Wireless Broadband

Superfast Wireless Gigabit Spec Published

THE GROUP developing a wireless technology that can transmit data up to ten times faster than today’s speediest Wi-Fi published its initial specification in May and named Cisco as a backer. The Wireless Gigabit Alliance has been developing the technology, called “WiGig,” for a year. It will use unlicensed spectrum around 60GHz and should be able to attain transmission speeds of 6 gigabits per second. WiGig is designed to replace cables for jobs such as delivering high-definition video st...

New Ways to Solve Your Cell Phone Dead Spots

Ready to abandon your landline, but stymied by poor indoor cell reception? Two new technologies, one that lets you make calls over your home wireless network through your cell phone and another that uses tiny, inhome cell towers called femtocells are emerging to fill gaps in cell coverage. Both services make use of your broadband connection to route in-home cell phone calls over the Internet using VoIP, but they let you make and receive calls directly from your mobile handset, with your regular cell number. You can start a call indoors over broadband and continue it outside over cellular, and vice versa. According to early adopters, both systems are transparent to use and both function well. Your Own Cell Tower Sprints Airave system places a miniature cell tower, called a femtocell, in your house. The service is being tested in Denver, Indianapolis, and Nashville, and is set to roll out to the rest of the country in 2008. The Airave hooks up directly to your broadband router. When in range of the Airave, any Sprint handset will connect automatically to the device, which will then transmit calls over the Internet. As many as three handsets, from a pool of up to 50 registered or authorised phones, can make or receive calls simultaneously on a single femtocell. Additional callers are routed to the nearest cell tower. Early adopted users report that hand offs between tower and femtocell work well and that call quality is excellent. Sprint charges US$15 per month per line for unlimited calling (US$30 for a family plan), in addition to US$50 for the Airave hardware. The Home Hotspot T-Mobiles HotSpot@Home went nationwide this summer. It uses hybrid handsets that switch from a cellular network to Wi-Fi when you move into range of a hotspot. But built-in Wi-Fi isnt enough, as special circuitry must perform the hand offs between the Wi-Fi and cellular networks. Only a few handsets work with the service: Nokias 6086, Samsungs t409, and RIMs newest BlackBerry Curve. And though any Wi-Fi router will work with the service, T-Mobile sells optimized models from D-Link and Linksys that promise to provide better voice quality and to extend your handsets battery life. (Wi-Fi is a big power eater.) The service with the Linksys router and the Nokia handset, and it worked right off the bat, with no setup beyond creating a Wi-Fi encryption password. The phone automatically connects when you move within range of the router, and you simply make and receive calls as you normally would. It also works at any hotspot that doesnt require a browser log-in screen, and the service kicks in free of charge at any T-Mobile hotspot. In the tests, voice quality was similar to that of calls made using VoIP service Vonage. T-Mobiles fees are in the same ballpark as Sprints: An optional special router costs $50, and unlimited Wi-Fi calling is $20 per month per line or $30 for a family plan. You can also let Wi-Fi calls use your cell minutes and pay no extra monthly charge. Signal Boosters If youd rather not pay a monthly fee for expanded cell coverage, a cellular signal booster such as those from Wi-Ex and Wilson Electronics might be a better alternative. For $400 you can buy a dual-band amplifier and antenna system that works with both CDMA providers (such as Sprint and Verizon) and GSM carriers (AT&T and T-Mobile). Cell boosters require an antenna in a spot (often outdoors) that has good reception, the amplifier can boost indoor signal strength only to the level the outdoor antenna receives. But they work with any normal handset, and can even boost 3G data access. All three technologies can liberate you from your landline and save money. The best fit for you will depend on your carrier, coverage, and calling patterns. Expect to see more offerings in 2008, with new equipment, such as integrated femtocell/Wi-Fi routers, coming from Netgear and other networking vendors. Also expect a variety of pricing strategies, such as a monthly fee for unlimited calls within a home zone around your home or office, or equipment leases. While the options may be more complex, the end result should simplify your life.

How To Find Wireless Hotspots

People find hotspots in many different ways: Online directories Software directories Display signs Wi-Fi finders Laptops/PDAs People who want Internet access while traveling can find hotspots in particular areas by searching online directories. They can view pertinent details of the hotspots, such as the service set identifier (SSID), also referred to as the hotspot's network name, and whether the network is free or fee-based. The following are a few websites offering online direc...

Wi-Fi Hot Zones

Wi-Fi hot zones, also known as Wi-Fi clouds, provide public Internet access, just like hotspots, but they cover a larger area and they are typically for use outdoors. These hot zones might cover anywhere from a city block to an entire city, commonly referred to as a muni or municipal network, or even a whole county. Even though end users in these hot zones connect using Wi-Fi, these systems typically use a different design approach, called mesh networking, instead of the traditional wireless ...

