Way back in the day, when I first began covering the emergence of BWIA, the smallest Wireless ISPs (WISPs) were hacking up 802.11b radios to add external antenna connectors, long runs of coax, and big external antennas, all because that was the cheapest way to do BWIA, and cheap was the name of the game.
Later all of that evolved into purpose-built BWIA systems - some built on 802.11 silicon, others more purpose-built, and the WISPs decried that all of that was stil too expensive - they needed Customer Premise Equipment (CPE) radios that were less than $100.
Eventually they got that, and more as the technology, competition, and volume continued to evolve.
What's been interesting to watch is that there are companies that are choosing to specialize in the WISP market, which is particularly brutal. WISPs demand low prices, can only buy in small volumes, low prices, they absolutely require solid technical support, low prices, high reliability, and continual evolution of the products to match the evolving nature of delivering Broadband Internet Access. And, oh yes, Low Prices. So it's impressive when a vendor chooses to target the WISP market, and can deliver, such as Tranzeo Wireless Technologies, and emerging in the last couple of years, Ubiquiti Networks.
I thought that Ubiquiti's previous generation of products - PowerStation, NanoStation, PicoStation were very cool and set new performance, capablity, and price points in the WISP market.
But Ubiquiti just announced a real game-changer in the WISP market - a product they call "The Bullet". (Ubiquiti has a very good press section, with good graphics of all their products... except, regrettably "The Bullet"... so I'll have to describe it). The Bullet is an very small, inline BWIA radio. It's cylindrical, perhaps 1" in diameter, perhaps 4-6" long, with a well-protected RJ-45 jack on one end and a Type-N RF connector on the other end. It has an LED bar graph on it for received signal strength for easy alignment in the field. It's designed to live outdoors and connect inline with an external antenna. It's one those dream BWIA products that makes things so simple in deploying BWIA - Ethernet and Power in, RF out, and that's done within inches of the external, outdoor antenna - no feedline loss or expensive, long, difficult runs of coax.
The ease of deployment alone is sufficiently compelling that Ubiquiti is going to get a lot of takers. But the real game-changer is the price:
If Ubiquiti Networks matches The Bullet's performance and reliability with its ease-of-deployment and price...
Keep in mind that this is a product that's "designed" for WISPs and as such it's got some features just for WISPs. One is that Ubiquiti has made it possible to put alternative firmware on its products that alter the usual 802.11 MAC Layer. Another such feature is smaller channel sizes, as small as 5 MHz. Ubiquiti has demonstrated with its previous products that it really understands the WISP market, and "The Bullet" with the features and that incredibly compelling price point...
Imagine for a moment how such an inexpensive, capable product changes things?
What a great time to be a WISP with products like this, the ability to build reliable backhaul links using 3.65 GHz licensed-lite spectrum and carrier-grade WiMAX products, and Ubiquiti products like this for the final mile(s) delivery of Broadband Internet Access.
With this development, Tranzeo must really be feeling the heat of competition.
Now if Ubiqiti can just come out with a version of The Bullet for the 902-928 MHz band.. or (my Amateur Radio heart a' fluttering... 420-450 MHz)... Wow.
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) ; Sprint Mobile Broadband service using a Sierra Wireless 595U USB modem - 1xEV-DO Rev. A on a MacBook Pro laptop.
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