Broadband Wireless Internet Access (BWIA) / WiMAX News

The White Space Sucker Punch

One of my favorite lines of all time is from a (original) Star Trek episode - (if memory serves, The Tholian Web) where Captain Kirk says (paraphrased) Yes, we have them right where they want us.

I imagine Verizon Wireless and AT&T's smugness at "winning" the majority of the 700 MHz auctions last week evaporated somewhat when they (hopefully) came to the same realization as Captain Kirk - Uh oh... we have Google right where Google wanted us.

With their announcement* at a press conference a few days ago about wanting to extend (what I'll call, broadly) "Wi-Fi principles" into license-exempt use of television broadcasting channels that are currently unused (whitespaces) I think that Google has executed a brilliant "fake" in the 700 MHz auctions. I believe that, initially, Google was sincere in its stated interest in acquiring 700 MHz spectrum licenses. Or, perhaps they just had some bad advice, now gone. Or (I'd like to think...) Google finally considered some good advice (see point 3) from the guy who (as far as I know) first advocated the concept - in an obscure magazine in January, 2002.

MetroBridge Networks, Canadian BWIA Service Provider, Expanding South

By Steve Stroh

I've known of MetroBridge Networks, an impressive Broadband Wireless Internet Access (BWIA) Service Provider (SP) in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada and  Phoenix, Arizona for some time. In brief, their business model is to provide mid-to-high-speed Internet Access via Wireless to business and goverment, scaling to enterprises, in mid-to-large urban markets. MetroBridge just completed an Initial Public Offering (IPO) and it seemed a good time to check in with them to discuss their post-IPO plans. I interviewed MetroBridge Chief Technology Officer and Co-Founder Dorian Banks the week of August 5, 2007.

Technology and Products
For access, MetroBridge uses license-exempt spectrum exclusively and has not had any significant problems doing so to date. It formerly used Wi-LAN systems, but in the "death throes" prior to Wi-LAN 's exit from the BWIA systems business to now only licensing patents, Wi-LAN's quality control slipped dramatically, forcing MetroBridge to find another primary supplier for BWIA systems - Alvarion. One of the most impressive traits that MetroBridge notes about Alvarion is that their systems' firmware is very stable and reliable, in marked contrast to other, smaller vendors whose firmware is "perpetually in beta" and much less reliable.

When making use of diverse wireless systems spanning from 5 GHz to 80 GHz, one edge MetroBridge  makes good use of is a senior staff member with a Master's degree in Radio Frequency (RF) Engineering, who MetroBridge uses not only to design high-reliability RF links, but also to troubleshoot RF issues. MetroBridge is making good use of the new 5.4 GHz band in Canada. Banks explains "Using 5.4 GHz gave us some relief where we had saturated rooftops, some with more than twelve radios". Unlike in the US, the strict(er) "Dynamic Frequency Selection, version 2" (DFS2) won't take effect in Canada for another year, giving MetroBridge a larger pool of 5.4 GHz systems to choose from. MetroBridge is exploring use of the proposed 3.65 GHz (3650) band for future US deployments, and has already applied for experimental licenses in some US markets where it expects to complete acquisitions or greenfield deployments. While 3.5 GHz is available for use in Canada (as opposed to the US), speculators bought up all 3.5 GHz at auction and will only lease it or sell it at very high prices. Since MetroBridge has few issues operating in license-exempt spectrum, the (effective) lack of available 3.5 GHz spectrum (2.3 GHz and 2.5 GHz is similarly encumbered) isn't an issue.

Still Passionate About Broadband Wireless Internet Access

Two excellent articles in the blogosphere really spoke to me today - pretty directly about what I and my wife Tina are trying to accomplish with Stroh Publications, and my reinvigorated independent writing / consulting career writing and consulting in-depth about Broadband Wireless Internet Access.

The first was Om Malik, whose writing I greatly respect, especially his book Broadbandandits, and most recently his small, independent, tech blogging company called GigaOmniMedia, Inc. GigaOm is a bigger version, with broad coverage of the tech industry, of what Tina and I are trying to bootstrap Stroh Publications into - with a focus on Broadband Wireless Internet Access.

