Broadband Wireless Internet Access (BWIA) News

Ricochet's Corpse Finally Stops Twitching

This note posted on the Ricochet home page:

Civitas Wireless Solutions, LLC regrets to announce we will be ceasing to operate the Ricochet® wireless network in the Denver metropolitan area effective March 28th, 2008.

The Denver system was the last gasp of Ricochet, having arranged a very low-cost operating agreement in return for providing reasonable-speed connectivity to Denver-area public safety agencies. This would seem to finally seal the fate, once and for all, of Metricom (which will live on, in name, for a while yet as the licensee of a number of 2.3 GHz spectrum licenses) and Ricochet. And... of course, surviving Ricochet equipment will circulate endlessly on eBay.

I'm reminded of Metricom and Ricochet daily; the wireless geek in me can't help but silently note all the Ricochet gear, both original and Ricochet 2, gear still hanging on streetlights here in the greater Seattle area - chirping away on 902-928 MHz and 2.4 GHz. Someone from the Computer History Museum ought to get busy and find some original Ricochet nodes still mounted on streetlights in the Silicon Valley area and preserve them as historical artifacts (buy, and move the entire pole!)

I wish some technologically adventurous, and prosperous, Amateur Radio Operator with some imagination had stepped forward with an offer to buy up the remains of Ricochet and recast it into an Amateur Radio system (hams are licensed users of the 902-928 MHz band which Ricochet used as access, under Part 15 license-exempt usage rules). It could have been great, but now it's simply too late to salvage anything.

Unfinished Business - Ascendance Of Wi-Fi... Or Did Cellular Win? (1 update)

(Update - McIntyre replied -see the comments.)

I'm still wrapping things up here on BWIA / WiMAX News, and one thing left undone was to clean out the comments that I hadn't yet "moderated", which were mostly comment spam messages.

Unfortunately, there was one compelling comment from February 2nd that I meant to approve, then post an article in reply, but didn't, and it fell through the cracks until now.

The comment was on an April 23, 2004 article - Reader Response On The Ascendence of Wi-Fi:

It is now almost four years later after our comments. Which has progressed the most for corporate mobility - WiFi or 3G?

Bob McIntyre
AT&T Senior Consultant - FMC

Man... McIntyre has a long memory. But, fair enough, and another good "closure" for my writing on BWIA / WiMAX.

Interesting BWIA Conference - The Genesis Of Unlicensed Wireless

(I sure hope that this conference will be recorded and made publicly available. Hearing Marcus talk about his role, and his hopes for Part 15.247 would be fascinating! - SKS)

Drew Clark posting to the Cybertelecom List:

I'm writing to call your attention to an important conference on Friday, April 4, about the genesis of unlicensed wireless policy, sponsored by the Information Economy Project at George Mason University.

The conference, which is free and open to the public, aims to answer the question: How did the Federal Communications Commission's rules governing Wi-Fi come to be?

This conference features key individuals involved in crafting unlicensed policies, and then deploying the newly authorized technologies, including Michael Marcus, former FCC engineer, Stephen Lukasik, first chief scientist at the FCC, and wireless entrepreneurs Dewayne Hendricks, Kevin Negus and Tim Pozar, among others.

The full conference program, and biographies of the participants, is available at the Web site of the Information Economy Project: http://iep.gmu.edu/UnlicensedWireless. The conference will run from
8:15 a.m.  To 1:45 p.m. on Friday, April 4, and will take place at the George Mason University School of Law, 3301 Fairfax Drive, Arlington, VA 22201 (Orange Line: Virginia Square-GMU Metro).

Admission is FREE, but seating is limited. To reserve your spot, please e-mail Drew Clark: [email protected]

Why, When I Migrated Off DSL, I Didn't Consider Comcast An Option

Here's a great story about how Comcast's customer service and billing is abysmal. It mirrors my last experience with Comcast perfectly.

Here's a pithy quote from the article that says it even better: I wouldn't give my business back to Comcast, even if their service was cheaper and the technology superior - their customer service is that bad.

I haven't had much cause to deal with Clearwire's customer service or billing... but they also don't seem to go out of their way to irritate me, or just completely don't care about me as a customer, as was my experience with Comcast.

By Steve Stroh

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).

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).

Getting Mobile WiMAX In The US - Clearwire And Sprint Need Help

As an additional "wrapping things up" article, I wrote one of my last articles on Independent Clearwire Blog - Getting Mobile WiMAX In The US - Clearwire And Sprint Need Help.

It kind of ties things up as my most likely scenario for "better-than-wireless-telephony" Broadband Wireless Internet Access in the US.

Thanks,

Steve

Getting Mobile WiMAX In The US - Clearwire And Sprint Need Help

As I explained in 73, and Thanks For All The Fish, I will no longer be writing very much about BWIA, including here on Independent Clearwire Blog. There's ample "content" and "expertise" about Clearwire available for readers that want to follow developments.