Hotspot Connectivity Everywhere

Wi-Fi hotspots bridge the Wi-Fi connectivity gap between wireless networks in homes and businesses. People can access e-mail and other online services between home and work or while traveling. This allows them to keep up with customers, associates, and family members. Wi-Fi hotspots are found in many public places where people might want to pop open their laptop and browse the Internet. Following are some typical places where you might find a Wi-Fi hotspot: Cafs, restaurants, and bars Hotels, conventions centre Bookstores and libraries Office building reception areas Airports, Bus Terminal, Train Stations Clubs and organizations Cafs and restaurants provide wireless Internet access for customers while they are enjoying their food and beverages. Along with other businesses and organizations, cafs and restaurants will likely benefit with more foot traffic to their location when they provide this convenient Internet service to customers and visitors. A majority of travelers these days choose only hotels that provide broadband Internet access within the rooms. This lets people keep in touch with their office while they are out of town. Some hotels provide a wired Internet connection usually an Ethernet or data port. Ethernet provides broadband Internet access similar to Wi-Fi, but Ethernet requires a cable to connect the user laptop to the network. This restricts the user to a single location in the room usually a desk. In addition, most hotels provide a data port on the telephone for dialup modem users to plug into. This also requires a restrictive cable connection, and the performance is slow and unusable for some websites and e-mail attachment downloads. Even though wired Internet connections are widely available, most people prefer Wi-Fi Internet access. This enables guests to move about the hotel and still be connected to the Internet. For example, a business traveler can use the Internet from anywhere within the room, such as from the desk or while relaxing on the bed. In addition, this person can go down to the bar or lobby and still have Internet access. A Wi-Fi network in a hotel also becomes useful when one or more people with laptops are staying in the same room, because wired connections allow only one person at a time to use the Internet. Students, business people, and others typically use Wi-Fi hotspots at local bookstores and libraries while working on homework or work-related tasks. Bookstores typically did not have Internet access before they began offering Wi-Fi access. For years, libraries have had computer workstations connected to the Internet for public use. Yet offering Wi-Fi Internet access helps eliminate some costs, enables more people to use the Internet at once, and lets users move about the building while using Internet applications. Corporations in the past did not have Internet access available for visitors throughout their office buildings because of the difficulties in allocating a wired connection. In most cases, an unused wired Ethernet port is not available or is in a physical location where it is not practical for the visitor to access it. An open port, for example, could be located on the wall within the conference room. Regularly scheduled meetings in the conference room would likely get in the way of the visitor using the room to use the network connection. Visitors such as salespeople, customers, and consultants, though, can definitely benefit from Wi-Fi Internet access while inside the facility, even if the wireless network is made available only from specific places, such as the company lobby, and kept separate from the corporate network. Wi-Fi Internet access within airports enables travelers to send and receive e-mail and conduct other necessary tasks while traveling. This is useful during long waiting between flights and unscheduled delays or cancellations. Many airports today still have not installed wireless hotspots. Given that airports can be extremely large, this could be an expensive task for the airport authorities. However, even installing a small hotspot within specific restaurants, airline clubs, or concourses of the airport would be useful to travelers. Wi-Fi access is also available while onboard aircraft during some international airline flights, but limited to some airlines or selected routes. When Internet access on airplanes becomes widely accepted, many people will benefit, especially during longer flights. Business travelers will certainly be more productive if they can correspond via e-mail and use Internet-based applications while they are restricted to an airplane seat.

Free Wi-Fi at PLUS R&Rs in Perak

PLUS highway users travelling in Perak can now drop by at any rest and service areas (R&R) to access the Internet. PLUS is an expressway operator in Malaysia. In supporting Perak;s K-State status in year 2010, all PLUS rest and service areas (R&R) on North-South Expressway in Perak are offering free wireless broadband Internet service to highway users. This service is offered through the TM Net. With this new facility, the public can now surf the web or check email through laptops, mobile...

Rawang Township Residents To Enjoy Wireless Broadband

The existing 6500 households in the 2670 acre Bandar Tasik Puteri in Rawang (a township in Selangor, Malaysia) can subscribe to Jaring wireless broadband service following the memorandum-of-understanding reached between Jaring, the developer Asia Pacific Land Berhad and Wi-Fi service provider BTP Wireless Sdn Bhd in May. Formed by five of the township's residents, BTP will installed over 200 Wi-Fi access point serving homes, schools and public area in the township, while Jaring provides the t...
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