Om was lamenting the rumored demise of Business 2.0 Magazine and wrote:
... I did some of my best work for Business 2.0, working hard, not because those Time Warner options were going to make me rich, but because I believed in the magazine. What a fool as I was – in the end it was a business, managed and remotely from a glass cocooned Manhattan tower – where they don’t know a thing about passionate readers, or communities or the fact that their world is no longer theirs. I hope, I never forget this lesson, as I build my little company.

The second article was by Esme Vos, who I also respect tremendously for what she's accomplished with MuniWireless.com. In her personal technology blog Pajama Entrepreneur , Esme commented on Om's article and recounted her motivations for starting MuniWireless.com:

I did not start blogging about citywide Wi-Fi to make money. At the time I started it, I wanted to solve a problem: how to aggregate all the information about muni Wi-Fi projects in one place so that cities, vendors, service providers and journalists could easily find it. That’s it. It was a passion and still is. I am opinionated because I want ubiquitous wireless broadband that’s fast, cheap and good. For everyone not just people who can afford $80 per month subscriptions.

Large media companies seem to be controlled by machines crunching numbers. It’s never about the audience, never about a passion to bring something valuable to people. It’s about those numbers. Never mind if they print garbage including stories about celebrities, as long as they can run endless numbers of ads around them. If their publications fail, good riddance.

Reading Om and Esme really gave voice to my motivations for doing what I've done for ten years now. I  write about Broadband Wireless Internet Access because I am passionate that BWIA completely changes the paradigm of wired/wireline Broadband Internet Access. BWIA technology and systems mean that the incumbent monopoly providers who control the existing telecommunications infrastructure, (wireline) rights of way, and dominate the thinking of lawmakers and regulators no longer have a monopoly on electronic communications. While the Internet profoundly changes things... all of the wonderful capabilities of the Internet doesn't do a person any good unless they 1) can get Broadband Internet Access at all (and a large part of the world cannot, at present), and 2) they can afford that access, and 3) it's unfiltered - the service provider doesn't decide what you can and cannot do with your connection to the Internet.

In a phrase, Broadband Wireless Internet Access technology and systems level the playing field of telecommunications. BWIA technology has evolved enough, is good enough, is affordable enough that individuals can now build their own networks when that's necessary or desireable - in their buildings, in their neighborhoods, in their communities and there's not much the incumbent telecommunications companies can do to stop them. BWIA makes it possible for individuals, small groups, not-for-profit organizations, entrepreneurial companies like Wireless Internet Service Providers, local governments, and even entirely new carriers to all offer Broadband Internet Access, all in full-blown competition with each other. In the end, competition keeps companies "honest".

For more than ten years now I've seen all that BWIA makes possible in providing individuals and businesses better, cheaper, and often the only access to the wonders of the Internet. Nothing else I've encountered in my professional life has excited me as much as BWIA. Perhaps that's because I see that there's room for me to contribute, in at least a small way, to enhancing humanity's chances for growing as an intelligent species, and helping the humans of the world understand and communicate better with each other.

So, I understand Om and Esme completely when they say what they do is all about passion, not about money. I've written (passionately, always, sometimes too much so) for money (and much wider readership than this humble blog) but now those "money" operations - publications, web sites, companies, and many, many good people are long gone from the BWIA industry. But I'm still here, writing about BWIA, saying things that I think need to be said - not merely "following the money" and saying what will attract money.

Passion about BWIA drives me to keep going, contributing in my own way. I do hope that money will follow at some point- that would certainly make life, work, and continuing to contribute much easier... but in the end, writing about Broadband Wireless Internet Access isn't about mere money... and that puts me way, way ahead of the competition.

By Steve Stroh

This article is Copyright © 2007 by Steve Stroh

Final Health Update

Dear Readers:

I'm "approximately" back to normal after my surgery on May 16, and coming home May 26. In retrospect, it was a bit laughable for me to have said last week that I would be writing "soon" after I came home. In a word, I was spent and didn't have much energy or enough clarity to really write (or even answer much email).

