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BusinessWeek on Wi-Fi
ydeepakjois writes "BusinessWeek is running a series of articles on the potential of wireless high-speed access, the Wi-Fi industry and the challenges faced by it. There is also an interesting bit about a business model for wireless carriers."
When Centrinos are commonplace and WiFi hotspots are provided and subsidized by Intel and the like around the country, those lucky bastards who bought iBooks and PowerBooks w/ AirPort YEARS ago will have a nice little windfall of free bandwidth as they roam around the landscape.
... for instance, Macs have had built-in ethernet since 1991, and the first true a/v models that features composite and s-video input and output w/a second DSP chip specifically for the heavy a/v lifting, debuted in 1993.
Being ahead of the curve has always been good for Apple users - sometimes you find that the industry sort of settles around what you've been doing/using for years
I feel like a Boy Scout w/ my Mac - always prepared. And not in the hot entree type of prepared - I mean the "ready for anything" type of prepared.
'ta
But it would be nice if we could see wifi hotspots in other smaller cities like Seattle Wireless has set up in their town. I think if ISP's could lower the equipment costs for their WI-FI equipment down from 600 dollars to about 100, or 200 more people would catch on. That and someone needs to come up with a way for the Wireless Providers to be able to shoot over the hilly and rocky mountains like we have in Southeast Idaho. And if we could fix the speed barrier, get the bottle neck up from 11mbps to 54 or even higher, that would rock!
---
We really have a chance to make this wave of the 'net' very different from the previous round - and that means taking control and offering an alternative vision (see Consume).
Who care about what Business Week says? It's about as interesting as 3G phones from their end - ie not at all interesting, just another way to part us from our money. Yes, let's all buy wireless cards, but learn the lesson of P2P and make them available to all.
Business week seem to have got a really good tech section. Check out some of the articles in the "recent tech features" sidebar on the left.
this is my biggest problem w/Wi-Fi "hot-spots". There has to be more people than just "business travelers" that want wireless Internet connections...
This is NOT a good business model people. I do NOT want to have to goto the local airport or downtown coffee shop (not my type of place) in order to get connected while I am out of my house.
I want connections EVERYWHERE and ANYWHERE. I want to goto the local bar, sit down w/my NTN Playmaker, my Budweiser, and my 12 Wild Wings, watching Football, and hop on the net to surf, AIM, ssh, etc.
I am NOT a business traveler. I will probably never be one.
Good business models include a LARGE cross-section.
There is also an interesting bit about a business model for wireless carriers.
There is no business model for wireless, that's why it's so great!
It's 100% commodity based. Companies build commodity products, and the consumer purchases them to become part of the ISP. Mesh routers, 802X nodes, etc are all self-sufficient "black boxes" purchased by users for users.
The last thing we need is another middle-man sending us a bill for something that's free!
The government has a defect: it's potentially democratic. Corporations have no defect: they're pure tyrannies. -Chomsky
I think you'll find WiFi slowly fazed out for different technologies, namely ones that are...proprietary.
Interference and crowding may prove to become too much of an issue as everyone hops on the bandwagon.
This being said, WiFi is a great technology to pave the way in wireless.
Colossians 2:8
and the manufacturers will continue to ship Wi-Fi access enabled routers for home use that are wide open. So truly everyone can access the internet from anywhere! (and do anything they want since there is no way to track them down...) Isn't that a threat for national security? haha....
and I was utterly disappointed to read, "This transfers at a rate of 11mbps, that's roughly equivalent to 10 minutes of digital music or 500 single page word documents every second."
.WAV or other lossless format, 11mbits a second transfers what... a minute, if that a second? Nevermind the lack of understanding of big-B vs. little-B.
I really wish people would stop using this "roughly equivalent" analogy. What type of digital music are we talking? It doesn't answer anything really. If we're talking about a
This is off-topic, just something I read and wanted to bitch about.
Dacels Jewelers can't be trusted.
It'll be just like the business model in the Saturday Night Live commercial for that bank whose sole function is to make exact change.
How do we make a profit? Volume.
Oh well pegasus mail is better than netscape or IncrediMail!
'ta
Q: When do you think the company will earn its first net quarterly profit?
A: Sprint PCS became operating-positive last year, and we expect to be free-cash-flow-positive in 2003 and net-income-profitable next year.
Can anyone explain what the difference is between these three things? And, does any of them actually mean "profitable"? I can't tell.
'ta
The fact is, 3G wireless networks are going to win out in the long run. Being able to open your laptop in the coffee shop and surf the web is great, but the bigger "wireless" market is vehicular embedded communications devices, fully connected PDAs, email-on-the-go, web browsing from where-ever you want. And no, futzing with my fucking cellphone keypad to send a stupid SMS message just doesn't count, I want it all on my Palm Pilot/Windows CE device, I want it seemless, I want it universal, I want it affordable.
