Networks

It seemed like we were on the verge of a golden era of free or, at least, inexpensives city-wide municipal WiFi networks a few years ago. This never happened for a mix of business-political, technical, and financial reasons. There are probably a few pockets of municipal WiFi networks out there. But, I can't think of the last time anyone I know talked about using one. Another WiFi related topic we used to hear a lot about but rarely do these days is mesh networking. While conventional WiFi networks required wired connection to many (most) of the WiFi access points, mesh networks can wireless route data between the access point themselves.

Motorola just announced a new access point product that creates a fash 802.11n wireless network that is compatible with slower but widely deployed 802.11b and 802.11g products as well as the efficient but rarely deployed 802.11a products.

Motorola Takes 802.11n Technology Outdoor with Powerful Mesh Wide Area Network Solution

If you are a Qwest High-Speed Internet (DSL) subscriber, you now have a very nice free addition to your service in the form of...

Free Wi-Fi Takes Qwest High-Speed Internet Value Beyond the Home

Hotspot access is enabled by using AT&T Wireless' existing hotspot network. This means that Qwest DSL customers can use hotspots in 17,000 locations throughout the U.S. including Starbucks, Barnes & Noble and McDonalds. The SSID for the Qwest WiFi hotspots is QwestWiFi. Qwest DSL customers can find these hotspot locations by pointing their browser at:

http://www.qwest.com/wifi

As part of the restructuring plan Sprint unveiled in January, the carrier intends to get rid of 8,000 jobs by the end of the month. According to mocoNews, this massive layoff will include about 40% of Sprint's content group, some 500 employees. The mocoNews report says that all areas within the company will see some cuts when the layoffs occur, with the possible exception of customer-facing jobs.

Although it's the third-largest mobile carrier in the US behind AT&T and Verizon, Sprint has historically been ahead of the competition when it comes to content. It was the first to market with a music download service and the first with mobile TV. Sprint also has the exclusive rights to NFL content, including the rights to broadcast regular season football games that appear on the NFL Network. There's also the long-standing Nextel connection with Nascar.

The cellco lost more than 1.2 million customers last year, which leaves a lot fewer consumers to buy the content. For Sprint's sake, here's hoping that its exclusive deal for the Palm Pre starts heading it towards a turnaround.

Keynote Systems has added a number of the most popular smartphones to its global, on-demand network for testing and measuring the performance of mobile applications, content and services.

The company has installed iPhone, BlackBerry, LG Dare, Samsung Instinct and Nokia N95 devices at its network locations in New York, San Francisco and London. Plans to add other smartphone models are in the works.

Using Keynote's Mobile Device Perspective service, companies can test and monitor how their content and services work using actual devices running across various carrier networks around the world. MDP allows companies to see the true end-user experience, from content availability all the way through delivery and accuracy, and make sure that it's not timing out or delivering a version that's not compatible with the user's handset.

Here's a new one: University of Utah researchers have created a car ignition key that prevents the driver from talking on a cell phone or sending text messages while behind the wheel, Cellular News reports.

"The university has obtained provisional patents and licensed the invention—Key2SafeDriving—to a private company that hopes to see it on the market within six months at a cost of less than $50 per key plus a yet-undetermined monthly service fee," the report said.

Ronn Hartman, managing partner of Accendo LC, said in a statement that the company plans to license the technology to cell phone carriers as part of their service plans, instead of selling it to customers directly.

Oh, and a personal note after the jump...

continued...

It's official: European Union telecom leaders officially endorsed a plan introduced by EU Telecommunications Commissioner Viviane Reding to cap mobile data retail prices, FierceMobileContent reports.

In July 2009, pending the expected approval of European Parliament, all 27 EU member nations will adopt a limit of 11 euro cents (14 cents U.S.) on retail charges for cross-border texting, which is a substantial cut on the current European average of 29 euro cents (36 cents U.S.), the report said, in a move that is obviously good for wireless subscribers in the region.

In addition, the plan includes a cap of one euro per megabyte ($1.26 U.S.) for data roaming, with a switchable shutoff valve if the charges exceed 50 euros ($63.10). As expected, European mobile operators "fought tooth and nail against Reding's proposal," according to the article.

(Image credit: Clipart.com)

Clearwire and Sprint Nextel have completed the combination of their wireless services in an effort to deploy a next-generation, 4G network across the country, PC Magazine reports.

"The deal closed according to the terms laid out in May, which includes a $3.2 billion cash infusion from Comcast, Intel, Time Warner Cable, Google and Bright House Networks," the article said. "Sprint contributed all of its 2.5 GHz spectrum and its WiMAX-related assets, including its XOHM WiMAX business, to Clearwire."

The mobile version of the service begins at $45 per month, and works primarily in Baltimore for the time being, with plans to expand further in the coming months.

(Image credit: Clipart.com)

MocoNews is reporting that Nakko, a mobile content company, has signed a deal with Dutch wireless carrier Telfort to build and manage a new mobile portal for them.

As with other wireless carrier decks, the upcoming WAP portal will give subscribers one place to get news, weather, and traffic information, as well as "other content specifically tailored for the [carrier]'s users," such as news from Hollan's social net Hyves, or e-mail headers from their Gmail accounts, according to the report.

Any deal like this is significant for a mobile content company; achieving any kind of placement on a carrier deck is key to begin with, but as in this case, becoming part of the carrier's mobile home page is even more desirable.

In the wake of numerous reports that demonstrate how landline use is falling in the wake of the cell phone revolution, CrunchGear would like to know: do you still have one of those archaic, copper-wire-based setups in your home?

The reason behind this question is that most voter polls take place over land lines, not cell phones, as the report said: That excludes "people who exclusively use cellphones—young voters and the tech-savvy (you guys), I'm going to guess. These voters tend to vote Democratic, so there [are] talking heads on the likes of Fox News and MSNBC losing their minds—don't trust the polls, they're not accurate, England prevails, etc."

We couldn't have said it better. At any rate, head over to the site and vote. When we last checked in, about 50 percent of respondents said they no longer had a landline.

(Image credit: Clipart.com)

Cox Communications announced Monday that it plans to have its own cellular network up and running next year, the Associated Press reports, in a move that will put added pressure on phone companies.

This wasn't entirely a surprise: "Cox had signaled an interest in building a wireless network by spending $550 million on licenses to use the airwaves. But such spectrum purchases don't always lead to the building of a network, and privately held Cox hasn't previously detailed its plans."

Cox plans to build wireless networks in each of the areas it currently services with cable TV—including San Diego, Atlanta, New Orleans, and Omaha—and then will join up with Sprint-Nextel to contract out bandwidth for the rest of the country.

The move will give Cox a complete broadband package that includes television, home broadband, VoIP phone service, and now wireless service, pitting it against AT&T and Verizon.