My energy level is coming back up, I'm sleeping normally (finally) and all the "hardware" that I left the hospital with has been removed except one item which I reluctantly agree should remain part of me for at least a few more days.

I'm feeling good, and will resume writing early this week.

Thanks for all your best wishes, thoughts, and prayers. Especially the prayers.

Thanks,

Steve

Steve Stroh's Line Of Sight / Listening To The Technology

Steve Stroh's Line Of Sight
Perspectives On The Broadband Wireless Internet Access Industry
Friday, March 23, 2007

Listening To The Technology

This article is original content, written exclusively for
Broadband Wireless Internet Access / WiMAX News
http://www.bwianews.com.

Earlier this week I had a discussion with a Wireless Internet Service Provider (WISP). Part of the conversation was about Metropolitan Wi-Fi Networks and went something like this (I am paraphrasing, heavily, purely from memory):

WISP: "So what do you see happening in the WISP industry?"

Stroh: "Technology is changing the WISP / BWIA industry rapidly. Right now, in my opinion, the technology isn't quite good enough for Metropolitan Wi-Fi Networks to deliver consistent, reliable services to users in residences and business that are trying to use ordinary Wi-Fi devices to connect. But that's about to change. For example, Wavion Networks is about to deliver an outdoor Wi-Fi Access Point that uses phased-array technology to focus its transmit energy and receive sensitivity on individual users. Couple that with cheap, high-power, directional Wi-Fi client devices like those made by Tranzeo Wireless Technologies, and what you can end up with is an highly cost-effective network that does provide consistent, reliable services with easy-to-install customer premises equipment, very similar to the way Clearwire operates."

WISP: "Well, we're not worried about that; we don't consider people that use [Metropolitan Wi-Fi] to be our [target] customers."

Stroh: "Here's the thing... the ones being enabled the most by this new technology are the users. Moore's Law is in full force for digital broadband radios too, so it's all getting better / cheaper / faster every year. So, if you do choose not to try to market your services to a particular customer segment, the technology is making it possible for them to simply do it themselves. Look at what Meraki is doing, for example. Very inexpensive devices that do peer-to-peer mesh networking, making it possible for an individual, let alone small groups, organizations, or neighborhoods to build Broadband Internet Access networks purely out of their pocket!"

WISP: "But it's tough to make money from that customer base."

Stroh: "True... but what's going to happen is that the technology is going to continue to improve. Right now those Meraki units are pretty short range, 2.4 GHz Wi-Fi only. What will happen as the Wi-FI chipsets continually get cheaper and better is that the Meraki units will continue to get better, for the same price. Meraki already makes it possible to become a "Micro ISP". These networks get bigger, more capable, more reliable, more sophisticated. Couple what you can do with Meraki with Wavion's technology and/or a Metropolitan Wi-Fi network and gradually your WISP starts to lose business to these "amateur" networks."

"There is a very, very good book that I recommend highly called "The Innovator's Dilemma" that explains very well the "come from below, get better, become dominant" cycle that describe above and I'm observing now in the Broadband Wireless Internet Access industry."

"You can certainly choose to not serve certain customer segments. But by doing so, I believe that you're merely creating your own competition, because the demand for cost-effective / reasonably-priced Broadband Internet Access is pretty universal now. You can either try to get them as your customers, somehow, like offering them a good deal on the backhaul that they'll ultimately need to buy from some entity (like, perhaps, a local college), or they'll eventually figure out how to do it themselves using devices like Meraki. Over time, business customers that are your customers now are going to "defect" to these user-built networks... because in many cases those customer-built networks will end up being better, cheaper, and faster... and reliable enough."

WISP: "You've given me a lot to think about."

(end of Stroh / WISP discussion)

George Gilder, quoting Carver Mead, once offered this profound advice: "Listen to the technology; find out what it's telling you" (emphasis mine).

