Broadband Wireless Internet Access (BWIA) News

Broadband Wireless Alliance - Please, Dig A Bit Deeper, Journalists

On Tuesday, August 27, 2002, the Broadband Wireless Alliance (BWA) issued a press release stating that it has formed seventeen (!) new committees to "begin the process of establishing coordination and promoting the progress being made by the hundreds of vendors, wireless operators, and end users in the Broadband Wireless Industry." In the press release, particular attention was given to two of newly-formed committees: Wireless ISP (WISP) Frequency Coordination committee, and the FCC and Regulatory Issues committee, and that emphasis was echoed in the resulting news coverage by several technology writers and news organizations.

Unfortunately, those writers and news organizations wrote their glowing articles straight from the Broadband Wireless Alliance press release, uncritically, with little or no background research. Some critical facts were overlooked about the BWA and its announcement. It genuinely pains me to say the following, but I feel that I have an obligation to the community and the industry to speak up about such issues.

Wireless Communications Association - The Real Broadband Wireless Internet Access Industry Trade Group The Broadband Wireless Internet Access (the phrase I prefer to use) industry is already quite ably represented to the FCC by a not-for-profit membership organization called the Wireless Communications Association International (WCA). The WCA is a long-established organization based in Washington DC with membership composed of a wide cross-section of Broadband Wireless organizations, vendors, operators, related organizations, and individuals. The statement in the BWA press release "The FCC and Regulatory Issues Committee will be set up to establish a formal mode of communication from WISPs to the FCC and vice versa" is a very skillful piece of spin, implying that there is no such representation at present. Nothing could be further from the truth, as that is the primary mission of the WCA. To more closely focus on the issues of Wireless ISPs (WISPs), the WCA formed a semi-independent group, the License Exempt Alliance (LEA) with its own leadership and agenda. A very recent example of highly effective representation to the FCC by the WCA was the testimony by a number of WCA members as panel members of the FCC's Spectrum Policy Task Force workshops earlier this month.

Broadband Wireless Alliance = Robert Hoskins The Broadband Wireless Alliance is the creation of one person, Robert Hoskins, as an outgrowth of his Broadband Wireless Exchange venture. In the BWA's Articles of Incorporation, Article 6 states: "The initial board of directors shall consist of 5 directors. The names and addresses of the persons who are to serve as the directors until the first annual meeting of the members, or until their successors are elected and qualify are: Robert Hoskins, Gilbert, AZ. The board of directors may at their discretion authorize the officers of the Broadband Wireless Alliance, as defined in the Bylaws of the Broadband Wireless Alliance, to perform the duties of the board of directors, pursuant to ARS §10-3301." Considering that the BWA was founded January 1, 2001, the lack of a board of directors is telling.

WISP Frequency Coordination - Coordinating That Which Cannot Be Coordinated The problem the BWA purports to tackle with its WISP Frequency Coordination Committee is a specious issue. Yes, usage of license-exempt spectrum is chaotic. Yes, coordination should be done when possible. But such chaos is a natural result of rules that are carefully crafted to encourage continual innovation - that no particular mode or usage of license-exempt spectrum is given priority. Coordination is inherently a highly localized issue, and there is no advantage whatsoever involving an entity such as the BWA in such highly localized issues. To illustrate, how would BWA or any other entity "coordinate" the following uses, all totally legal and in widespread use, when they conflict:

• 802.11b, using a static 22 MHz portion of the 2.4 GHz band
• Western Multiplex Tsunami 45 Mbps p-p link, using almost all of the 83.5 MHz of the 2.4 GHz band
• Alvarion BreezeAccess II which uses Frequency Hopping Spread Spectrum, 1 MHz channels, required to "hop" on at least 75 MHz of the available 83.5 MHz in the 2.4 GHz band

Answer... BWA cannot, nor can any other entity, effectively coordinate such conflicting uses of license-exempt spectrum. If the equipment in question compliant with FCC rules, all such systems have an equal, legitimate "right" under the FCC Part 15.247 rules to operate, regardless of interference caused to other license-exempt users or equipment. To the casual observer, "coordination" sounds like "the right thing to do". But, if "coordination" was to be given official, legal, weight, what would happen is that the innovation would immediately cease - no new system would be allowed to emerge if there was a possibility that a new system might "interfere" with existing systems.

