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Epson Wi-Fi Color: New or Not?
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No Wi-Fly Zone
Intersil Announces G Timetable
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Choo Choo 0.1
Limited Exposure
Funny Name, Great Idea
Boingo 1.0

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January 2002 Archives

January 31, 2002

Epson Wi-Fi Color: New or Not?

By Glenn Fleishman

The Circuits section of the New York Times reports on Epson's C80WN today. It's a C80 color printer with a wireless print server plugged into its parallel port. I'm not sure quite what to make of this. It's $450, so nearly $300 more than the printer by itself. (I just bought one.) It obviously has the drivers necessary to work as a print server with the C80, but can't an ordinary print spooler work with it as well? There are several home gateway style access points for $250 down to under $200 that offer a full AP, Ethernet switch, and a parallel port for print spooling. One of those plus the printer is a lot more functionality for as much as $100 less.

Posted by Glenn Fleishman at 4:09 PM | Permanent Link | Categories: Unclassified

January 30, 2002

News for 1/30/02

By Glenn Fleishman

Concourse to launch in Minneapolis/St. Paul in March: after months of pushing the date back, almost certainly due largely to airports' changes in priority, this article from the Star Tribune quotes Concourse as launching March 1 in Minneapolis-St. Paul's airport. The article's opening paragraph and headline overstates the uniqueness of this event, saying that this will be the first major airport to get uniform coverage. It's not, as is well documented elsewhere, but it is an interesting and unique combination of service provider (Concourse) and back-office/roaming manager (iPass). A second version of the story also appeared which claims that travelers with existing Wi-Fi cards won't pay any fees.

Dick Snyder of Concourse wrote to alert me of the article and note that there is no free service. In fact, everybody pays. The articles note that Concourse hired iPass, but it seems that the arrangement is more cooperative. Concourse has a partnership with iPass to provide back-office billing and account management.

WiFi Metro officially launches: WiFi Metro launches its for-fee service today with about 40 hot spots and 50 more in the works. For $19.95 per month, you get access to their network plus their JumpStart partners. I'm seeing the mesh start to get finer.

Still no word on Sky.Link Internet Plus: the Canadian Wi-Fi hot spot provider is missing. Any leads?

Posted by Glenn Fleishman at 7:33 AM | Permanent Link | Categories: Unclassified

January 29, 2002

No Wi-Fly Zone

By Glenn Fleishman

USA Today reports on secure organizations banning Wi-Fi: makes sense and I applaud it. If you don't have the resources to make sure that your Wi-Fi network is secure, and you're operating a going concern (whether high-security or not), you simply shouldn't run it. Developments in the coming weeks and months should make these current concerns moot as WEP gets its repair, VPNs become a given, and other methodologies and best practices for security continue to emerge. [via Alan Reiter]

Scholander's WISP thesis report from Sweden [PDF]: Joakim Scholander and two fellow students just finished their graduate thesis at Lund University's economics school in Sweden on wireless ISPs; this 94-page thesis analyzes the business behind these firms. (If you don't have a PDF reader, you can use Adobe's free PDF-to-HTML converter, which allows you to enter a PDF's URL and have the page displayed as text.)

Not NATty at AT&T Broadband: in the latest move to demonstrate their lack of technical understanding, AT&T Broadband is offering full-price networking gear from Linksys for their customers with NAT disabled. If you want to buy it at full list from AT&T, you have to pay $4.95 per additional machine on your network. The upside: these machines get real, routable IPs. The downside: very, very few consumer machines require static IPs and, in fact, would be better served with nonroutable addresses as the first stage in firewalling themselves. (The second stage would be a personal firewall package like ZoneAlarm for Windows or Intego NetBarrier for Mac.) The AT&T guy quoted in the link above said they typically track problems back to NAT, and they can't access machines for troubleshooting that are NAT'd. I'd agree with the first point; misconfigured NAT is probably a good reason why machines couldn't see the Net, but it's more likely DHCP configuration on the client machine that's the problem. As for the second, if I were an ISP of any variety, I'd have a simple program for Mac, Windows, and Linux that a user could run at their discretion that would diagnose network ills and, if it could reach a Net (via NAT or not), send some diagnostic information to me. That makes sense. No NAT? Not.

