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FCC Approves 802.11b Phased Array
n6zfx writes "802.11b Networking News is reporting that vivato received FCC approval for the 802.11b AP that has a range of 4 miles... This was discussed recently here on slashdot -- There were comments that it might not be totally legal. Hopefully, this paves the way for more WISPs, bigger hotspots, and replacement of outdated wireless technology that seemed to be the only competitor to DSL and tv-cable for the last mile."
This will be especially relevant for Bandwidth co-ops.
The biggest obstacle to creating a co-op is having enough potential subscribers to convince the telcos that it will be worth their while to run the dry pairs the "last mile" from the DSL POPs to the houses. I am guessing that this technology will begin to allow metropolitan bandwidth co-ops to have an effective solution outside of the telco's control. Please, oh please, let broadband not suck forever.
Actually, that's why it needed certification. It won't, it has very little different output to your laptop card. It works by actively steering antenna beams at associated users. Very cool for ISPs and big campuses.
Vivato's bases reach groups of users on existing laptops and other computers, with an operating range up to 7 kilometers outdoors, the company claims. Software controlling the antennas detects Wi-Fi clients in the area and adjusts the signal across the array many times per second.
Which is great, except when they overbook in order to maximize revenue, much like cell phone companies. Then we have spotty, intermittent coverage serving only a percentage of paying customers, as the system struggles to keep up.
Yay technology!
The theory of relativity doesn't work right in Arkansas.
A company in Sweden conducted tests with a stratospheric balloon. They broke 300 km (187+ miles).
Not entirely salient, but a reminder that there's more than one way to skin a cat.
So, if the Starbucks a few blocks over installs this, is it going to stomp all over my home network? I mean a WiFi hotspot with a 4 mile radius is great, but hopefully wouldn't affect home users. That'd be like some new cellular tower killing my cordless phone...certainly not appreciated.
"Where quality is like a dead stinking rat - you just can't miss it."
...until Pink Floyd uses them in concert.
I'll form my OWN solar system! With blackjack! And hookers!
Interesting...... Gives rise to lots of new avenues for hacking too. Imagine to not have to be PHYSICALLY wired in. Instead... use your laptop to connect to your target server's airport and VOILA! Maybe companies will sheild their office complexes, so that a guy sitting outside the fence can't mess around with their data.
Exciting possibities....
|/________
|\A|ALYS|
I could have sworn that the last time I heard "phased array" and "4-mile radius" together in one sentence something in some movie blew up.
Two watts? Are you on crack? Try 600 - 125 milliwatts.
I stand corrected. I based my comment on third party information, from someone who was supposedly wireless certified. Still 600mW is a lot more than what an AP is allowed to output (100mW) around here, and you don't usually press an AP against your ear, now do you? =)
Actually, on second thought...
Peak power output corresponds to 2 Watts or 2000 milliwatts (mW) which averages to 250 mW of continuous power. An analogue phone (AMPS system) has peak power limited to 600mW.
Source
Well, Sprint Broadband works, it delivers >3Mbps, it's fairly easy to install, and it costs $50/mo. And I doubt it's a money losing venture, otherwise they'd have discontinued the service entirely rather than just not taking new signups.
If companies will compete with Sprint broadband using Vivato technology, that would be great. But with the Vivato APs being released in 2003, I think it's at least another year away until you are going to see viable commercial broadband services based on it springing up.
I'm afraid killing people takes precendence over informing them. The Pentagon reports that wi-fi networks interfere with their radar and further rollout of the technology must be curtailed. Read this article.
<a href="http://www.joblessjimmy.com">Work is dumb and so is Jobless Jimmy.</a>
I am all for the propagation of this technology. I live in an area with no broadband access whatsoever . . . .just don't put the radiating tower in my backyard . . .my kids are weird enough without growing extra appendages
4 miles? That's all fine and dandy, but think of the implications aside from being able to connect in "pocketed" areas.
Too many "off-limits" zones in the suburbs of major cities for this to be any good. Considering the fact that upwards of %80 of the people that'd benefit from this live in such suburbs. PD's, FD's, Hospitals, etc. are all considered to be zones absolutely off limits to any such interference this would cause (suburbs are totally PACKED with these, There are 3 PD's and 2 FD's, as well as 2 Hospitals within a 4 mile radius of my house). That's FCC regulation that's been around since the '30s, and they're sure as hell not going to change them now.
Given the method they'd have to use to make sure they aren't broadcasting in that area, you end up with 1 or 2 degree swaths of no service areas eminating from the tower. May not sound big, but after a mile or so it gets to be the width of a city block.
I'm all for this, but a better solution would be to use smaller and cheaper arrays. Just find a way to lower the latency and it'd be even better.