I know Robert Hoskins, and greatly admire what he has done with Broadband Wireless Exchange, which has proven to be a valuable resource to the Broadband Wireless Internet Access industry. But I feel that his statements about the Broadband Wireless Alliance are misleading, and could easily result in considerable confusion which is precisely what the Broadband Wireless Internet Access industry does not need at this critical juncture.

Disclaimer: Not germane, but it should be stated, that I am a dues-paying Press member of the WCA, and I am a former contributor to the Broadband Wireless Exchange

Steve Stroh

Copyright © 2002-2004 by Steve Stroh. This article originally appeared on my original Broadband Wireless Internet Access Weblog hosted on Radio Userland.

Two Seattle-area Companies Make BWIA Announcements

It's a particular pleasure when I highlight BWIA developments from Seattle-area companies.

The first is Broadstorm Telecommunications of Bellevue, which has begun shipping its mobile Broadband Wireless Internet Access system to customers, the first of which is a small system in Churchill, Manitoba, Canada.Amazingly, Broadstorm's web page does not have a Press link, but Broadband Wireless Online has a summary of the announcement.

The second is Netro Corporation, (based in San Jose, but with a very significant Redmond, WA engineering group), has completed the "internationalization" of the Wireless Broadband Wireless System once known as "Project Angel". Netro bought the "Project Angel" system after AT&T Wireless decided to discontinue the system shortly after its formal separation from AT&T. The "internationalization" included adapting the radio frequency systems from 1.9 and 2.3 GHz bands to the international 3.5 GHz band and adapting the switch interfaces from US / Bell Company standards to international standards. Project Angel was developed in Redmond, WA and after the acquisition, Netro retained some of the Redmond facilities and personnel. Shortly after the announcement, Netro announced a significant personnel reduction, and their intention that Netro would focus most of its efforts on promoting the Angel system.

Project Angel was a good Broadband Wireless Internet Access system that included the capability of up to four "life safety" phone line channels. It was in its third revision, and by all accounts this latest version was meeting most objectives when AT&T Wireless decided not to pursue that line of business and devote all its resources to the mobile telephone businesses (it badly needed the cash to fund a myriad of overlapping and sometimes conflicting initiatives.) My first Wireless Data Developments column in Boardwatch Magazine in April, 1997 was an extensive writeup of Project Angel, and I have covered the product in various venues since then.

Steve Stroh

Copyright © 2002-2004 by Steve Stroh. This article originally appeared on my original Broadband Wireless Internet Access Weblog hosted on Radio Userland.

Two New Wireless Systems

(Not Broadband Wireless Internet Access per se, but I felt these developments to be significant)

Capital Wireless Integrated Network (CapWIN) CapWIN is the first of many regional "overlay" wireless communications systems that will connect various public safety agencies in an ad-hoc manner. Public Safety agencies have generally done a good job, within budget and spectrum limitations of setting up communication links and interoperability between their respective systems for the types of situations they can reasonably anticipate. The problem comes when they're faced with a situation that they haven't anticipated and interoperable communications can't be set up quickly enough to deal with the emergency. Reading between the lines of the various announcements, what this system sounds like is an "overlay" that will interconnect, as needed, existing communications systems and will allow users in other jurisdictions query databases previously inaccessible to them. CapWIN has a budget of $20M, will involve 40 local, state, and federal agencies, and be designed to serve 10,000 users. The most visible part of CapWIN is an Instant Messaging system based on Jabber that can be accessed from laptops, messaging PDAs such as Blackberrys, and data-capable mobile phones. Kudos to contractor for IBM for choosing Jabber, with its open source philosophies, instead of a proprietary messaging system.