I think that what the technology underlying Broadband Wireless Internet Access is "telling" every  Broadband Internet Access Service Provider that they are ultimately faced with The Paradox Of The Best Network. They can either embrace it and adapt, becoming ruthlessly cost-effective and efficient at providing commodity Broadband Internet Access service and build their business for the long term on that model, or they can remain in denial that rapid technological evolution is indeed fueling The Paradox Of The Best Network... that will ultimately kill their business-as-usual.

Imagine... a future Meraki radio that:

• Used directional antennas;
• Could combine multiple radios by "meshing" across their Ethernet connections;
• Used the 5 GHz band for backhaul, all 550 MHz of it (now that the 5.4 GHz band can, at long last,  finally be used in the USA);
• Implements the low-power techniques and technologies of Green WiFi
• Could be powered by a small, inexpensive solar panel and battery for nighttime operations, which then allows Meraki "relay-only" nodes to be positioned wherever they are needed instead of worrying about whether power is available;

Rober Berger all but predicted this "disruptive", rapid evolution of Wi-Fi in late 2004, saying (excerpted):

IMHO, 802.11 is recapitulating the evolution of Ethernet into the Wireless realms.

Ethernet was originally considered a “toy” technology by many of the industry leaders of the time. The manly technologies at that time were first Token Ring, then 802.12 AnyLAN VG, then ATM.

Wi-Fi is currently considered useful only for the home and some enterprise applications and a “toy” for outdoor Municipal Networks.

But Ethernet out evolved and kept delivering just enough functionality, at much lower cost than the too sophisticated QoS laden and expensive “heavyweights”.

Wi-Fi/802.11 has taken on the mantle of Ethernet’s Manifest Destiny (it uses almost exactly the same packet frame as Ethernet) and brings it into the wireless realms. There are many more companies, universities and hackers pushing the boundaries of what 802.11 can do and the volume is growing at an accelerating pace.

Today 802.11 is at a similar phase of evolution as early Ethernet was when there were only a shared contention medium via hubs and bridges. Ethernet really took off when switches became available and allowed the contention realm to be broken up to support parallel data flows. And that is what we can expect in the next stage of 802.11 evolution. This is what is needed to make mesh wireless networks viable with 802.11. There are already several companies developing mesh (though only a few are doing it in a way that will scale). There is also an 802.11s working group developing a standard for wireless mesh. And mesh is what will allow 802.11 to eventually cover municipal areas.

...

In conclusion, Wi-Fi will out evolve and deliver connectivity at costs dramatically lower than WiMax. WiMax / 802.16 is just starting on its path to evolution, has a much smaller base of innovators and chipset growth volume. Wi-Fi is already far along on its core learning curve, has an easy order of magnitude larger base of innovators / investors and chipset growth volume. WiMax hype will sputter out to reality of a niche backhaul and rural marketplace, Wi-Fi/802.11 will evolve and grow into many more realms and dominate the Local Area Network (LAN) / Neighborhood Area Network (NAN) / Metro Area Network (MAN).

Another piece of relevant history is that in 1995, Timothy Jason (Tim) Shepard wrote what I consider to be a seminal Doctoral Thesis titled Decentralized Channel Management in Scalable Multihop Spread-Spectrum Packet Radio Networks (PDF). In 81 pages, Shepard explains how wireless mesh networks really can scale. I got to know Shepard a bit as Amateur Radio Operator KD1KY, and in discussing his paper, Shepard was asked how much spectrum did he estimate that his proposed scalable-to-urban-density network would require? My memory of that discussion is that Shepard replied "In total, about 1 GHz". Just with the license-exempt 5 GHz band, we're more than half way there - 550 MHz. If 60 GHz radios could be made cheaply, we'd be there seven times over - the 60 GHz band extends from 57-64 GHz.

The Wireless Telephony (Cellular) Industry, despite its current success and enormous profits, is also ruthlessly subject to the trends I describe. To wit, Earthlink announced:

EarthLink Wi-Fi phones will allow consumers to save money by making high-quality phone calls over the Internet using a wireless handset. EarthLink is beta testing phones on the company's municipal wireless network in Anaheim, Calif.

