Yuma Wonders Where Its Wi-Fi’s Got To

The city of Yuma, Arizona, has no Wi-Fi network nor a timetable: The Yuma Sun writes about the dark underbelly of private-public partnerships. While Yuma awarded MobilePro’s NeoReach division the rights to build a network, the city doesn’t have much hands-on power over when and how its built. A newly acquired distinct division of MobilePro, Kite, is in charge of the Yuma build-out and didn’t return the reporter’s calls. A local Yuma partner that was brokered into the deal to handle network installation hasn’t heard much from Kite, either. He’s sitting with a warehouse full of gear….

Originally Syndicated via RSS from Wi-Fi Networking News

Wi-Fi in Glasgow Subways

The city in Scotland will get Wi-Fi, cell antennas in subway: The plan is to hook up the 15 subway stations in Glasgow with Wi-Fi, as well as extending mobile phone service. The hope is that this service can be one of the tools to bolster a 2014 Olympics bid….

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Comparing Pure VoIP, VoIP over Wi-Fi

On the heels of my tests of T-Mobile’s HotSpot@Home converged cell/Wi-Fi calling service, I put together a chart of the offerings: I’ve created a chart you can download as a PDF or view as HTML that compares the major combinations of service offerings for VoIP, Internet telephony, and their Wi-Fi components. For instance, Vonage and Speakeasy’s Home VoIP service are both wireline voice plans that rely on an existing home broadband network. They’re fairly close in intent to pure-play voice as a landline replacement. In contrast, Skype’s partners offer Wi-Fi phones but with the exception of Belkin’s–treated separately–Skype phones are meant for unprotected, purposely open, or WEP/WPA/WPA2 secured networks. Few hotspots need apply. Belkin’s Skype phone, with firmware I received and installed today, can use Boingo’s $8 per month mobile service to access over 8,000 hotspots in the US and over 35,000 worldwide. (See article from earlier today.) I’d welcome any comments on the chart. It’s tricky to present online, as most tabular data is, which is why I’ve relied on PDF….

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Spotty Coverage Afflicts Business Travelers

The New York Times builds a story out of anecdotes that rings all too true: There aren’t any numbers in this piece about how frequent business travelers find gaining Internet access a hit-and-miss proposition–do 50 percent of travelers surveyed by firm X have trouble in most stays? We don’t know. But the stories presented are quite familiar. Although I haven’t traveled much in the last couple of years, I’ve found that regardless of what a hotel promises, the truth is often sketchier. Two of my officemates, who produce book events, spent a couple of hours on the phone in a four-star Manhattan hotel recently trying to get online with the in-room service. They wound up at a Starbucks close by, instead. It’s odd that Wi-Fi is singled out; marginal connections are often an issue, but the problems I see are in authentication and network operation, not in signal strength or physical medium issues. The reporter also claims, “most large hotel chains work with dozens of Internet service providers, some of them small local operations, leading to an inconsistent service experience for guests.” That’s news to me, but it could be accurate. Hotels that manage their own access, such as chains that offer free service in their budget and medium-range properties, may be turning to local providers instead of building their own operations or working with a national services firm, like arms of Motorola, IBM, or HP, or with an hotspot infrastructure builder like iBahn (mentioned) or Wayport….

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Milpitas Network Launches

The land of up to three Wi-Fi networks is live with EarthLink: The city may eventually have coverage from MetroFi, EarthLink, and the Wireless Silicon Valley project. EarthLink is offering 30 days of free use starting today to promote the 10-square-mile network. Thereafter, service runs $4 for an hour, $16 for a three-day pass, or $22 per month from EarthLink. The company will resell access to other providers. Their press release cites PeoplePC as a third-aprty reseller, but that firm is owned by EarthLink….