CapWIN Links: CapWIN Project dc.Internet.com IBM Press Release Infoworld (no press release from Jabber - how clueless!)

Motorola Fireground Communcications System This development sounds long overdue. The FCS integrates five previously separate systems including a portable repeater. The provides the incident commander with "at a glance" status of all participants in a fire, with coded transponders integrated into their radios. Presumably even a brief "Help" would allow the incident commander to figure out which firefighter is in trouble. The onsite repeater will undoubtedly be welcome, especially in dense urban environments where firefighters have trouble communicating between floors with their portable radios.

This application - tracking the location of firefighters in a burning structure, is a perfect use for Ultrawideband technology. UWB can track position very, very accurately and is one of the most promising potential applications for its use. Unfortunately, that potential may well not be realized because of the way-too-conservative nature of ultrawideband rules.

Steve Stroh

Copyright © 2002-2004 by Steve Stroh. This article originally appeared on my original Broadband Wireless Internet Access Weblog hosted on Radio Userland.

Glenn Fleishman On This Week's Starbucks Announcements About Wireless Internet Access

In his Wednesday (good!) and Thursday (superb!) [oops- now these links are correct] postings in 802.11b Networking News (linked at left), Glenn really brings out the substance of Starbucks' announcement this week formalizing their Wireless Internet Access service. Glenn brings out some subtle twists to the relationship between Starbucks, T-Mobile HotSpots, and HP that aren't readily apparent.

Steve Stroh

Copyright © 2002-2004 by Steve Stroh. This article originally appeared on my original Broadband Wireless Internet Access Weblog hosted on Radio Userland.

MeshNetworks In Immanent Danger Of Shipping Product?!?!?!

I've been a fan of Wireless Mesh Networking since I discovered Rooftop Communications (now Nokia Wireless Routers) early in my career as a writer. The latest example the potential of Wireless Mesh Networking is some really interesting claims by MeshNetworks. With MeshNetworks technology, every user is a "relay node", so the network is dynamically extended with each user. To date, MeshNetworks hasn't actually shipped any product - concept demonstrations are nice, but the ultimate proof of concept is when you actually ship product, in exchange for dollars and have no control over how the buyer uses or abuses the product. Only when you get your hands on it can you really tell if it works, well enough, for your purposes. From the letter below that has gone out to potential MeshNetworks customers, we might soon get to see how well MeshNetworks technology works in the real world. Letter begins:

In early October, we will begin shipping our MeshLAN Developer's Starter Kit. It will have:

2 MeshLAN hardware access points 3 MeshLAN wireless routers 25 MeshLAN PCMCIA cards Product documentation

The total price is US$5,000.

We are currently accepting orders. We will require a purchase order on/before 15 September 2002 and payment on/before 5 October in order for us to ship the kit to you in early October.

If you are interested, or have additional questions, please contact [email protected]

Thank you.
Allen H. Kupetz
Director of Sales and Int'l Business Development
MeshNetworks, Inc.
[email protected]
407.659.5307

Steve Stroh

Copyright © 2002-2004 by Steve Stroh except for MeshNetworks letter. This article originally appeared on my original Broadband Wireless Internet Access Weblog hosted on Radio Userland.

Mr. Stroh Goes To San Jose

I was surprised to receive a call from Scott Mace of Penton asking if I would be interested in doing a Keynote speech at the Service Networks conference (formerly ISPCon) this November in San Jose. Surprised, because Penton has lost considerable ground with ISPs, once its core audience for ISPCon and Boardwatch Magazine by missing the strong and accelerating trend of Broadband Wireless Internet Access. Scott offered me the entire hour of the Keynote, but I felt that the audience would be better served if, in addition to my talk, hearing directly from a real, "doing it now, making money at it" Wireless ISP and a representative vendor of advanced Broadband Wireless Internet Equipment. I was delighted to hear that my first picks all said Yes to the invitation:

• Philip Urso, CEO of Wireless ISP TowerStream, which operates in Boston and other East Coast markets, using license-exempt spectrum
• Patrick Leary, Chief Evangelist of Alvarion (formerly BreezeCOM) which is the largest manufacturer with the broadest product line in the Broadband Wireless Internet Access industry
• Tom Freeburg, Corporate Vice President & Director, Motorola Labs, Motorola, Inc. Motorola is the second-oldest name in communications with one of the newest, most advanced products in the Broadband Wireless Internet Access industry - Canopy.