Intersil has decent fourth quarter: I don't pretend to a financial analyst, but it is nice to see the dominant Wi-Fi chipset maker producing good financial returns at the same time as it continues to push into smaller form factors, 802.11g chipset manufacturer, and other wireless ventures.

G, What about 3G?

Don't think I missed Verizon's launch into 3G space: I'm just not qualified to discuss the details yet. Verizon's launch is interesting, and Alan Reiter thinks it's real: maybe 40 to 50 Kbps is achievable. But one of the primary issues we'll find with cell data transmission (3G and otherwise) is that the pool of bandwidth that's shared among users of the same cell across frequencies winds up being pretty small.

In Wi-Fi, we may have 11 Mbps raw bandwidth to play with, of which individual users will burst to the speed of the upstream Net connection (or office wired LAN speed). Cell users, by contrast, will find themselves splitting much, much smaller pools in the (maximum) hundreds of Kbps. Just like I warned - a voice in the wilderness - that cable modem users would (and now are) ultimately be doomed by the very success of the pooled mechanism that gave them as much as 10 Mbps download speed, so, too, 3G and other technologies will wind up splitting bursty transmissions into tiny, queued pieces.

The answer, of course, is Palm's new approach, borrowed liberally from RIM Blackberry's success: continuous connections which handle most of the receipt and transmission as an ongoing task not as a wait-for-it operation. 3G handsets and data interface devices will serve their users best when they figure out how to spool information in and out: email is easy. But how about Web pages that you request and then a tone sounds when it's arrived? Other uses that will work just fine with tiny amounts of data including SMS and directory service or similar low-impact information requests.

Remember, though, that all of this will be severely limited by the metered charges and people's initial sticker shocks on their first bills - even the early adopters. If I'm paying per byte, I have to think very carefully about what I send and receive. Wi-Fi hot spot installations so far has largely been about time (minutes, 24-hour session, per month), not about bytes, because the upstream cost is a fixed DSL, T1, or other provisioned circuit.

What it boils down to is that number crunchers, marketers, salespeople, and executives like to think about units in their own industries: K is what the cell telcos are paying for. Consumers and businesses, perversely, don't think about cell minutes or data bytes or the rest: they think in chunks. A conversation. A file, An email. How problematic for us to learn to think the way companies think in order to use their technology.

I defer to Alan Reiter and his apparently infinite knowledge of this field for additional commentary. Read him. Subscribe to him. Possibly worship him.

Posted by Glenn Fleishman at 2:42 PM | Permanent Link | Categories: Unclassified

January 28, 2002

Intersil Announces G Timetable

By Glenn Fleishman

Intersil announces near-term 802.11g chipset availability: Q2 of this year, Intersil will offer some limited quantites; Q3 in mass numbers. Note that Intersil carefully mentions this is a "draft standard"; 802.11g has not been ratified. The encoding algorithm compromis allowed the process to continue going forward, but experts expect that it will be year's end before we see ratification of the final standard.

Posted by Glenn Fleishman at 2:43 PM | Permanent Link | Categories: Unclassified

January 26, 2002

Sensible Security Advice

By Glenn Fleishman

Electronic Warfare Associates releases 20-page PDF with sensible advice for securing wireless networks using existing technology: they don't claim this methodology is 100 percent secure; rather, they describe a series of sensible, generally inexpensive steps that ensure the best possible results with the least amount of ongoing maintenance and concerns. The paper is available in PDF form from their security white papers page; you can also use Adobe's free PDF-to-HTML converter, which allows you to enter a PDF's URL and have the page displayed as text.

Posted by Glenn Fleishman at 12:41 PM | Permanent Link | Categories: Unclassified

January 24, 2002

News for 1/24/2002

By Glenn Fleishman

3Com's full-court wireless press: the company is shooting Wi-Fi equipment into every niche. I've been working with the lovely, powerful, simple Wireless Workgroup Bridge this last week; review coming soon at oreillynet.

Review of Rob Flickenger's Building Wireless Community Networks in Linux Journal: Rob's new book is pretty fabulous; I'm still reading it, so watch for my own review. You can find the best price on the book here if you like to buy online.

Springfield, Missouri, talks Wi-Fi: the local public utility board's out-there member thinks Wi-Fi should blanket the town. And why not?

