It’s not quite a family reunion, but the new AT&T has had its buyout of BellSouth approved by the FCC in a 4-0 vote: The combined firm comprises a large fraction of the original AT&T, but with long-distance no longer a viable business, cell phone operators (including jointly owned Cingular) in fierce customer competition, and the future of broadband a monopoly and duopoly business–it’s not your father’s AT&T. The merger was approved with AT&T agreeing to a host of conditions, including net neutrality, the provision and sale of naked DSL lines, and the divestment of its 2.5 GHz frequency holdings. BellSouth will receive $86b in stock; the combined firms produce $117b in revenue and operation, serve 35m customers, and handle 68.7m phone lines in their territory. Verizon, Qwest, and Embarq (the spunoff division of Sprint) represent the vast majority of the rest of the old Bell infrastructure. One of the FCC’s conditions will damper interest in metro-scale Wi-Fi in the combined AT&T/BellSouth territory: the company must offer new customers basic DSL for $10 a month for 30 months. AT&T has what has been a 12-month deal for $15 per month in its territory, but BellSouth has charged no less than $25 per month. At $10 per month, that sucks some of the life out of the use of Wi-Fi as a DSL or cable replacement for low-end wired broadband, and could affect dozens of cities’ plans, and the ability for operators like EarthLink and MobilePro, which have contracts already in cities covered by the new AT&T. A couple of related conditions also could cause a hiccup in metro-scale Wi-Fi. The combined company must offer free broadband modems to those replacing AT&T and BellSouth dial-up services with broadband. Those modems are generally free-after-rebate today, and AT&T can charge more on its higher-tiered service to recover the modem cost. More significant, however, is the company’s consent to offer broadband in every city in which it is the local phone company. Currently, that’s a market-by-market policy with conditions sometimes negotiated by individual states. They can use alternates to wired broadband, such as satellite broadband, to cover as many as 15 percent of homes in the market. This could put AT&T in a position where it builds out more Wi-Fi (as it is doing now in Riverside, Calif., with MetroFi) or force them into a partnership with Sprint or Clearwire for rural mobile WiMax to fill any gaps. Sprint and Clearwire will certainly be chomping at whatever 2.5 GHz leases that AT&T has to sell. Sprint has said it would pass 100m people around its network launch next year; Clearwire said it has licenses that cover 200m people in the US. Licenses are not in great supply, and Sprint owns a huge percentage of the band. It’s possible that the broadband condition might allow AT&T to broker a combination deal and sale with one of the two future mobile WiMax firms acting as the broadband provider for rural or less-served customers in AT&T markets. The FCC also requires that AT&T offer naked DSL–which will run 768 Kbps downstream for $20 per month–for 30 months after the merger is complete, allowing customers to have broadband without phone service bundled with it. Naked DSL is often used to provide VoIP. AT&T has also pledged to abide by network neutrality principles insofar as they won’t discriminate in what traffic passes over their network. They had considered offering a fast tier of services that would throttle transfer speeds from Web sites and Internet services that hadn’t paid AT&T fees for premium access. The approved merger means that Cingular has one daddy now (it’s not a mommy, let me tell you), with 100-percent ownership in AT&T’s hands. This may allow AT&T to integrate Cingular fully with its other offerings, providing a seamless quadruple play in its landline markets with fixed voice, mobile voice, data, and IPTV in one package. This might also allow Cingular to push faster on fixed-mobile convergence; they’ve already committed to IMS, but they could adopt interim steps to pick up more of the voice over IP and voice over Wi-Fi market….

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Fantastic article by Jem Matzan provides the background and specifics on why support for Wi-Fi in open-source, GPL, and free operating systems is so problematic: Matzan has done a superior job in tying together the technical, political, and legal reasons why it’s just so darn hard for OS developers outside of major, proprietary, for-fee releases (i.e., Windows and Mac OS X) to obtain the necessary pieces to support any given Wi-Fi device. (Mac OS X is quasi-proprietary: Large parts of the system are dependent on open-source and related software, but Apple keeps many elements of its system private.) Matzan points out that at the most minimal level, simple permission to redistribute firmware without conditions along with an OS would enable greater support with less effort. Few Wi-Fi equipment makers allow this. Further, direct access to underlying functions would also make integration simpler. Again, few companies allow this. Going one step further, Matzan attempted to interview every major Wi-Fi adapter manufacturer, including Atheros, Broadcom, Intel, and Marvell, the big four that rewrote the Task Group N direction last year, but received no real information or response; same with Texas Instruments. Atmel, Ralink Technologies, and Realtek were enormously more forthcoming….