It should be an interesting time.

Steve Stroh

Copyright © 2002-2004 by Steve Stroh. This article originally appeared on my original Broadband Wireless Internet Access Weblog hosted on Radio Userland.

I'm In The Blogosphere!

My first Blogosphere link (that I'm aware of) was brief, but hey, it's a start. I did a Google for "Steve Stroh" and "weblog" and an archived page from Doug Kenline's BLOG AGAINST THE MACHINE weblog was listed. I'm listed under "Technology Bloggers." Doug has since considerably recast his weblog to better reflect his other interests which likely will be consuming most of his time, and the "Technology Bloggers" column is now gone. I note that Doug is a fellow graduate of DeVry Institute of Technology (he in Phoenix, I in Columbus.)

Update: As I wrote this earlier today, as far as I knew, Doug's (late) link was the only one. But in short order I learned about:

• A link to the BWIA Weblog / Steve Stroh from the Service Networks page
• A nice mention and a link to the BWIA Weblog / Steve Stroh on David Sifry's SIFRY'S ALERTS weblog (linked at left)
• A nice mention (but no link - yet) on Glenn Fleishman's 802.11b Networking News weblog (linked at left)

Glenn and I exchanged serveral emails today - nice to be back in touch! I'll disclose that 802.11b Networking News was the inspiration for finally getting the Broadband Wireless Internet Access Weblog launched, after much dithering and many minor frustrations with Radio Userland.

Steve Stroh

Copyright © 2002-2004 by Steve Stroh. This article originally appeared on my original Broadband Wireless Internet Access Weblog hosted on Radio Userland.

Reader's Corner

Thanks to BWIA Weblog readers Bill Fujimoto and Lawrence Behr for their nice notes this week. Lawrence's was particularly poignant, pointing out that as ugly as Tuesday's entry was in IE (the entire day's entry was bold), it was worse in Netscape - all bold and underlines!

Steve Stroh

Copyright © 2002-2004 by Steve Stroh. This article originally appeared on my original Broadband Wireless Internet Access Weblog hosted on Radio Userland.

Reply To Doug [Kenline's] Questions / Points

Doug wrote in his weblog on July 2, 2002 (sorry... didn't hear the question then - but I've since started including an easy-to-click comment link at the bottom of each entry):

Ok, after more reading on the Motorola Canopy it looks great. And it appears that Steve Stroh thinks that Canopy in combination with Vonage will give people basic telephone service. I do not see how Vonage is able to work without help from the local telephone company. Otherwise, why would Vonage say they are only available in certain area codes?

To me area code means local telephone company. If Vonage, or any product, could provide basic telephone service without help from the local telephone company, for example as mentioned above, Vonage plus Canopy, not only goodbye Federal Communications Commission with the unlicensed spectrum technology, but also goodbye local telephone company. This would all be too good to be true of course. And why don't the big phone companies do it themselves? Investigating at this time.

Answer: Doug's question is about Canopy and Vonage, but I'll relate my answer in generic terms. The fundamental technology is TCP/IP, which is proven to be almost infintely flexible to low and high speeds, all medium of transport, and all manner of applications, as well as scaling and evolving gracefully. I feel strongly that Broadband Wireless Internet Access technology (of which Motorola Canopy is a good, but by far not the only example) is often the sanest, fastest, most cost-effective way to construct a TCP/IP infrastructure.

Riding on top of that infrastructure can be all manner of applications, including Voice Over IP (VOIP) technology ((of which Vonage is a good, but by far not the only example.) VOIP is inherently a peer-to-peer technology because of its use of TCP/IP. It's possible for a VOIP phone to "dial" any other VOIP phone without necessarily requiring the use of a centralized system - phone switch, PBX, etc. It's probably possible to "dial" an IP address of another phone - 16 digit dialing - 044.024.110.015. So... centralized systems are convenient for "directories" or "lookups" since TCP/IP addresses aren't that intuitive to humans.