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CLECs’ Revenge: McDowell Confirms Recusal

Without getting too far afield from our main topic here, FCC Commissioner McDowell did the right thing (PDF): It doesn’t matter whether you support or oppose the condition-free merger of AT&T and BellSouth. Robert McDowell shouldn’t vote on the matter, and he agrees. I was stunned when President Bush appointed McDowell to the FCC to one of its three Republican seats (the other two are held by Democrats) because McDowell was working for a group representing CLEC, or competitive local exchange carriers. CLECs stand in opposition to the former Baby Bells, the ILECs (incumbent local exchange carriers). The merger affects Wi-Fi and WiMax because the two ILECs collectively own Cingular, AT&T has deployed a substantial Wi-Fi hotspot network, and BellSouth has pushed out some WiMax and owns 2.3 GHz and 2.5 GHz licenses. While McDowell can be as fair as possible, he’s in a position to know and dislike the games that ILECs play. Further, I wondered how he could vote on a number of major issues involving ILECs. Turns out, McDowell agrees can he can’t vote on this matter. With a 2-2 loggerhead between the other four FCC commissioners, the FCC’s chair broached the subject of un-recusing McDowell. An extremely weak set of arguments to allow McDowell to vote issued forth from the FCC Office of General Counsel–which previously had prepared his ethics statement on taking office in which he specifically agreed to not vote on any matters involving Comptel, the trade group he worked for. It’s lovely to know that someone in his position in government, ostensibly appointed in part for partisan and pro-business attitudes, could state the following: “In all candor, however, I had expected a memorandum making a strong and clear case for my participation. Instead, the Authorization Memo is hesitant, does not acknowledge crucial facts and analyses, and concludes by framing this matter as an ethical coin-toss frozen in mid-air. The document does not provide me with confidence or comfort. Nor does the December 11, 2006, letter responding to the questions posed by Representatives Dingell and Markey. I must emphasize that in no way should anyone interpret my observations as a criticism of Mr. Feder or his staff. As indicated in the Authorization Memo, reasonable minds can differ on this matter. Nonetheless, while I expected the legal equivalent of body armor, I was handed Swiss cheese.” If I were 100-percent in favor of the AT&T-Bellsouth merger–which will inevitably occur–I still would be pleased at this level of ethical behavior. The likely outcome now is that the FCC will require substantially more conditions for the merger than AT&T and BellSouth want. The Democrats on the commission have consistently demanded something more than “it’s good for everyone” as a condition of large telecom mergers….

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Boingo Increases European Presence

Boingo Wireless encompasses more locations from The Cloud, new relationships with seven other European operators: The hotspot aggregator already offered roaming onto several thousand UK The Cloud locations, but adds 1,500 new hotspots in Germany, Scandinavia, and The Netherlands. They picked up GANAG in Germany (Munich’s airport provider), 802:WLAN (300 hotspots in Germany), Travelping (150 in Germany, Spain, UK), AWA (600 in Spain, with 4,000 coming), Mobilander (140 in The Netherlands, and Dutch Antilles), FORTHnet (72 in Greece), and Wjoy (240 in The Netherlands at business venues)….

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Per-Minute Hotspot Access at 15,000 UK Locations

Divine Wireless charges 8p per minute for access to The Cloud, BT OpenZone, and Surf and Sip: The company is aggregated 15,000 locations across the UK into a metered network. The tariff runs £4.80 per hour in intervals of 8p per minute; this is still cheaper than OpenZone’s £6 per hour walk-up rate, which is also the minimum time you can purchase from OpenZone….

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Singapore Youth Admits Wi-Fi Mooching

In a country without chewing gum, can one be free? With Singapore poised to offer Wi-Fi nationwide, and with a free, low-speed versions being offered for a long initial period, it’s somewhat interesting that a youth was charged with (and admitted to) “wireless mooching.” He picked a bad time and place to get bored. The Straits Times reports that 17-year-old Garyl Tan Jia Luo said he was locked out of Internet access by his mother–who thought he was spending too much time online–and accessed an unsecured network while outside at 3 am. The mooched-from neighbor confronted Tan, and, after an argument, called the police. The judge appears to have shown lenience given possible penalties–three years in jail and a $10,000 fine. The judge turned down an offer to impose a small fine, an offer made by Tan’s attorney. The judge suggested that the youth might avoid a criminal record by enlisting in national service earlier than is normally the case. Tan may receive probation if he agrees….

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Big Easy Gets Big Network

EarthLink launches update network in New Orleans: New Orleans set up its own temporary network through donations and its own efforts following Hurricane Katrina’s devastation, but a combination of state law and overall cost seem to have led to them picking a private company to handle details. EarthLink offers a 300 Kbps connection for free across the 20-square-mile network, and will continue to do for the indefinite feature. A faster, 1 Mbps service is available at the usual rates ranging from $4 an hour to $22 per month….

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