It's Monday, November 13... errr... Tuesday, yes, Tuesday November 14, 2007 (thanks for paying attention, faithful reader!), and welcome back to Good Day, BWIA, 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.).
Google must demand open spectrum Thought-provoking article by my old Boardwatch colleague Dana Blankenhorn. Here's a key excerpt: Today’s mobile world is defined by the closed networks of cellular operators, not by the open network of the Internet. Regardless of where you go, around the world, you find a network structure right out of the 1980s, in which network operators are gatekeepers who can prevent innovation from occurring, and which demand the lion’s share of profit from anything which they deign to let occur. It’s as if the Internet does not exist. And in terms of mobile services, it does not. Blankenhorn is right in his observation that if Google "fights this fight" on the "battlefield" of the the incumbent wireless telephony carriers... as in trying to "fight" its way into the current wireless telephony systems, it's doomed to failure. They'll resist Google's "openness" with everything they've got... and they've got a lot.
But I part company with Blankenhorn about what Google should do. My take on the situation is that Google has to choose a "battlefield" that's better suited to its particular strengths - not the strengths of its opponents. That is... Google needs to place all its bets on Mobile WiMAX which is real "Mobile, Broadband, Wireless, Internet Access. Mobile WiMAX has all the strengths of the current "3G" wireless telephony systems except that 3G is widely deployed at this moment. On the other hand, Mobile WiMAX has few of the (many) weaknesses of 3G, especially that Mobile WiMAX was specifically designed for TCP/IP and, for who Google is and what they do, that makes all the difference in the world. Google needs to put all its efforts into backing Mobile WiMAX, and in the US, that means doing deals with whoever will actually deploy Mobile WiMAX and allow Google to operate the Internet equivalent of a Mobile Virtual Network Operator (MVNO) or something like an MVNO. Right now, in the US, that 's AT&T deploying Mobile WiMAX on its 2.3 GHz spectrum, Sprint deploying Mobile WiMAX on its 2.5 GHz spectrum, Clearwire deploying Mobile WiMAX on its 2.5 GHz spectrum (as well as it's "pretty-close-to-WiMAX" NextNet Wireless / Motorola Expedience systems), and numerous smaller players that are deploying Mobile WiMAX. Ditto for the much bigger deployments of Mobile WiMAX that are happening outside the US. Investing in the service providers that truly understand that they're building out Internet infrastructure that happens to support mobility is where Google needs to be placing its considerable investment bets on wireless. If a carrier doesn't get it, it shouldn't get Googlebucks. If it does... Google should be willing to invest. Doing so sets the stage for the GooglePhone ecosystem to truly flourish. Anything other than Mobile WiMAX sets the stage for the GooglePhone to be a non-starter (which wouldn't be a disaster, at least for Google, given that its massive financial base lets it treat billions of dollars, perhaps even tens of billions of dollars, as experiments that may, or may not, work out).
Today's Clearwire Modem Weather Report - Hollywood Hill, Woodinville, Washington - Back up to Solid 4 Bars; it's dry, cool weather today.
Cool BWIA Toy... er... Tool This is cool (see illustration at right). It's a 360-degree auto-steerable antenna system by NS Microwave called CASA (PDF link) (something-something Steered Antenna, I guess) intended for mobile, airborne, or (presumably) even marine use. As a wireless techie, I'd love to know how they managed to build slip rings that pass RF up through 12.5 GHz, though the only bands mentioned specifically are 4.9 GHz, 6.4 GHz, and 5.8 GHz. If I read this right, this makes it possible to add "mobility" (however expensively) to a system that wasn't originally designed for it. My thanks to Jaime Solorza for mention of this cool... tool.
Video of the 30 year anniversary about the first Internet Packet Radio Truck CNET, bless 'em, did a video; finally those of us who weren't there get a brief look at it. Wish I could find a Flickr or other photo stream of the Packet Radio Truck from someone who dumped an entire CF worth of high-resolution photos. Really folks, this is as historic in its contribution to Broadband Wireless Internet as the Interface Message Processors (IMPs) (routers, protocol converters) were to the wireline Internet.
Not much other BWIA news today I looked at all my usual sources, but didn't spot any other significant BWIA news stories this morning, so Good Day, BWIA is a quicker read (and write) than usual, so I think I'll use the time for some other writing, indulging in some good coffee, and allow Mac, one of my Editorial Assistants, to take me for a walk on one of our favorite fields nearby and enjoy the crisp, dry weather of the morning.
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(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).
Hey Steve...great info as always....we came upon some pretty robust 902-928MHz FHSS Ethernet radios from Microhard. We use them for SCADA and video surveillance projects. These are 1Mbps radios but work well in the presence of other FHSS and Canopy radios. They just came out with an OFDM version but we have not used them. Regards, Jaime Solorza
Posted by: Jaime Solorza | November 13, 2007 at 11:53