The Economist has a set of related articles in this week's edition.
Who said Freedom was Fair?
Voice over IP, over Wifi. There are some companies acctually planning this for mobile phones. Is anyone aware of this?
What does this mean for the future of telephone companies? When can I call from Boston to london at less than $1.50 per min?
The only real stop gap solution at this point is to have a VPN server on the other side of the wireless connection. That way, your packets can be sniffed all day and would be crackers have to deal with breaking VPN crypto.
I suspect that in the end, that will be the way to go regardless of new advancements in WEP that may or may not come about.
The bottom line is that somewhere, the day will have to be encrypted in some way because it is open in the air for anyone to grab. If you put the burden of the horsepower required to encrypt/decrypt on your WAP, then your ability to serve large numbers of clients diminishes.
In other words, leave the WAP duties up to the WAP and leave the encryption duties up to a VPN server. No changes to current technologies required.
The limitations causing hills to be a problem are built into the 2.4 ghz frequency. Physics is to blame and cannot be changed. Signals such as FM radio have a much better ability to penetrate uneven terrain.
The way to get around the problem of obstruction of signal, multiple repeater sites are necessary. There is a cost associated that makes it hard to justify if there isn't significant population density to cover an area.
As far as upping speed to 54 mbps in the 2.4 ghz range, 802.11g will make that a reality. It is already here with 802.11a. 802.11a technology is a little more expensive currently though.
Still, it doesn't matter because the further away from a WAP you are, the lower your data throughput will be. If your WAP is getting interference from another WAP, your maximum data throughput will be much lower than 54mbps anyway.
Do not look for current wireless technologies to replace wired ones with equivalent functionality anytime soon. The best they can do is fill in broadband gaps by serving up a 128/256/512/1024K connections to those willing to pay for it.
It's interesting to notice that none of the articles mentions anything about the Personal Telco wireless project in Portland, Oregon. This is a grass roots effort to provide limited free access to wireless
internet in parts of Portland, Oregon.
I also know that there are similar efforts going
on in other cities.
I also did not notice (it could be there as I only
skimmed the articles) anything about the war-chalking that goes on in some areas to identify places where one can get a wireless session.
Mark
Cleara
"Former Napster aficionados are wirelessly linking their PCs to their stereos to better enjoy their MP3 collections."
And how are they doing just that? Is there some kind of WiFi gear I can plug in my Amp's audio input? ... fooling it that it's receiving a signal from a CD/radio/tape or something?
'ta
#1: Exactly what I was getting at. The first stop data should travel through to be secure is a VPN/Firewall before it gets anywhere else.
#2: Not a bad idea. I assume you mean authenticate via RADIUS to get access to the WAP and then VPN to access the other side.
#3: Absolutely. This is the ONLY way currently to guarantee security of data.
#4 I disagree with completely.
WEP is clearly and easily breakable. It can be a pain to keep up with WEP keys.
At best it keeps complete beginners from viewing data packets.
At worst it adds overhead to WAP's that doesn't need to be there with a VPN solution filling the void.
The issue of additonal overhead is especially important if you are trying to serve greater than 50 clients per WAP. Actually many manufacturers currently recommend no more than 30 to 50 clients per WAP. If you throttle bandwidth and don't use WEP, you can get more without too much of an issue though.
The quick, easy and practical solution to securing wireless is:
1) Securely authenticate with an encrypted password (not WEP).
2) Encrypt data via VPN once authenticated.
Anything else is added overhead. The above two step process is EXACTLY what happens when using VPN over the wires. No WEP present there.
'ta
Could someone tell me what exactly does "Wi-Fi" stand for?
WiFi stands for "Wireless Fidelity"
= 2
More info + propaganda available at:
See http://www.weca.net/OpenSection/why_Wi-Fi.asp?TID
Rushfan
And notice the word "infidel" there. You all should die like the godless dogs you are.
To get to wi-fi bliss, we have to pass through an old regulatory morass. Time for some revolutionary ideas for radio regulation!
How do you propose security for public access points, where VPN capability traffic isn't readily available? Or just jumping from network to network as a public user?
Lots of hurdles, because of that server on the other end. I think we'll soon be seeing a standard for VPN ISP connectivity.
We don't use wireless because what isn't broken or cracked today, could easily be cracked tomorrow, and the fact that broadcasting recordeable traffic out in public space can be potentially broken, VPN or not, is too risky.
