I'm genuinely surprised that they're not touting this in an online press release that I can link to, but TowerStream (http://www.towerstream.com), a Broadband Wireless Internet Access service provider is providing Internet bandwidth to at least two 802.11b access points for the convenience of the attendees with 802.11b-equipped laptops and PDAs. TowerStream's solution provides up to 8 Mbps and neatly sidesteps the expense and hassle of procuring bandwidth via wireline T-1 for a conference. A small 5 GHz panel antenna tie-wrapped to any convenient outdoor mounting point, with cables snaking inside to the Customer Premise Equipment. A short 10baseT cable connects the CPE to an 802.11b Access Point. I'm told that installation took about an hour from showing up to service being available, with most of the time spent snaking the cable through an existing conduit. I'm told that TowerStream can provide service with as little as two day's notice (though that isn't advertised to their potential customers... yet.) I learned yesterday that the various contractors working on Boston's "Big Dig" construction project move their construction trailers every few weeks, and getting data and phone lines moved was a continual headache. Now, TowerStream's solution is being used not by the construction companies not only for Internet access (sending email, accessing web sites to see construction plans, etc.) but increasingly for displacing wired phone lines using the amazing Vonage (http://www.vonage.com) Voice Over IP (VOIP) phone service. Now when the Big Dig contractors move their trailers, at worst they have to tweak the antenna's direction and they're back online with Internet and phone service.
Steve Stroh
Copyright © 2002-2004 by Steve Stroh. This article originally appeared on my original Broadband Wireless Internet Access Weblog hosted on Radio Userland.
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