PC World reviews 802.11a equipment: the name Wi-Fi5 is already in use despite WECA's lack of a certification program or even a formal launch! That shows the power of the brand.

Posted by Glenn Fleishman at 9:08 AM | Permanent Link | Categories: Unclassified

January 23, 2002

Choo Choo 0.1

By Glenn Fleishman

Yahoo, Compaq, Amtrak: Wireless Train Troika

Amtrak teams with Compaq to offer branded Yahoo services via wireless (not Wi-Fi): the press release indicates that you must use the Compaq iPaqs that will be freely available in Yahoo wrapped train cars. The service used, according to a Yahoo spokesperson, is a combination of Sierra Wireless Aircards and GoAmerica with service running over a variety of providers depending on the part of the country.

In my talks with a variety of folks in the Wi-Fi world, the idea of putting 802.11b in trains isn't unheard of or impossible. Because of the train construction (metal, mostly), each car would need an AP, or specific cars would have to be labeled. The train would have to relay service via microwave or satellite, most likely.

One of my editors at Peachpit Press described her former job's commute: a trip down the East Bay to San Jose, California. One or more people in her train car had Metricom Ricochet service and would set up a software base station on their Macintosh. The other folks in the train car would connect via Wi-Fi to that Mac and get continuous, low-speed service for free, essentially. Talk about opportunistic networks.

Just wait until GPRS comes to the laptop - at a per byte rate, everyone in the train car will have to pony up for the software base station operator. Hey, there might be a business there. Anybody remember the Kingston Trio song, He Never Returned?

Down Under and Way Down Under

Jim Hamlin writes from the Antarctic (I kid you not): "We are using 802.11b in Antarctica with great success. For example, one of our links uses Cisco 340 bridges 55 miles apart, a 21dBi dish, and a bi-directional amplifier. The link has never dropped due to inclement weather, and we have the worst weather imaginable. The scientists are using wireless NICs in their laptops, which link to an access point, the wired network and out via a wireless bridge. All this is done in the most remote parts of Antarctica." (I'm guessing the FCC doesn't have jurisdiction down there, but who does?)

Jim wrote to ask about whether I knew of methodologies or test software that would allow him to measure load and other factors on their access points to assure continuous good service and throughput. Suggestions are welcome; send to me and I'll be happy to forward them on.

A community network in Sydney, Australia gets the religion: Mega WAN Project: if we think telcos are a problem in the U.S., just ask anybody anywhere else. Sydney Wireless is using mapping, Web sites, and a desire to not pay telcos to string together a city-wide net.

Other News

Kodak forms wireless group: not sure how I missed this significant announcement from two weeks ago. Kodak could easily leverage new Compact Flash form factor Wi-Fi cards, and offer dual-CF cameras, for instance: one or both could be used for storage; one would have an antenna hook up for Wi-Fi transmission. Either transmit directly when you take the photo to a properly equipped computer, or transfer via Wi-Fi or 802.15.3. (The 802.15 Working Group is dedicated to Personal Area Networks like, but not including, Bluetooth. 802.15.1 is working on converging a spec with the Bluetooth SIG; 802.15.2 developed a PAN/WLAN co-existence spec; 802.15.3 is the high-rate PAN group.)

The mother of all FAQs on electromagnetic radiation and health risk: this is an extraordinary resource wtih comprehensive answers and a bibliography to refer to for general information and peer-reviewed studies.

Holding pattern for intra-airplane Internet: airlines explicitly put plan to put Internet access in planes on hold.

Airify and Helic announce GRPS/Wi-Fi chipset collaboration: this could be the Holy Grail, kids. A two-chip chipset that would allow a manufacturer to produce a PC Card or PCI card that could handle both next-generation cellular data and our favorite 2.4 GHz signal modulation. [Via Alan Reiter]

Proxim hedges bets; to merge with Western Multiplex: Proxim has its fingers deep into HomeRF, the future of which is still an interesting uncertainty. Its merger with Farallon in 2000 added Wi-Fi gear; the Farallon brand recently disappeared into the Proxim line. Western Multiplex makes enterprise-grade high-speed wireless systems, and it gives the combined company a real consumer to telco range of customer and product.