Of all the Universal Constants, here's one I know: Nice guys finish last
802.11 has been shown [1] to be completely insecure... have these security issues been fixed? From my reading of the paper, all that really needed to be done to fix most of the issues was to switch from OFB mode to CBC or CFB [1] Nikita Boristov, Ian Goldberg, David Wagner. Intercepting Mobile Communications: The Insecurity of 802.11. SIGMOBILE 2001. http://www.berkeley.edu/isaac/mobicom.pdf
Given the qualifications and history of Ken Biba listed in the article
Biba started in security and networking R&D 30 years ago with Mitre Corp. and was a member of the Advanced Research Projects Agency Transmission Control Protocol (TCP) Working Group
I wonder if he is the same Ken Biba that worked on/devised Mandatory Access Control (MAC) and the Biba Integrity Model.
There is a good description of MAC here, and an explanation of the Biba Integrity Model here.
I want to drag this out as long as possible. Bring me my protractor.
An AMPS phone may be limited to 600 mW in the systems in Australia, but the actual limit on a Power Class 1 Phone is 5 watts. That is one of the reasons that replacing the AMPS system with (CDMA|TDMA) systems in the US has been very slow - a Class 1 phone can contact a base station many tens of miles away, which is IMPORTANT in much of the US - when you are in western Kansas, Nebraska, Wyoming, Montana, Utah ... you get the point.
That was part of why the old phones where so large - a 5 watt 100% duty cycle power amp isn't tiny. (the other reason was that since AMPS requires the phone to transmit and receive at the same time, the phone had to have an RF duplexer in it - not a small item, even at 800MHz. TDMA phones don't transmit and receive at the same time, hence they don't need the duplexer).
That's one of the reasons I tell people to look for the old phones at garage sales - get the phone and you have a dandy 911 phone - you WILL get a connection!
www.eFax.com are spammers
So how exactly do people with pie in the sky Wi-Fi plans intend to overcome 802.11b's inherent scalability problems? How many people can one AP REALLY serve?
From my experience I'd say that answer to that question is not very many. Having more than a couple people on a single AP is a recipe for pain and suffering. As the number of users on an AP increases so does the chances of packet collisions. As collisions increase the viability of the network decreases and you eventually reach a collapsing point where the network is unusable. A corollary to that rule then would be the larger your coverage area the higher a chance of collisions and thus a higher chance of the network collapsing.
You run into a similar problem with 802.3 which is solved by switching the network. With a wireless network you don't have the ability to add a switch in the middle of the network to keep the number of collisions down to a minimum. You're only got a bunch of nodes waiting their turn to talk. Switching channels isn't an option because APs can only serve particular channels.
With a coverage area of four miles then, the number of potential collisions on a channel is pretty high because your entire customer base could be in that four mile coverage area. Sweeping a broadbast between different nodes doesn't do much good on their end where all the static from other connections is an issue. On current networks you've got a small number of users because your coverage area is pretty small so problems aren't evident. You don't have problems on a wired network with only a 5 port hub either.
I'm a loner Dottie, a Rebel.
The Terminator: The .45 Long Slide, with laser sighting.
Pawn Shop Clerk: These are brand new; we just got these in. That's a good gun. Just touch the trigger, the beam comes on and you put the red dot where you want the bullet to go. You can't miss. Anything else?
The Terminator: 802.11b Phased Array rifle in the forty watt range.
Pawn Shop Clerk: Hey, just what you see, pal.
Whoa... Every time I hear that term it's on Star Trek and in regards to some huge weapon of mass destruction.
Trolling is a art,
Please guys, this techonology is NOT about splattering megawatts all over town!
It is about aiming a low power beam in the right direction using a smart antenna AND that same smart antenna is a better listener.
It's a high-tech equivalent of a parabolic antenna and it is adjusted to radiate the same power at a distance as a normal omnidiretional antenna would do. That's what the FCC require in order to approve an antenna.
It's a common mistake to think that range=power. Note that this is a two way operation.
You also have to be able to hear the other guy, right? That takes good listening skills = a directional antenna.
Now if Only I can calibrate the deflector dish to use the dilithium crystals to create a Tachyon pulse...
Where is Spock when you need him?
It's shocking that the new administration is following the greedy, ignorant policy of it's predecesor. If such services flop, those who opposed the specturm auctions can say, "I told you so," and that will be that. It's not like the telecomunications has been a stable source of employment for most of the people working there. If the government forgives the auction debts, it will ammount to a huge bail out of big corporate interests. That's bad because it give an advantage to those who bid irresponsibly and continues the ineficient specturm use but at least it will provide service to people at something closer to its cost. If the government legislates 802.11 out of practicality, it will be a huge scandal as the only reason will be to prevent new entrants from ruining these silly third generation services. Yet this third option is the one that keeps comming up. Keeping the public from building their own communications networks, which are technically possible, ammounts to a denial of first amendment free speech rights.
Bandwith scarcity is a lie and services that operate on that principle, metering out kilobytes of data, are a rape.
Friends don't help friends install M$ junk.