that the data users could pay most of the Operating Expense of the network, and voice (again, exclusive of all of the overhead of connecting to the PSTN) could practically be carried on the network for free. Practically.
Clearwire Modem Weather Report - Hollywood Hill, Woodinville, Washington - Solid 3 Bars; it's cold and a bit dreary, with widely scattered sunbreaks; the trees are dripping continuously. Looks like we'll be dreaming of a green and grey Christmas here in the Seattle area.
New BWIA Deployments - Clearwire, Alaska Communications Systems, Verizon Wireless, and Alltel One of the larger (relatively speaking) BWIA news buzzes today... yet another slow BWIA news day... is that Clearwire has launched (still apparently proprietary Motorola Expedience, not Mobile WiMAX... but, to Clearwire's credit, at least they're not trying to spin it as "kind of WiMAX-ish") a new service area in Rochester, New York, a burg of about 220,000 souls. But on the same day:
- Alaska Communications Systems reported that they have expanded CDMA coverage in Peterspurg, Alaska,
- Verizon Wireless expanded its CDMA / 1xEV-DO network in Northwest Indiana, and
- Just in time for that gift of always-on Broadband Internet Access to the folks back in Helena, Missoula, Billings, and [other Montana] communities along Interstates 94 and 90 that can't get DSL or cable modem, and satellite Broadband Internet Access still sucks and is too expensive... Alltel has expanded its CDMA/1xEV-DO network in Montana.
Broadband Wireless World (yawn...) to cohabit NXTcomm trade show I can't say too little about the formerly lively conference Broadband Wireless World. Although I have very fond memories, and it was formative in my career, Broadband Wireless World has been an non-event for several years now, reduced to mere "oh, by the way... perhaps good for just a bit of buzz" co-branding (this year) as "part" of the NXTcomm conference June 17-19, 2007 in Las Vegas, Nevada. It's just a basic fact of life that WiMAX-focused conferences have "sucked all the oxygen" out of all but a very few laser-focused wireless-related conferences. Wireless related conferences are down to WiMAX... wireless telephony (cellular)... and "other".
Thanks for reading!
By Steve Stroh
Fine Print / Boilerplate / Acknowledgements / Credits / FAQs
(Last updated 2007-11-06)
This article is Copyright © 2007 by Steve Stroh except for specifically-marked excerpts. Excerpts and links are expressly permitted (and encouraged).
Clearwire in Anchorage, Alaska sucks...personal experience...had it for myself, hard to get a reliable connection (more than 30 minutes w/ at least 50% rated speed). Dropped em. Then for a bit had to leech off my sister's (she lived a few miles away, I temporarily lived next door). Same BS. Clearwire, at least in my experience, does not live up to expectations.
Posted by: ted | January 22, 2008 at 00:50