Posted by Glenn Fleishman at 9:40 AM | Permanent Link | Categories: Unclassified | 2 Comments

January 22, 2002

Limited Exposure

By Glenn Fleishman

Wired News reports on the electromagnetic exposure debate: I've been reading research into this issue since the early 90s, including the legendary VDT News, Microwave News, and the actual text of the Swedish and Finnish studies so widely cited. The fact is that 25 years after widespread adoption of VDTs and CRTs in workplaces, there is no pattern that has emerged of any kind.

Prudence dictates caution, however, and, fortunately, that caution has been taken. Devices are constantly being redesigned to emit less and less electromagnetic radiation. LCD displays, for instance, emit a fraction of what CRTs do. New cell phones less than old cell phones. And so on.

In my dealings with people, the main confusion is the difference between radio waves used to carry information and ionizing radiation which can actually disrupt living tissue and cause a variety of reaction and disease. (As someone who voluntarily subjected themselves to 4,000 rem for part of a successful cancer treatment four years ago, I believe I can speak to the difference.)

Radio waves at the wattages we're used to dealing with don't knock apart your DNA, cause burns, or otherwise cause harm. Microwaves, in which category the 2.4 GHz spectrum and 5 GHz spectrum used in 802.11b and 802.11a respectively fall, require high intensities at close distances to produce a measurable reaction of any kind.

As the Wired News article reports, the governments standard is one inch per watt distance out of sheer caution, not empirical evidence; Wi-Fi devices tend to operate below 100 milliwatts, meaning you shouldn't be closer than 1/10th of an inch to the actual broadcast source.

Electromagnetic radiation dissipates from its source in an inverse relationship: the power drop-off is drastic even a few inches away, much less feet.

The next time someone warns you about the cell phone or Wi-Fi card or microwave oven say, honey, there's no enough energy by the time it hits me to change the temperature of water a millionth of a degree.

I hope that a long-term study (of which many must be underway) will finally reveal the actual risk or lack thereof. I do believe there is some correlation between electromagnetic radiation and the potential for physical reaction. The evidence to date, the most convincing and reliable out there, doesn't create any worthwhile extrapolable link.

Posted by Glenn Fleishman at 7:46 AM | Permanent Link | Categories: Unclassified

January 21, 2002

Funny Name, Great Idea

By Glenn Fleishman

Nobody Beats the Wiz: Jacksonville, Florida, starts an initiative for business-sponsored ubiquitous Wi-Fi service. They call it JaxWiz (Jacksonville Wireless Internet Spot). I would maybe have opted for JaxHop (Jacksonville HOt sPot).

Linksys integrated PCI card with XP drivers: I'm not sure about the rest of you with PCs, but I am sick and tired of wrestling with CardBus PCI adapters and their associated drivers. I spent more time this morning on top of hours in the last few months just trying to get Windows XP to take such an item. I gave up. I checked Linksys's site and their list of Windows XP drivers, and see that the WMP11 integrated PCI card (using, ironically, a mini-PCI card) has native drivers. A check at Shopper.com turned it up for under $100 from the Gateway Accessory Store, run by Necx. (Amazon.com lists it for about the same price, but doesn't have it in stock.) Joe Bob says: I ordered one. We'll see how it works.

Posted by Glenn Fleishman at 12:43 PM | Permanent Link | Categories: Unclassified

January 20, 2002

Boingo 1.0

By Glenn Fleishman

Boingo delivers 1.0 of its Wi-Fi software: Boingo announced this evening that their 1.0 release is available for download, and that 400 locations are included in their initial rollout. As the company said in December and reiterated in today's press release, several hundred more hot spots will be available as part of their first pass. It's unclear at the moment why they're starting with 400, although the locations mentioned correspond closely to Wayport outlets. The next wave mentions a number of airports that have service from the former Global Digital Media (unreachable since summer) and partners of hereUare Communications. More news as it emerges.

Posted by Glenn Fleishman at 8:13 PM | Permanent Link | Categories: Unclassified

January 19, 2002

News for 1/19/2002

By Glenn Fleishman

Financial analysis of Boingo and wireless ISPs: TheDeal.com reports on Boingo in depth and talks about the market conditions for makers of equipments, wireless ISPs, and the near-term prospects for Bluetooth.