But I've been asked about the developments relating to Clearwire, Sprint / Nextel's Xohm Mobile WiMAX "venture", and their apparent intentions to create a consortium that will eventually lead to a widespread, if not national deployment of Mobile WiMAX systems in the US. This is potentially a seminal development in Broadband Wireless Internet Access, so  as one of my final articles on BWIA and Clearwire as the "purest play" of BWIA, I'll offer my thoughts. CTIA Wireless 2008, the US wireless telephony industry's biggest conference, begins next week, and there are likely to be some developments announced, so I thought I'd get my analysis out ahead of that.

There are two primary issues relating to the formation of a US Mobile WiMAX Consortium consisting of Sprint/Nextel, Clearwire, Google, Comcast, Intel, and others.

73, and Thanks For All The Fish

I wanted to take a moment to say 73 to the readers of BWIA News. (73 is Amateur Radio slang for "ending conversation, for now".)

I've tried to make a go of being a knowledgeable, independent writer on the subject of Broadband Wireless Internet Access. I am blessed beyond imagining that my wonderful wife Tina supported me... in every way... in trying to do this full time for the past eight years. I'm not terribly sad... at least Tina made it possible for me to try... and that's more support than most people ever get in pursuit of their dreams.

Writing about BWIA these last ten years has been a lot of fun; I've grown enormously as a person and as a writer, and its helped me and strengthened me in ways I never would have imagined, such as developing writing skills and knowledge of blogging / publishing that may be marketable. I might have even done some good in small ways for the BWIA industry and the WISP industry.

But, financially, for me, it simply didn't work out. So, it's time to accept that reality and move on, and  I'm now looking for full-time work as a System Administrator or similar role in the Seattle (Eastside) area.

I'll still continue to write, here, and perhaps some of my other blogs, but that will be sporadic. When/if the new IT career settles down a bit, I'll try to commit enough "butt-in-chair" time to finally write "the book" (now bookS...) about BWIA from my perspective that have been in gestation for the same decade that I've been writing articles, blogs, etc.

So...

73, and Thanks!

Steve

By Steve Stroh

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).

Reference - So Long, And Thanks For All The Fish... clever line from Douglas Adams

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).

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.

GDBWIA 2008-03-20 - No Significant BWIA News, So I Wax Philosophic

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? As the title says, I wasn't able to scare up much in the way of significant BWIA News. There's news, of course - but scanning through it, nothing signficant enough to bring to your attention.

So, I thought I'd take a few paragraphs to wax philosophic about the interplay between Wi-Fi, WiMAX, and wireless telephony (cellular) - how I see it all playing out.

Over the decade I've been writing about Broadband Wireless Internet Access, I've developed two inherent biases. The first is that the Internet has become (past tense) the source of most of the content (including applications) that people want to access, consume, read, use etc. The second is that I've come to believe, absolutely, in the Stupid Network principle first espoused by David Isenberg. I believe that both of those biases not only apply to Broadband Wireless Internet Access, but are even more powerfully "in effect" for Broadband Wireless Internet Access than they are in effect for Broadband "Landline" Internet Access.

GDBWIA 2008-03-19 700 MHz Auctions Done... Next Up From That... Not Much

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.).

Apologies for no Good Day, BWIA updates lately - I've been preoccupied.

Things That Get Me Excited About BWIA Today? 700 MHz auctions are done, netting something like US $19.5B. What excites me is that we'll no longer have to hear the breathless, clueless hype about how 700 MHz will "change things" for Broadband. In most other aspects, the revenue is notable, but for the US Federal Government, not so much. That's what, less than a month of operations in Iraq? More to the point in the wireless industry, that's a mere 2/3rds of what Sprint declared it has lost because of acquiring Nextel. So... the revenue from the 700 MHz auctions isn't going to significantly change anything, like what might happen if it was applied to a fund that provides subsidies for universal deployment of Broadband Internet Access at a minimum of 5 Mbps to all... or anything.

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.).

Apologies for no Good Day, BWIA updates lately - I've been preoccupied.

Things That Get Me Excited About BWIA Today? 700 MHz auctions are done, netting something like US $19.5B. What excites me is that we'll no longer have to hear the breathless, clueless hype about how 700 MHz will "change things" for Broadband. In most other aspects, the revenue is notable, but for the US Federal Government, not so much. That's what, less than a month of operations in Iraq? More to the point in the wireless industry, that's a mere 2/3rds of what Sprint declared it has lost because of acquiring Nextel. So... the revenue from the 700 MHz auctions isn't going to significantly change anything, like what might happen if it was applied to a fund that provides subsidies for universal deployment of Broadband Internet Access at a minimum of 5 Mbps to all... or anything.