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A/V equipment maker Gefen says they’ll ship several ultrawideband cable replacements in 2007 (release not yet on site): The company will ship the Wireless USB Extender, a four-port USB hub that connects via UWB to a USB dongle on a computer, for $249 in January. Of course, last January, they said, “Cable-free USB 2.0 extension is a reality for…Gefen…The unit…marks the initial release of UWB-enabled product for the US market.” Ha, ha! Just kidding! We meant, January 2007! Last year’s product, which they claimed to “showcase” at CES wasn’t really shown. At Macworld Expo, a few days later, I asked Mr. Gefen himself for a demo, but they didn’t even have a plastic brick as a prototype. Belkin had a plastic brick at their booth, but it had no innards. Both Belkin and Gefen had planned to be the early partners of Freescale, which now is apparently out of the UWB business, as far as the tea leaves suggest. (They still have this very slight page describing that part of their operations.) UWB chipmaker Wisair, a member of the WiMedia Alliance, has developed the reference design from which Belkin and Gefen have derived their products. The device supports connections at up to 30 feet; Gefen promises 30 feet and a wall for coverage. It does require an AC power source, and all the associated USB devices plug into it. So it’s hardly free of cables, but it’s rid itself of a host-to-USB cable. With integrated UWB, every peripheral will have Certified Wireless USB built in, allowing each to be separately powered and located, rather than spoked off a hub. Belkin has been stating for several weeks that their Cable-Free USB Hub would be available Any Time Now. Most recently, they posted a press release on Dec. 4 stating that mid-December was the target date. As of today, the product isn’t even listed on their site–not to mention available for purchase. They had the temerity to write this in that press release: “As the first UWB product to hit the U.S. market…” A little premature, folks. (Their list price is $200; can Gefen sustain $250 on the basis of their brand?) Is this vaporware? Not quite. They’re just all a bit too eager to push the releases out before the product has shipped. At CES, I believe several dozen USB products will be demonstrated, although almost none will be shipping. Perhaps none demonstrated will be shipping. But within a quarter or so, there should be a number of items actually available for purchase, probably at too high a price point except for certain markets and some early adopters. Compare $200 or $250 for this early UWB-with-UWB hub with $3.19 for a 15-foot USB cable. Gefen, by the way, has also said that they will have two somewhat more interesting UWB items later in 2007–wireless component audio and wireless HDMI extenders. HDMI sounds particularly useful, as it would be lovely to stop snaking cables behind television sets. It could also be extremely nice in situations where you’d like the TV set mounted separately from the rest of a home-entertainment system. Update: Gizmodo has some more pricing details. The component audio extender apparently handles 1080i, which I don’t get, given that 1080i is a video standard. It will cost $1,500 and reach 300 feet, line of sight, which is far beyond UWB standards. In fact, there is some concern that attempts to push the limits of UWB will run afoul of the principal of non-interference based on FCC rules. The wireless HDMI extender will use Tzero technology, spit 400 Mbps over 30 feet, and carry up to 1080i resolution for $500. There’s also a VGA extender, Gizmodo reports….

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San Francisco, Google, EarthLink still negotiating: I happened to interview an EarthLink exec a few days ago on non-Wi-Fi topic during the middle of the city negotiations. He sounded a bit weary. The talks have lasted months, and they’re still haven’t agreed on the final details of what will be offered for free, and what network charges for for-fee service will be. A project to unwire the 910 square miles of Oakland County pushed to mid-08 completion: The project was intended to offer both Wi-Fi and mobile WiMax, with the latter being used as a filler for areas in which Wi-Fi wasn’t cost effective or had other limitations. The network was planned to get running by mid-2006, but the first phase didn’t launch until fall. The local utility substantially delayed the project due to what may be reasonable issues about utility poles. Rather than offer blanket access, there have been reports over the last many months of needing permits for each pole. I have heard from multiple sources that utility poles can be in all kinds of conditions, especially in rural areas, and adding addition services might require replacing the pole or upgrading a temporary fix (like some kind of extender or a waiver that allowed a short pole) into a permanent solution. Nearly 27,000 poles are required for project operator MichTel to build out the network. Another part of the delay appears to be a switch to some kind of mesh technology by MichTel, too. Illinois shelves rest-stop Wi-Fi: The state’s transportation department received a single proposal when putting out the service for bid….

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The Wall Street Journal reports that the efforts by Lufthansa, Panasonic Avionics, and others to have a transition plan in place for Connexion’s demise are delayed: Panasonic made the surprise announcement a few months ago that they were considering launching a Connexion successor which would use a lighter-weight set of gear (less weight = less fuel) and a smaller antenna (less drag = less fuel) that would allow them to charge less and also push a lot more bandwidth over the same Ku band satellite connection. They would also have a much lower transponder bill in their formulation. Boeing isn’t involved in this successor effort, but is supportive of the notion. The Journal says that despite the involvement of Lufthansa, which has the most planes in the world equipped with Connexion gear, and the participation of satellite operator SES and Connexion integrator ViaSat, that they still can’t get a deal together. Because of unspecified “financial and regulatory complications,” the timetable is now stretching into 2008, if the various interested airlines and partners can pull it together even then. My research into the costs of in-flight broadband using the alternative Inmarsat fourth-generation satellite network–two of three satellites launched so far–has made me think that unless a Ku band solution can be developed, we won’t see anything like inexpensive broadband in the air via satellite and not outside the Americas. It’s just too expensive. Mobile phone calls will travel over Inmarsat’s links because of the potential high per-minute calling rate and the low bandwidth required relative to almost any purpose that requires the Internet. In the US, Canada, Mexico, and the Caribbean, AirCell will likely be able to deliver a cost-effective air-to-ground broadband system. They pushed back their launch date from potentially late 2007 to early 2008 a few months ago. AirCell has a US spectrum license, but believes they can negotiate with the other countries involved for an extension into their territories, as Verizon AirFone did with their service. The costs for AirCell are enormously lower than they were for Connexion because no satellite leases are involved, and the equipment is substantially less. An article at CNN today mentions AirCell and Connexion when talking about Emirates Airlines expected January 2007 launch of in-flight mobile phone use via an onboard picocell. Emirates will use OnAir’s system….

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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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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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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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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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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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