Posted by Glenn Fleishman at 4:12 PM | Permanent Link | Categories: Unclassified

January 18, 2002

News for 1/18/2002

By Glenn Fleishman

Forbes disses initial GPRS roll-out in U.S. via practical anecdotal use: my friend and colleague Steve Manes demos VoiceStream's new 3G GPRS service and walks away unimpressed.

One radio chip, many standards: Amphion creates a radio chip for 5 GHz that can support either 802.11a or the European HiperLAN2 standard. This is a good development as it further abstracts the differences between standards, reducing cost of deployment.

Wi-Fighting Terrorism: or at least the vestiges thereof. Wireless devices are used in airports to help provide rapid deployment and instant checks on people's status. Of course, having this much ready information available about any individual raises the hackles of those who believe that people should be relatively anonymous unless a specific profile is triggered (not racial: general threat and random screening). But who knows: maybe they'll use this form of instant background check at gun shows, next.

Posted by Glenn Fleishman at 9:52 AM | Permanent Link | Categories: Unclassified

January 17, 2002

News for 1/17/2002

By Glenn Fleishman

Sky.Link Internet Plus goes MIA? Unfortunately, we may have the latest public space wireless ISP casualty. The Canadian firm Sky.Link Internet Plus has a non-functional Web site and the phone number I've used to reach them in the past is out of service. I have sent email, and would appreciate a report from anyone with direct knowledge. Sky.Link operated airports Wi-Fi access in Ottawa and Calgary, in addition to dozens of hotel locations, including several in resort towns like Banff. They have been in business for a few years, and had a sensible alternative pricing structure: per hour or a monthly service plan.

MobileStar update from Wireless Week: an excellent piece of reporting on the Starbucks/MobileStar relationship that continues to hammer home Starbucks's unwillingness to face the real marketplace reality for partnerships with wireless ISPs. VoiceStream should be nearing its acquisition of MobileStar's assets from the bankruptcy proceedings based on their original plan last year. More to come, I'm sure. (Note the quotes from the increasingly ubiquitous Alan Reiter who sent me this item.)

AT&T Broadband offers in-home networking via wireless: continuing a trend that RBOCs (regional telcos) and others have been pursuing for at least a year, AT&T Broadband will use wireless as another tool in helping users network multiple machines in their homes. They'll use Linksys equipment.

Posted by Glenn Fleishman at 7:45 AM | Permanent Link | Categories: Unclassified

January 16, 2002

News for 1/16/2002

By Glenn Fleishman

BerstAlert radio program covers free wireless networks tonight: 8 Pacific/11 Eastern. Guests include my colleague, the very wise Alan Reiter.

Wired News reports that HomeRF's usage keeps slipping relative to 802.11b: the first brief in the article discusses a Cahner's/InStat report which shows Wi-Fi gaining market share. Of course, because the market grew so much in 2001, HomeRF's absolute unit must have increased as well. HomeRF wasn't shipping its 2.0 (10 Mbps) equipment until past summer, so much of what was shipped was likely the older flavor.

Posted by Glenn Fleishman at 7:38 AM | Permanent Link | Categories: Unclassified

January 15, 2002

Trouble in the Air

By Glenn Fleishman

ComputerWorld publicizes security problems in airport/airlines use of Wi-Fi: a superb report details some of the recent exposures of holes in the airports and airlines use of Wi-Fi. The challenged institutions claim that even if hackers (in some cases, people who obviously just select an SSID) get on the network, data is still secure. Maybe. Getting on the network is a good first step in getting to applications: it allows iterative probing and buffer overflow attempts.

Meanwhile, this morning I spent a highly entertaining and informative two and a half hours talking with two Swedish gents from Homerun's business development unit about Telia's deployment of public space Wi-Fi. With over 300 hot spots and services reaching into Denmark, Norway, and soon Finland, Homerun is generating real-world experience in how users deal with high-speed data on the road. More on this as I have a chance to distill our conversation.

Posted by Glenn Fleishman at 4:21 PM | Permanent Link | Categories: Unclassified

January 10, 2002

Mira, Mira!

By Glenn Fleishman

Bill makes it too easy. By naming Microsoft's new concept product Mira, it's a quick leap to the joke, Mira, Mira! (which means "look, look" in Spanish). Mira isn't a product, it's a concept. It may be produced by ViewSonic and others by the end of the year. Whether it's useful, Microsoft doesn't care. Their job is to present something innovative. Except that other companies have offered and withdrawn similar products already.

