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IBM, AT&T and Intel Plan National Wireless ISP

Posted by ryuzaki0 on from the wireless-topic-coming-soon dept.

dailywireless writes "Cometa Networks (formerly The Rainbow Project), a joint venture by IBM, Intel and AT&T, plans to merge Wi-Fi and cellular networks. 'Cometa's vision and plan for this is to offer a single sign-on, single authentication, seamless-roaming nationwide network,' said Michael Mass, vice president of marketing for the Communications Sector at IBM. 802 Plant reports 'AT&T will provide the network infrastructure and management, IBM the wireless installation and back-office system, and Intel the Banias processor. The company plans to have ubiquitous coverage - no further away than 5 minutes walk in an urban area or 5 minutes drive in a rural area - by 2004. which will require the deployment of more than 20,000 hotspot access sites across the U.S.' What fate awaits "free" networks like NYC Wireless, Seattle Wireless or Portland's PersonalTelco? Will AT&T use CoMeta's blanket coverage, with 20,000 "hotspots", to crush the "free" rebellion like a bug?"

8 of 160 comments (clear)

  1. Almost as good as the rest of the world by Smallpond · · Score: 5, Informative

    I just got mail from a friend in Taiwan who says:
    "you know, everyone has a cell phone here, it is so nice to use those GSM phone compare to US, you can always switch to a different phone company by plug in a different smart card on the phone"

    Maybe the US doesn't need a single giant wireless monopoly?

    1. Re:Almost as good as the rest of the world by ShavenYak · · Score: 4, Informative

      You maight want to tell your friend that there are GSM phones in the US as well. T-Mobile (formerly Voicestream (formerly Powertel)) and Cingular are both GSM, and I think there are some smaller carriers as well.

      --

      Hey kids, there's only 5 days left 'til Yak Shaving Day!
  2. Re:Scary Implementation by HogGeek · · Score: 2, Informative
    FYI:
    AT&T sold UNIX to Novell...

    UNIX was split into three parts upon leaving Novell. The UNIX trademark was transferred to an industry consortium, the X/Open group, (now just The Open Group) for certifying UNIX implementations as standard. The source base was sold to Santa Cruz Operation (SCO) who sold SVR4 on Intel hardware alongside their traditional Xenix-like SCO-UNIX offering. Hewlett-Packard got the operating system laboratory, which became mired in internal politics when asked to design the eventual replacement for HP's UNIX, HP-UX. Eventually the remaining employees were absorbed into the broader HP Corporation.

  3. Re:2.??GHz - Nuke 'em! by splateagle · · Score: 2, Informative

    Constructive. no really.

    seriously, while I see your point about it being a shame to squash 'the little guy' - the big-bad corporate behemoths are the only ones with the muscle to pull off a network on the scale the article talks about.

    Besides which I don't quite see how this network would "spoil" those small co-operative nets you're talking about, they're free right? this isn't, so people who want free access and are prepared to live with the limitations of a local scale use the litlle guys' free nets, people who want national (or better yet, international!) roaming, cough up the subscription and use the big-bad corporations' commercial net.

    see, no need to incinerate yourself modifying your combination grill, so put the spanner down before you take someone's eye out ;)

  4. Re:2.??GHz - Nuke 'em! by phil+reed · · Score: 3, Informative

    My home 802.11b network is affected by my new 2.4 GHz cordless phone - if I use the phone next to my laptop (with an Orinoco card), the laptop doesn't communicate until the phone is turned off.

    That's the problem with an unlicensed band - you can't complain when you get interference from other users.

    I just thought of another problem. The 2.4GHz band used by 802.11b overlaps a ham radio band, and the ham radio users are licensed for their band. The hams might get pissy. A legal ham radio transmitter could pretty well wipe out a significant area's wireless comms.

    --

    ...phil
    "For a list of the ways which technology has failed to improve our quality of life, press 3."
  5. It's unregulated. Do whatever you want. by xtal · · Score: 4, Informative

    The band isn't regulated, so you can do what you want. They have to accept interference from your 2.4Ghz devices.. soo.. read between the lines if you're spiteful.

    If widespread 802.11 is what it takes to get reliable, IP-based wireless everywhere, then so be it. The power is in the hands of consumers now to do it themselves.. and yes, I've been to some wireless presentations where industry experts have said 802.11 based cell phones are not out of the realm of possibility,expected and planned for. The only reason they don't exist now is the manufacturers don't want to piss off the people who got hosed by the joke that is 3G.

    Which just opens up an opportunity for someone else.

    --
    ..don't panic
  6. Ham Radio Allocations by redfenix · · Score: 2, Informative

    The 2.4 GHz area is at least 1/2 allocated to Amateur Radio (for now at least, remember 220 and 11m?)

    All modes and licensees (except Novices) are authorized on the following bands [FCC Rules, Part 97.301(a)]:

    2300-2310 MHz
    2390-2450 MHz
    ...

    --
    "It's a very tangled subsystem." --Windows kernel guru
  7. Re:Small towns lose by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1, Informative

    You arn't losing much if anything. Those prices are pretty typical for 384kbps-1.5mbps/128kbps service anywhere in the US.