"We don't use wireless because what isn't broken or cracked today, could easily be cracked tomorrow, and the fact that broadcasting recordeable traffic out in public space can be potentially broken, VPN or not, is too risky."
As opposed to VPN traffic going over the internet that could just as easily be sniffed and recorded and potentially cracked (with the help of a supercomputer)?
Add a wireless bridge from 802.11b to ethernet, and connect it. Simple. Personall I prefer CAT5 for the increased reliability.
No need for Napster though. The CD's I purchase are all stored on my PC for easy use from my living room. The napster thing is just a troll to say why you shouldn't be allowed to listen to your music the way you want.
It's sad. I've seen some great projects get cut because the company was concerned they'd have legal problems if they went to market. I always feel very frustrated when going to "high tech" sterio equipment stores.
that's sprint's way of saying that they would much rather keep you locked into your phone number with them, which i have seen keep people around even when they hate sprint. i had sprint for two years. they f$#%'ed up my bill once every two weeks and then cut me off for being two days late on payment, all the damn time. they stink!!!!!
and since they are being forced to change this odious practice which was acceptible in the infancy of the cellphone age, but certainly in the best interests of providers, now, it is hindering their "quality of service". WHAT SERVICE?
sprint is the DEVIL
/endrant
"You never want a serious crisis to go to waste." - Rahm Emanuel
One thing about recording VPN traffic on the internet is that it is a bit more difficult to do in terms of keeping a continues trace without a compromised router and keeping it compromised for a significant time. Wireless on the other hand is much easier just to put a wireless relay next to your competition and just tcpdump forever and then some day when it becomes economically feasible find out what was going on.
Are there any WAPs out there which have a built-in VPN server?
Just curious...
Now, since #2 and #3 are the "sweet spot" (due to business usage), and #1 can be fulfilled by a #2 class laptop, and #4 is pretty much a high-end PDA/palmtop, that leaves little room to have a #3 that can fulfill roles of both #2 and #4. Thus, a strong #2 is the clear "sweet spot" of functionality, since it can play all the roles (esp. since people who are serious about battery life carry spares).
Make sure everyone's vote counts: Verified Voting
cnn also have an article about wireless technology.
The purpose of life is to find the purpose of life.
The Electoral college has been co-opted and isn't going to be given back to the people unless we stand up and fight.
Are you advocating the violent overthrow of the government of the United States? Because that's subversion, you know, and it's against the law. And because our country is at war right now, you can be shot on sight for that kind of thing.
Saddam Hussein had NOTHING to do with September 11th. A lot of Americans have been hornswagled into believing that there is a connection ebcause they HAVEN'T BEEN PAYING ATTENTION!!!
Guess what, asswipe. Nobody ever said Saddam had anything to do with 9/11. Ever. And you can't provide a single source to back up your claim that somebody did.
The only way to get any reliable news about what is happening if you live in the US is to listen to a shortwave radio and get the European news broadcasts.
Yes, because you're being lied too. By the evil corporations.
It's one thing to wear a tinfoil hat, but I think yours is on too tight.
Have you noticed they sound more rightwing than they used to? This happened directlry after Sept. 11th.
Yes. That's because after 9/11 most of the moderate lefties realized the error of their ways and became more conservative.
There is no "liberal media" as the conservatives always spout off. How many liberal pundits are out there?
I guess you don't read The Nation. Or the Washington Post. Or The New York Fucking Times, for that matter.
And for CHRIST'S SAKE we have a CRIMINAL on Fox news!!!
Yes. A criminal with a silver star, a bronze star for valor, and two purple hearts. One who never killed anybody, one who never stole anything, one who was only guilty of poor judgment in service of his country. I wish we could have more criminals like that on television. Or on Slashdot, for that matter.
Where did all the common sense go? The things that used to be good about this country? Now I'm stuck in this hellhole with no real way of getting out since I can't afford to (thank you Mr. President and the conservative governor of my state for cutting back on funding for public schools and libraries).
Okay, I get it. "This country sucks because it's not giving me enough money! I'm not smart, talented, or determined enough to get out there and make money on my own, so if the government doesn't give it to me, I'll never get out of this stinking hellhole! This country sucks! Waaa!"
You're an idiot, and a whiner. I tell you what. I will PERSONALLY buy you a one-way ticket to the socialist paradise of your choice. You just let me know where you want to go, and I'll buy you the ticket.
The eagle weeps.
You wouldn't know an eagle if it tore out your eyes and feasted on the jelly inside.
Nature abhors a hero. For one thing, he violates the law of conservation
of energy. For another, how can it be the survival of the fittest when the
fittest keeps putting himself in situations where he is most likely to be
creamed?
-- Solomon Short
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