MIra is a wireless touchscreen that's supposed to serve as a control center for a home's devices, but also be able to link up with a computer, all wirelessly. It's a nice notion, but cost and utility are probably the preventative factors from making this a near-term reality. Consumers won't spend thousands of dollars to turn their heat up and down. People who actually use computers aren't that fond of touchscreens. And so on.

What's more interesting is Moxi, a kind of everything-and-the-kitchen-sink home digital media device that will record TV digitally, tune programs, and distribute its service throughout a house via 802.11a. This is the first serious application of 802.11a's fat pipe and clear spectrum.

Moxi could be quickly transformative because it combines many features that consumers are buying in separate, expensive boxes, and it will be distributed by cable and satellite operators. The biggest disappointment with my new ReplayTV is that it has no capacity for wireless; I had to drill a new hole in my home to hook it into my broadband connection, which seems hopelessly out of date in the era of cheap Wi-Fi.

Meanwhile, the only real news at Macworld for the wireless community is the addition of Macintosh drivers for the Skyline 802.11b USB Adapter. The unit is now $150 and is a perfect fit for lots of situations in which a card slot (PC or PCI) isn't available, such as the original couple million iMacs. Or, perhaps, my wonky PC running Windows XP in which I cannot get an internal PCI card to work.

Computerworld on Boingo: the article mentions Sprint PCS's interest and investment. (An alert reader emailed me several days ago that Sprint PCS invested in Sky Dayton's incubator firm eCompanies, not directly in Boingo, however.)

Posted by Glenn Fleishman at 11:14 PM | Permanent Link | Categories: Unclassified | 3 Comments

Mira, Mira! Look at ME!

By Glenn Fleishman

Bill makes it too easy. By naming Microsoft's new concept product Mira, it's a quick leap to the joke, Mira, Mira! (which means "look, look" in Spanish). Mira isn't a product, it's a concept. It may be produced by ViewSonic and others by the end of the year. Whether it's useful, Microsoft doesn't care. Their job is to present something innovative. Except that other companies have offered and withdrawn similar products already.

MIra is a wireless touchscreen that's supposed to serve as a control center for a home's devices, but also be able to link up with a computer, all wirelessly. It's a nice notion, but cost and utility are probably the preventative factors from making this a near-term reality. Consumers won't spend thousands of dollars to turn their heat up and down. People who actually use computers aren't that fond of touchscreens. And so on.

What's more interesting is Moxi, a kind of everything-and-the-kitchen-sink home digital media device that will record TV digitally, tune programs, and distribute its service throughout a house via 802.11a. This is the first serious application of 802.11a's fat pipe and clear spectrum.

Moxi could be quickly transformative because it combines many features that consumers are buying in separate, expensive boxes, and it will be distributed by cable and satellite operators. The biggest disappointment with my new ReplayTV is that it has no capacity for wireless; I had to drill a new hole in my home to hook it into my broadband connection, which seems hopelessly out of date in the era of cheap Wi-Fi.

Meanwhile, the only real news at Macworld for the wireless community is the addition of Macintosh drivers for the Skyline 802.11b USB Adapter. The unit is now $150 and is a perfect fit for lots of situations in which a card slot (PC or PCI) isn't available, such as the original couple million iMacs. Or, perhaps, my wonky PC running Windows XP in which I cannot get an internal PCI card to work.

Computerworld on Boingo: the article mentions Sprint PCS's interest and investment. (An alert reader emailed me several days ago that Sprint PCS invested in Sky Dayton's incubator firm eCompanies, not directly in Boingo, however.)

Posted by Glenn Fleishman at 9:04 AM | Permanent Link | Categories: Unclassified

January 7, 2002

Apple's iMac and Wireless

By Glenn Fleishman

Apple announced its new LCD-based iMac line of desktop computers today which feature antennas that run from its unique base up through an articulated arm into the sides of the flatscreen display. Apple pioneered the use of 802.11b in its AirPort system, and its also innovative in how it incorporates antennas into the products themselves. Of course, this backfires in the case of the Titanium PowerBook, which has such good RF blocking on its innards that the two antennas built into it don't radiate or receive as much as they should.