"What separates our Wi-Fi phone from others is its ability to work over EarthLink's municipal Wi-Fi networks," said Steve Howe, EarthLink's senior vice president of voice. "This means that EarthLink is now bringing cheap phone calls using the Internet to the world of mobile – a major breakthrough.

There's no fundamental difference in the level of technology of a current, typical cell phone and a similar device that uses "Voice Over Internet Protocol over Wi-Fi". Imagine what happens in a few years, as this new type of phone gets cheaper, better, faster. Think it can't happen? It can - look at how cheap and how sophisticated "cordless" telephones are.

In conclusion,George Santayana said it well: "Those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it." In my opinion, The Innovator's Dilemma provides ample evidence that radical changes, led by Broadband Wireless Internet Access technology, are underway for the telecommunications industry, and Wireless Internet Service Providers, innovative though they are, are by no means immune, protected, or any kind of exception to this trend.

By Steve Stroh

This article is Copyright © 2007 by Steve Stroh

 

More on Alvarion's Open WiMAX

This article is original content, written exclusively for
Broadband Wireless Internet Access / WiMAX News
http://www.bwianews.com.

In February, I wrote a brief blurb about not understanding the purpose of Alvarion's Open WiMAX iniaitive.

On February 28, 2007 I interviewed Carlton O'Neal, Vice President of Corporate Communications at Alvarion North America about Open WiMAX.

Long story short, Alvarion hopes to leverage Open WiMAX to make it much easier to deploy WiMAX systems. O'Neal reminded me that 1) WiMAX is a telecommunications industry technology, and as such 2) No deployment of telecommunications industry technology is "easy" or "plug and play" - it's always, to a greater or lesser degree, a systems integration job. WiMAX networks, being deployed in many different countries, will have to be integrated into many different carrier networks... so it is always a systems integration job.

O'Neal seemed amused that I naiively assumed that the WiMAX Interoperability Testing / Certification / Branding process would be sufficient to have WiMAX systems "just work together". While that's the stated goal, it's still a very big leap to actual interoperability. In the real world, there's three stages of making systems work together - standards compliance (they usually won't work together), interoperability certification (they'll sometimes work together), and individual system against system interoperability testing(we know they'll work together because we painstakingly took the time and spent the money to be sure).

While carriers are used to system integration as being "business as usual", newer service providers are now deploying WiMAX as their first and only network. Such new service providers are used to the way  Internet industry technology is deployed, which I describe as "generally plug and play, with perhaps a few tweaks needed". Not only does Alvarion want to attract those new service providers, but it also needs an effective answer to the much larger industry players such as Motorola, Lucent/Alcatel, etc. whose attitude is "just turn the systems integration job over to us and we'll handle it, for a slightly obscene fee".

Alvarion hopes that Open WiMAX will help "bridge the gap" and create an "ecosystem" of vendors and products that are tested and proven to interoperate to form a complete WiMAX network - all the pieces needed for deploying a WiMAX network - Alvarion's BreezeMAX WiMAX, gateway/routers, authentication servers... etc. Open WiMAX builds on an similar, earlier ecosystem iniative by Alvarion called 4motion. Alvarion envisions WiMAX chipset vendors as being some of the most receptive to Open WiMAX. Initially, I was skeptical because in the end, the features of the chipset are "submerged" into the features of the system. O'Neal properly pointed out that chipset compeition is fierce, and whatever chipset vendors can do to increase the acceptance and ease of integration for their particular chipset helps them differentiate themselves, so WiMAX chipset vendors eagerly embracing Open WiMAX makes sense.

O'Neal was noncommittal about whether Open WiMAX might grow beyond Alvarion's stewardship into a standalone entity like the WiMAX Forum.

By Steve Stroh

This article is Copyright © 2007 by Steve Stroh

Open WiMAX

Another interesting announcement from 3GSM World Congress was Alvarion's announcement of OPEN WiMAX. I gather that it's some kind of interoperability specification... but it puzzles me why WiMAX, which is itself an interoperability specification for systems based on 802.16 standards, needs another interoperabilty spec.

