Good Day, BWIA (GDBWIA) 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.).
Things That Get Me Excited About BWIA Today? Ericsson predicts demise for hot spots Oh... this is so deliciously clueless! (Ericsson's position, not the article) First, the analogy with telephone booths is horribly flawed - telephone booths served only one function, to shelter a phone and its user from the elements, for a totally dedicated service - voice. It wasn't good for any other purpose. A Wi-Fi HotSpot, especially coffee shops, serve multiple functions, including Broadband Internet Access. This was just too easy an illustration of how flawed Ericsson's view is: In the room where Bergendahl spoke, there was no 3G coverage. However, operators are looking at ways to provide better signal coverage, particularly indoors and in rural areas. But here's the primary reason I think that Wi-Fi HotSpots will not only continue, but thrive - a clueful Wi-Fi HotSpot operator (Starbucks / AT&T* / Apple) won't continue to throttle the Wi-Fi HotSpot minimal backhaul speeds like a mere T-1; they'll upgrade that backhaul connection to make it compelling for users to come into range of a Wi-Fi HotSpot for a "download fix", like downloading a handful of movies to their (soon, I'd guess) 64 GB iPhone. Not to mention, there's considerable motivation for AT&T, operating both Starbucks' Wi-Fi HotSpots and a wireless telephony data network populated by lots of eager-to-download iPhone users. For example, Towerstream's current promotion is 8 Mbps for $999/month (delivered via BWIA, of course). Multiples of 10 Mbps aren't that horribly expensive, especially in urban areas where there's actual competitive broadband from fiber.
* Disclaimer for using AT&T and clueful in the same sentence - I continue to contend that AT&T is overall clueless about Broadband Wireless Internet Access, both wireless telephony and Mobile WiMAX, but Apple's corporate butt-kicking influence from the iPhone partnership seems to be compensating at least somewhat.
Clearwire Modem Weather Report - Hollywood Hill, Woodinville, Washington - Solid 4 Bars; weather in the Seattle area continues to be cold and damp, with the addition of mild (25 MPH or so) winds that sway the big 2.4 GHz'ish attenuators (fir trees) to and fro. The Clearwire modem's OFDM seems to deal with scintillation effects like that quite well; I had a Vonage call this morning, and sound quality was quite good. (I write about my experiences as a Clearwire user, and about Clearwire the company and as a bellwether for the overall Broadband Wireless Internet Access / WiMAX industry in the Independent Clearwire Blog.
Fodder For A BWIA Rant Airbiquity wins major Ford telematics deal Bonus points to the first reader that spots the same point of irritation that I spotted in this story. I started a good rant based on this story, which grew a bit long for GDBWIA. No, not about Airbiquity, or the story or author, but... well, watch for a new story to be posted, probably today, on BWIA Cellular, or or course, Steve Stroh Articles.
By Steve Stroh
Fine Print / Boilerplate / Acknowledgements / Credits / FAQs
(Last updated 2008-02-25)
This article is Copyright © 2008 by Steve Stroh except for specifically-marked excerpts. Excerpts and links are expressly permitted (and encouraged).
This article was written and posted via Broadband Wireless Internet Access (BWIA); Clearwire service using a NextNet Wireless / Motorola Expedience Residential Service Unit (RSU).
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