BT boasted that sign-ups for its Broadband Talk and Softphone Voice-over-IP (VoIP) services have reached one million. The figure includes subscribers to the Broadband Talk service and those who have secured a dedicated VoIP number. The company also said many of its 500,000 Business Broadband customers are also VoIP users though it declined to say… Continue Reading
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Testing Faster Wi-Fi
VeriWave is mounting a new blade in its WaveTest 90 chassis for testing 802.11n devices. According to VeriWave vice president of marketing Eran Karoly, the company has received requests for 802.11n device tests from infrastructure equipment makers like Cisco. The new WaveBlade houses a channel emulator for multipath signal simulation. It can perform tests on… Continue Reading
Intel To Launch 802.11n Wi-Fi Chipset Next Week
Intel is ready to release its new WiFi chipset code-named Kedron to the market. The firm originally planned to launch the product along with its new mobile chipset code-named Santa Rosa in the second quarter of 2008. Kedron’s 802.11 n draft-capable version will be named “WiFi Link 4965 AGN” while the non-draft n capable variant… Continue Reading
802.11n Devices Are Fully Compatible With .11b/g
SMC Networks has released its first 802.11n draft v.1-compatible products. It is offering SMC Barricade N wireless 4-port broadband router, which enables wired, 802.11b, g, or n wireless devices to share cable or DSL connections. The router features a 4-port 10/100Mbps LAN switch that is integrated with Automatic MDI-MDIX and a wireless access point that… Continue Reading
Report: Apple Will Charge For 802.11n Access
Mac owners will need to pay if they want to enable the 802.11n draft standard in their machines, according to Mac enthusiast websites, AppleInsider and MacFixIt. The said technology is integrated but not turned on in all Macs operating on Core 2 Duo or Xeon processors save for the 17-inch 1.83GHz iMac. The fee is… Continue Reading
WiMAX IPOs Are On The Way
Clearwire and NextWave plan to go public by early 2007 and have already filed their S-1 forms with the Securities & Exchange Commission. Both companies, which are beset by losses, are banking on WiMax for future profitability. Clearwire already secured backing from chip manufacturer and WiMax champion Intel and cell phone maker Motorola for its… Continue Reading
Weigh The Pros And Cons Of VoIP Over Wireless
A study by Infonetics Research predicted that Wi-Fi IP phone sales will grow to $3.7 billion by 2009, a considerable leap from the 2005 level of $125 million. The trend suggests increasing interest among organizations particularly those with a sizable mobile workforce, such as hospitals. Companies like D-Link, NETGEAR, and Linksys are taking advantage of… Continue Reading
Is WiMax Secure?
The IEEE 802.16 committee has introduced mechanisms aimed at minimizing possible security risks associated with WiMax. The committee included support to the Extensible Authentication Protocol (EAP) for 802.16e networks. The amendment is in response to earlier authentication issues. Under the fundamental principle, each subscriber station will carry X.509 certificates that are required for uniquely identifying… Continue Reading
Wi-Fi Cities May Fail To Realise Potential
BT’s Wireless City initiative hopes to make wireless data access pervasive in large U.K. cities such as Newcastle and Birmingham initially as well as six other city centers in the future. The program is limited to allowing local government employees and citizens access to local government content such as tourism information. It does not include… Continue Reading
Mobile Operators Defensive Over 3G Auctions
UK’s 3G market is circumspect over Ofcom’s announcement on spectrum auction. The public sale, the first in six years, will involve the 2500-2690 MHz band, which the British regulator deemed compatible with 3G and mobile WiMax. Although stating that it welcomed the proposal, O2 urged Ofcom to retain its current condition demanding that 3G operators… Continue Reading
Muni Wi-Fi – Survey May Not Be As Impartial As It Seems
A new report by the Reason Foundation warned cities from jumping into the Muni WiFi bandwagon. Jerry Ellig, author of “A Dynamic Perspective on Government Broadband Initiatives,” said municipalities should be wary of companies like EarthLink and Google, which he believes are only interested in offering free wireless Internet access “because the deals will give… Continue Reading
Windows Vista Supports WiFi Sleep Mode, But Only In A Perfect World
A post by senior product manager Jason Leznek on the Microsoft Windows Vista team blog stating that Vista RTM features a “sleep” function for WiFi connections raised concerns among laptop users. The pre-RC1 version is set to “Medium Power” if a laptop operates on battery power and this default setting carries a “sleep” feature, which… Continue Reading
Cohda Tests Enhanced Wi-Fi In Australian City
Cohda Wireless is testing how OFDM technology can improve both unlicensed wireless and licensed public-safety networks. The Australian municipal Wi-Fi startup, which emerged from the University of South Australia’s Institute for Telecommunications Research, expects the technology to support applications for police and fire networks such as automatic vehicle location tracking, voice-over-Internet Protocol, teleconferencing and distribution… Continue Reading
Is WiMAX Going Places? It Depends Who You Ask
The debate as to whether WiMax will gain global acceptance continues. Intel believes that with the existence of global frequency support for standards-based WiFi and WiMAX, scalable channel bandwidth, and high-performance multiple-antennas, the technology is ready to “bring about mobile communications and rich content across supported networks anywhere in the world. Peter Gardner, technology sector… Continue Reading
Businesses Too Scared To Switch To VoIP
In a new study commissioned by VoIP software company Shortel, some 70 percent of companies cited cost reduction as the biggest reason for adopting VoIP. They also mentioned ‘managing calls more effectively’ and ‘enabling home and mobile working’ as other benefits. But a third believed VoIP is too expensive to deploy and operate. Quocirca principal… Continue Reading