I've requested a briefing, and when I learn more, I'll write about it here.

By Steve Stroh

This article is Copyright © 2007 by Steve Stroh.

HSUPA And Other News From 3GSM World Congress

3GSM World Congress is being held in Barcelona February 12-15, 2007.

There is, of course, always a flurry of announcements at trade shows and I'll be picking through those that I think are most relevant to Broadband Wireless Internet Access and posting them on Broadband Wireless Internet Access Press Releases.

One announcement was particularly interesting, discussing a new family of devices that supports HSUPA, which they describe as "3G UMTS enhancement that significantly increases upload data rates from device to network". I had not previously heard of HSUPA. Heck... here in the US, GSM carrier Cingular... oops, sorry, "Part of AT&T that provides Wireless Telephony Services" has barely started deploying HSDPA (High Speed Downlink Packet Access, and T-Mobile, the other US GSM carrier hasn't even started, and here's High Speed Uplink Packet Access coming out?

But a quick Google found www.hsupa.com whose explanation is pretty thorough, if a bit funny ("in a great performance way"?):

What is HSUPA?                  

HSUPA stands for High Speed Uplink Packet Access and describes an extremely efficient procedure for sending data in a great performance way through UMTS devices. HSUPA enables high-speed symmetrical data communications such as voice over internet protocol (VoIP) and interactive multimedia by better data rates and shorter delay. The suitable procedure for the receiving is called HSDPA, briefly High Speed Downlink Packet Access. Both procedures resemble each other technically and by the employment of special modulation procedures allow a higher extent of utilization of the net infrastructure. The power spectrum of the UMTS networks is extended at relatively small expenditure. Improved intensive data services can be offered. Thus HSUPA opens further areas for innovations and new business possibilities.

I have to chuckle to myself at some of these announcements - many seem like a plea from the cellular technology ecosystem - "Hey, pay attention to US - we're doing cool stuff too; all the excitement isn't just in WiMAX".

OK, anyone else find this humorous: "HSUPA enables high-speed symmetrical data communications such as voice over internet protocol (VoIP)"? They had to enhance GSM technology for data communications, sufficient to carry Voice Over Internet Protocol? Yes, I understand that the real significance of HSUPA is for "multimedia". Overall, I just find it ironic.

Another thing about this I find ironic is for consumers to have to keep track of yet another acronym and what it might mean. Imagine the average customer picking out a phone with a checklist - Supports HSDPA? HSUPA?

By Steve Stroh

This article is Copyright © 2007 by Steve Stroh.

Broadband Wireless Internet Access IS A Commodity

This article is original content, written exclusively for the Broadband Wireless Internet Access / WiMAX weblog - http://www.bwianews.com.

I shake my head in amazement at times that a fundamental lesson has not yet been universally learned in the telecommunications, Internet, and especially the Broadband Wireless Internet Access industry. That lesson is:

The product you sell, Broadband Internet Access, is in fact a commodity. Really... Broadband Internet Access is, yes, really, really a commodity. Repeat that as many times as you need to understand it.

AOL is dying, wireless telephony "walled gardens" are dying, and Compuserve, The Source, Bulletin Board Systems are all dead because in this era, paying customers ultimately want one thing from a communications service provider - to connect to the Internet at reasonable speeds, and thus connected,  go off and do what they want to do.

About now, those many (the vast majority of) telecommunications service providers that haven't learned this lesson are sputtering in protest. A Verizon representative said it best at a conference I attended (I wish I could find the blog entry where David Isenberg recorded it) "We don't want our fiber service to be just a dumb pipe." Too bad. In the era of the Broadband Internet, it ultimately doesn't matter what a telecommunications service provider wants... no matter how badly... or what tricks they try to play with their customers like port blocking and "network partiality".

I'm reminded of how badly out of touch that telecommunications service providers of all sizes are with this fundamental truth of the Broadband Internet era. The first reminder today was a statement on a  mailing list for smaller Broadband Wireless Service Providers that I monitor:

But remember that you are not selling a commodity like Walmart.