With me so far, I hope. It's about to get interesting. VOIP is being done daily that entire companies, organizations, and now consumers are being connected via VOIP phones via the Internet or Intranet. When they need to talk to another person on their network (or, in the case of Vonage, any other Vonage customer, anywhere in the world via the Internet), it's a TCP/IP only connection - no interconnection with the Public Switch Telephone Network (PSTN) required. If you do wish to talk to someone on the PSTN via your VOIP phone, an interconnection is required, and that's what Vonage is providing, to consumers, for the first time in a reliable manner. Also notable about Vonage is that the adapter they send you adapts multiple "conventional" phones - it becomes your "Line 1" or your "Line 2".

The interconnection, since it mostly "lives" on the Internet, can be located anywhere it's convenient. The "phone numbers" for Vonage users are merely a convenient bridge between the PSTN and VOIP users. So to finally answer Doug's question, yes, a Switch is required for interconnection with the PSTN, but it can be located anywhere. (A Vonage rep told me that although Vonage advertises as a US-only service, requires payment with a US credit card, shipment only to US addresses, Vonage is finding their phones to be located in interesting places... like India, South America, and China.

Steve Stroh

Copyright © 2002-2004 by Steve Stroh except for Kenline text. This article originally appeared on my original Broadband Wireless Internet Access Weblog hosted on Radio Userland.

Oh The Times, They Are A Changin'

Business Week Article About ILEC Declines Some of us have been saying this for a while, that the ILECs are not invulnerable. An August 23rd article in Business Week, The Bells' Big Local Headache by Jane Black brings some startling figures to light. This paragraph was particularly enlightening:

FALLING EARNINGS. So, even as top Bell executives blame the economy for their shortfalls, their local-phone business is eroding much faster than most observers realize. In the second quarter, the total number of local-phone lines that Verizon provides dropped 3.3%. SBC suffered a 3.8% decline, and Bell South 2.1% falloff.

Read that again carefully - those declines of 3.3%, 3.8%, and 2.1% were in a single quarter! If true, that's staggering. Black lays most of the blame on the decline to the sale of Unbundled Network Elements ("dry copper pairs") sold at wholesale prices to CLECs. This is where I differ with Black - I think the decline is far more fundamental; that customers are simply fleeing the Incumbent Local Exchange Carriers (ILECs) as their quality of service declines, prices rise, and increasingly they do not offer desired services at competitive rates. More customers have decided that wireless service is good enough and it can be their only phone service (particularly with "phone cradles" that connect multiple home phones to a cell phone in a cradle. VOIP "phone" service being carried over broadband connections are getting amazingly good, with reports of Vonage VOIP quality being better than some cut-rate long distance carriers. Businesses have been routing inter-office calls using VOIP boards in their PBXs for years - no lucrative daytime long distance office-to-office calls for those customers any more. Broadband Wireless Internet Access (of course there had to be a wireless element to this story) eliminates the need even for the "dry copper pair", so they're not even recouping any revenue for the customer that "doesn't need wireline service any more." Etc. The telecom industry has just not figured out that at current long distance pricing, it's costing them more to track the minutes and do the billing, than the revenue they're realizing! I'm certainly not the first to say this, that there's ample capacity in the Public Switched Telephone Network (PSTN)... er, 2-4% more capacity per quarter it appears, to make any call between two points in Continental US a local call. Just get this OVER with folks. Convert to an independent service provider using wireless and non-ILEC fiber now... beat the rush when they declare bankruptcy. Thanks to John Robb (linked at left) for mentioning this in his excellent weblog.

Steve Stroh

Copyright © 2002-2004 by Steve Stroh. This article originally appeared on my original Broadband Wireless Internet Access Weblog hosted on Radio Userland.