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S.F. Should Not Rush Free Wi-Fi Deal

Jake McGoldrick, a supervisor for San Francisco’s First District, raised concerns over the city’s deal with EarthLink and Google to build a citywide Wi-Fi network. He cited a report by a Budget Analyst for the Board of Supervisors recommending that the city explore several business models. This move, the report said, “would encourage creativity andContinue Reading

BT Keeps Quiet On Wi-Fi Sharing Talks

BT is keeping mum on rumors it is having secret negotiations with FON. The company said it wants to expand its Wi-Fi coverage but it has no deal with the Spanish Wi-Fi sharing network at the moment. According to Reuters, however, the two firms are holding talks with each other. Many ISPs, including BT, haveContinue Reading

Broadcom Puts WiFi, Bluetooth And FM On Wireless Chip

Broadcom has unveiled BCM4325, a chip that supports WiFi, Bluetooth and FM radio. With the use of proprietary “InConcert” algorithms, the chip is able to address interference issues between Bluetooth and WiFi. Such problems normally happen in the past when radios operate in the same spectrum — both Bluetooth and WiFi tap the 2.4GHz band.Continue Reading

Skyriver Receives Funding

Skyriver Communications and Comerica Bank have signed an agreement giving the former both a working capital line of credit and equipment financing line. The wireless broadband service provider plans to use the money to finance its plans to expand its coverage into Los Angeles and Orange County and upgrade its existing network using next generationContinue Reading

NTT DoCoMo Achieves World’s First 5Gbps Packet Transmission In 4G Field Experiment

NTT DoCoMo announced that its field experiment of fourth-generation radio access in Yokosuka, Kanagawa Prefecture on December 25, 2006 saw the attainment of a maximum packet transmission rate of about 5Gbps in the downlink using 100MHz frequency bandwidth to a 10km/h mobile station. The development followed the company’s decision to increase the number of MIMOContinue Reading

Boingo Launches Worldwide Wi-Fi Service For Mobile Phones And Devices

Boingo Wireless has launched its new global Wi-Fi service for mobile phones and devices. Boingo Mobile, which the company offers for a monthly flat rate of $7.95, allows users to get high-speed Internet connection in airports, hotels, restaurants and convention centers across the globe. The service can run with Windows Mobile 5.0-based Smartphones or PocketContinue Reading

Wireless Internet For All, Without The Towers

Meraki Networks is testing a WiFi network that aims to provide affordable wireless Internet connection. In several neighborhoods, the Mountain View, California-based start-up has installed $49 boxes, which is equipped with a Wi-Fi router-on-a-chip and software that supports a “mesh network”. This network redirects signals when boxes are removed or added and when network performanceContinue Reading

Intel Eases Wi-Fi Interference From 802.11n Chips

Michael Chen, Intel’s Asia-Pacific director of embedded sales group, clarified that the new 802.11n Centrino chips will not support channel bonding if they run on the 2.4GHz spectrum. The said function involves using two channels in the WiFi spectrum to enable higher data transmission, as compared to current WiFi technologies that employ only one channel.Continue Reading

Beginner’s Guide To Internet Phoning

There are several ways to make calls online. Vonage allows unlimited calls from anywhere in the U.S. to Canada, France, Ireland, Italy, Spain and Britain for a monthly fee of $25. But a user needs to plug an existing home telephone handset into a little adapter box — worth $60 after rebate — and plugContinue Reading

Ignore The Skype Hype

People who find using Skype to contact landline or mobile phones expensive can use other methods to save on call fees. Both parties can call for free if they have instant messaging applications such as MSN Messenger downloaded on their computers, plus a headset with microphone. Jajah.com, meanwhile, allows anyone from North America, Australasia andContinue Reading

Atheros Sinks Teeth Into Bluetooth

Atheros has rolled out the new Atheros AR3011, the company’s first Radio-on-Chip for Mobile (ROCm) product for shorter-range wireless technology, which is normally used in cell phones. But the chip, according to Srinivas Pattamatta, senior product marketing manager for mobile and embedded products at Atheros, is intended primarily for PCs and not mobile handsets. PattamattaContinue Reading

Residential VoIP Users To Hit 267m By 2012

A new study shows that users of residential VoIP service will reach 267 million by 2012. ABI Research principal broadband analyst Michael Arden said major regions will see differing trends in this area. Competition between cable operators and telcos, according to Arden, will spur the growth in the U.S., while European carriers are expected toContinue Reading

Firms May Find 802.11n Kit Too Hot To Handle

With the release of the Next-Gen Wireless-N component for Centrino laptops, Intel became the latest company to unveil a product supporting IEEE 802.11n. Other vendors like Asus, Belkin, Buffalo, D-Link and Netgear have also shipped 802.11n hardware, which would require a firmware upgrade to be fully consistent with the specification when it is ratified. AContinue Reading

SIPphone: Gizmo Plug-in A Faster Route To VoIP

It is now possible to make VoIP calls without having to use a traditional software client. This can be done via SIPphone’s Gizmo Project, a downloadable flash plug-in that enables users anywhere in the world to call most landline or mobile phones via any Internet browser. Everyday, Gizmo users get five minutes of free callingContinue Reading

Global Mobile Connections To Pass Three Billion In 2007, Says Wireless Intelligence

Research firm Wireless Intelligence predicted that cellular connections will grow to 3 billion by the end of 2007, up by half a billion from September 2006. Asia-Pacific would account for most of the increase, with India, Pakistan and Bangladesh seeing the fastest growth rate. About 75 percent of Western Europe, according to the firm, willContinue Reading