The writer's point was that because these providers, mostly smaller, and mostly operating in non-urban areas where backhaul telecommunications costs are higher, cannot afford to offer "unlimited" usage coupled with broadband speeds, and they can differentiate their "product" by offering various enhancements - email, web hosting, etc.

The second reminder today was an excellent story that I became aware of a mailing list run by Dewane Hendricks. The gist of the story is that a guy discovered that he did finally did have the ability to get broadband service via a wireless telephony company's broadband service. But that company had very definite ideas on how the customer should be using it, and tried to employ technological means to enforce their viewpoint. The writer describes his very down-to-earth requirements, mostly the ability to use the connection on more than one computer, and how easily and readily the restrictions were defeated.

The lesson that both service provider companies cited will learn, perhaps the hard way, is that  people... customers... want to use their Internet connections the way they want (example, sharing), how much they want (downloading movies is going to be very popular, like with Apple's new Apple TV box), where they want (multiple computers, share throughout the household with Wi-Fi, etc.). They don't want to care about "transfer caps", "port blocking", "enhanced services", etc.

Broadband Internet Access is a commodity. A Broadband Internet Access service provider can distinguish themselves in the customer's mind in only a few ways:

1) Price - cheaper is better

2) Speed - faster is better

3) Availability - you need to be able to get it where you want to use it (Minor corollary - if you value being able to access the Internet while mobile/portable, you'll be willing to pay more for doing so, but only incrementally more - not obscenely more, including transfer limits.)

4) Reliability - if it doesn't work, you won't keep the customer

5) Support - whether you answer the phone when it doesn't work, whether you can fix it quickly when it goes down.

But ultimately... bits are bits. Broadband Internet Access is either affordable, or not. It's either fast enough, or not. It's either available where you want it, or not. It's either reliable enough, or not. You're either satisfied with the support, or not.

David Isenberg explained all this very, very well (I plug this every chance I get) in his seminal essay The Rise Of The Stupid Network.

So, in the end, if another Broadband Internet Access service provider solicits your customer and offers them a better deal - cheaper, faster, more available, more reliable, better supported, it's very likely that your customer is gone. They'll bail on you because the competitor is offering the same thing your company is offering - Broadband Internet Access! The things... products... services that the customer cares most about are all "out there on the Internet"! All the customers care about when it comes to access is getting to the Internet; how much they pay, how fast, etc. is all a matter of minor negotiation with whoever happens to offer the best deal.

And you, as the customer, thinking that you're at the mercy of one provider - be it small Wireless Internet Service Provider, satellite, cellular, dialup... Look around - the choices for Broadband Internet Access get better every month. Three of the four wireless telephony companies now offer a reasonable Broadband service (Cingular/AT&T is a bit behind in most markets, but it's coming on strong; T-Mobile just bought spectrum for Broadband service at auction in 2006, so it will take them a while to make Broadband service available.) Clearwire pops up in non-urban markets seemingly at random, but Clearwire will have to learn that customers increasingly will care that Clearwire routinely blocks ports, and in doing so, customers will conclude that Clearwire's Internet Access "doesn't work" for the things that they, the customer wants to do... like using Skype to talk free to their kids or relatives living overseas. WildBlue is starting to reset expectations about how bad/good satellite Broadband Internet Access can be. Rural telephone companies are starting to use 700 MHz spectrum to dispense with the need for wireline in their service areas. If you're really stuck, it's not out of the question to form a small co-op ISP with your neighbors using Wi-Fi mesh and new, longer-range Wi-Fi technology.

Bottom line - it's a brave, brave new world for Telecommunications Service Providers, Communications Service Providers, Internet Service Providers, and Yes, Broadband Wireless Internet Access Service Providers. Applications and Services on the Internet are what matter most to customers... not how they get to the Internet. In between the customer and the Internet is, in the end, a dumb pipe or as David Isenberg says it so well - a Stupid Network.

By Steve Stroh

This article is Copyright © 2007 by Steve Stroh.