Posted by Glenn Fleishman at 1:21 PM | Permanent Link | Categories: Unclassified

January 5, 2002

Quiet Week

By Glenn Fleishman

It will be a quiet week at the old 802.11b Networking News, as I head on Jan. 6 to the Macworld Expo and Conference in San Francisco. Steve Jobs, Apple's CEO, is making a splash, and rumors indicate it could be around a device that has wireless communication built in. Watch for some Wi-Fi reports (hopefully via Wi-Fi) from the show floor if it's warranted. Otherwise, I'll be back to full-scale coverage next week.

Posted by Glenn Fleishman at 10:01 AM | Permanent Link | Categories: Unclassified

January 3, 2002

Little, Late, Lame

By Glenn Fleishman

After years of trying, FCC reallocates bits and pieces: the FCC, after years of being mandated to work with other governmental agencies to free a few hundred MHz of bandwidth below 3 GHz, released another 27 MHz today. It's not the FCC's fault that it's small and scattered; it's a real victory. But it highlights the problems in having pre-allocated so many bands with such abandon up into the 90s, and then having policy set by legislation instead of by interested parties in the public and privates sectors, as they Europeans do.

In Europe, the World Radio Conference (WRC), which hardly represents the whole world, sets harmonization of frequency use to ensure commercial, military, and interests in the public good are all served from country to country in the same way. In the US, we have no such coordinating agency. The NTIA (National Telecommunication and Information Agency, part of the Department of Commerce) is the closest thing: it's an advocacy group, though, not a policy or regulation setting one. The FCC tries to cut the baby in half by facilitating interests in the Congress, Administration, and elsewhere, and the baby winds up in neatly diced cubes on the floor.

Until such point as Congress has the will to either join the WRC (if they'll have us), or set up a group with teeth, we'll have a disastrous frequency policy that may have consequences for American competitiveness. The head of the CTIA (Cellular Telecommunication and Internet Association) said, for instance, that the failure of the U.S. to execute a coordinated 3G (third generation) frequency policy with Europe and Asia assures huge advances and cheaper equipment outside the U.S., costing consumers and businesses extra billions. (This is somewhat in question as the whole European and Asian 3G strategy now appears to be near financial ruin, but the point is well taken.)

As long as Congress tries to legislate bandwidth by meeting in closed rooms late and night and inserting auction and spectrum requirements in budget bills (1997, 1999, 2000, etc.), our spectrum managemet will be poor. As long as we pursue pipe dreams in order to free up spectrum (digital television being primary among them), we'll be in short supply as interesting services develop and we can't take advantage of them.

Meanwhile, the FCC apparently is about to approve ultra wideband (UWB) technology. UWB makes a bet that extremely short and frequent bursts across large swaths of bandwidth in use by others won't disrupt those other users. We'll see: it hasn't been tested in real-world applications yet, but it has remarkable potential to vastly increase bandwidth, penetration, and range.

Posted by Glenn Fleishman at 7:50 AM | Permanent Link | Categories: Unclassified

January 2, 2002

News for 1/2/02

By Glenn Fleishman

A handsomely written article on real-world use of a Handspring Visor with the Xircom Wi-Fi card: the author, a college campus network administrator, roams about with his small-format device, keeping order through a stylus and foldable keyboard. It's a nice account of the technical possibilities and limitation in current generation equipment. Next generation interfaces and cards should radically improve the experience, which is already not so bad.

Network World dissects the 5 GHz standards problem: Europe's regulations for use of 5 GHz, which favor the HiperLAN2 specifications, spawned 802.11h. 802.11h adds to 802.11a the necessary power limitations and frequency monitoring for devices to conform to regulations. Ultimately, these are improvements over a (and b and g), so should lead to 802.11h as the dominant mode of 5 GHz short-range networking. The HiperLAN2 advocates continue to express their confidence in their spec, but with this regulation friendly 802 variant, it seems highly unlikely.

Posted by Glenn Fleishman at 10:42 AM | Permanent Link | Categories: Unclassified

January 1, 2002

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By Glenn Fleishman

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Posted by Glenn Fleishman at 5:28 PM | Permanent Link | Categories: Self-Promotion

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