The FCC White Space Regulations: Pretty Good at First Look

My prediction is that LTE and WiMAX are toast. The new great thing will be WRANs (wireless regional area networks). WRAN’s will extend and eventually subsume WiFi.

The detailed regulations which implement the FCC decision to free the spectrum formerly known as TV white spaces have now been released. They look pretty good from the point of view of someone who believes the unlicensed use of this spectrum has the potential to make a huge difference in the way the world communicates.

Once radios are built to these regulations and get through FCC testing, wireless broadband at cable speeds—10 Megabits per second (Mbps) downlink initially and increasing—ought to be rapidly available at competitive prices in more and more of the country—especially in rural areas where good broadband is often hard to get but where white spaces abound. Give this just a year to start having an effect.

Slightly longer range but in about two years both mobile voice and data will be widely available at a quarter of the price of today’s prices for the two combined in “unlimited” offers. The download speeds for mobile will be better than 5 Mbps. If I’m right (many knowledgeable people do and will disagree with me), LTE is DOA and WiMAX will be eclipsed before getting to critical mass. That’s bad news for at&t and Verizon who are betting on LTE and for Sprint with its bet on WiMAX.

Here are some of the highlights of the announcement:

Fixed radios in this spectrum are allowed a power …

HP bets on new WiFi wireless standard

Computer giant HP said that a new wireless fidelity (WiFi) standard will be adopted way ahead of Worldwide Interoperability for Microwave Access (Wimax), a regional executive said.

Wimax provides wider coverage than WiFi. Intel is expected to come out with Wimax chipsets early next year and notebooks with built-in Wimax soon afterwards.

Meanwhile, the WiFi 802.11n provides about five time faster bandwidth than existing a/b/g standards.

The HP ProCurve MSM410, for instance, is a single-radio access point designed for use in areas such as hotels and hospitals.

The standard, however, is not expected to be adopted by home users but instead by service providers and commercial establishments that cater to a far larger set of end-users.

“802.11n address bandwidth issues and will become the driver, if not the standard, for carrying new applications such as RFID in different industries,” said Eric Lee, HP Procurve regional director for Southeast Asia and Korea.

Notebook makers such as HP and Apple have launched models with built-in 802.11n compatibility.

Lee, however, acknowledged that even in Singapore, 802.11n adoption is not that widespread yet. “But moving to 802.11n will be a much easier path for end-users,” he said.

HP Procurve, the tech firm’s networking division, will start selling the new WiFi-based standard in December, as a result of HP’s acquisition of Colubris Networks earlier this year.

Colubris’ entire product line will be integrated into HP P…

More protest WiFi plan

Another group has been formed to raise concerns over Penang Government’s free state-wide WiFi plan under its Wireless@Penang project.

Launched yesterday, the Penang Environmental and Health Con- cerns Awareness Group comprises 10 members.

Its spokesman Ding Thoun Yee said: “We are concerned with the effects of wireless technologies which may harm the human immune system.”

The wireless system’s emissions may also cause cancer, he claimed at a press conference.

He said the state government had ignored the power of the citizens’ choice.

However, when a reporter asked if they had raised their objections at a recent public forum on the issue, they admitted that they did not attend the event which was opened by Chief Minister Lim Guan Eng.

And when another reporter asked if they could provide medical proof on the harmful effects of wireless technologies, they also said they did not have any.

On Nov 13, the Penang Wireless Campaign Group was set up with a similar aim.

All the WiFi & Coffee You Can Get in Downtown

Blogdowntown has begun to profile coffeeshops that carry wireless internet in the downtown area. This is especially good for those of us who don’t live downtown, but still need the occasional hook up to get some work done. Other than the obvious Starbucks option, Ed Fuentes visits Lot 44 Coffee, a secret hideaway to him, but also one of his top spots to go get some work done with a cup of joe. The WiFi is consistent and there are a handful of outlets to plug in. And the organic fair trade coffee is good too, even if a little more expensive than other shops.

Blockbuster Pits a la Carte Menu Against Netflix’s Buffet

Movie rental giant Blockbuster announced Tuesday it has teamed with hardware maker 2Wire to launch a content delivery service on the 2Wire MediaPoint digital media player. The set-top box will provide users with direct access to Blockbuster OnDemand content via their televisions.

The small set-top box works with either WiFi Take the FREE Motorola AirDefense WLAN Security Assessment. Click here. Latest News about WiFi or a wired broadband connection. It features outputs for composite cable, HDMI, component cable and Toslink. Once connected to the Web, the set-top box will quickly download movies the user selects, said Jim Keyes, Blockbuster chairman and chief executive officer.

“Technology is allowing more convenient access to entertainment in many ways. It is perfectly natural for Blockbuster to evolve again, and we have one more time transformed ourselves and our brand to Blockbuster OnDemand to provide the highest level of convenience now; access to movies from the comfort of your living room,” he told the E-Commerce Times.

“In the average household, faster than it takes to pop your popcorn, your movie will be ready,” Keyes continued.
Movie Rentals Straight to the TV

For now, the MediaPoint digital media player with Blockbuster OnDemand is available at no cost when consumers purchase an initial block of 25 rentals for US$99. The videos will be available for viewing for up to 30 days, but once users start to watch a movie, it will only be open for viewing for 24…

Large-scale Deployment of WiMAX and WiFi with Satellite Backhaul in Brazil

­Hughes Network Systems says that it has won a public tender and signed a 3-year contract to deploy a turnkey broadband network solution that combines WiMAX and WiFi access technologies with satellite backhaul in the Brazilian State of Amazonas. Using this, PRODAM will provide high-speed wireless Internet access service to customers throughout all 61 municipalities of Amazonas, including government agencies, small businesses, and the public at large.

Covered by its huge rainforest and with the world’s most voluminous river, the State of Amazonas presents a significant challenge for delivery of high-speed Internet service on such a large and complex geographic scale. The project calls for Hughes to install and operate WiMAX and WiFi wireless base stations in every municipality, together with over 900 wireless customer premises terminals, all as an integrated service delivered over its nationwide HughesNet broadband satellite network.

Each base station includes a high performance, Hughes HX broadband satellite router, which manages the backhauling of the IP traffic over satellite channels to the HX hub located in Manaus, the state capital. In Manaus, the hub is connected to PRODAM’s data center and to the Internet.

“We govern an immense state that has continental dimensions,” said Eduardo Braga, governor of the State of Amazonas. “This technology will enhance our ability to better govern the entire territory, improving the dissemination of information to our cit…

T-Mobile offers Motorola ZN5 cameraphone for free for Thanksgiving

T-Mobile has started the holidays off with a bang, announcing that this weekend, for Thanksgiving, it will be offering the Motorola ZINE ZN5 candybar cameraphone for free with a 2-year commitment and mail-in rebate. The Motorola ZN5 features built-in WiFi for high-speed data transfers.

The biggest feature on the Motorola ZN5, however, is its 5 megapixel camera with autofocus and Xenon flash. We reviewed the ZN5 recently and decided that the ZN5 likely has the best camera in a cell phone on the market today. Not bad for free.

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