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An 802.11 Router For 3G Internet Service

An anonymous reader writes "Possio AB has launched a Linux-based wireless access point that allows users to connect to the Internet through 3G (third-generation) mobile telephone networks, which carry Internet data at broadband speeds. According to the Swedish company, which has filed for a patent on local-to-cellular routers, the PX30 can bring broadband wireless Internet service to small sites such as cafes, temporary hotspots such as building and event sites, mobile hot-spots such as buses and limos, and hot-spots in locations without a wired backhaul alternative. It can also be used, Possio says, by mobile-only carriers wishing to offer broadband Internet service, and in data acquisition and remote management applications such as M2M (machine-to-machine) applications."

12 of 100 comments (clear)

  1. I Dunno by Bongo+the+Monkiii · · Score: 5, Insightful

    Seriously, who needs broadband on the cell, and who's going to lug around a laptop for high speed access? What are you going to do, jerk to high quality pr0n on your local park bench?

    Seriously though. High speed access may be neat for transferring large, high quality sound files, images, and even streaming video (boy, all those places that banned camera-enabled cells will love that), but I think the data / voice streams shouldn't intermingle. That way, if one gets hogged up by a lot of activity in a concentrated area, the other isn't adversly affected.

    1. Re:I Dunno by manabadman · · Score: 5, Insightful

      Read the article (or even the blurb). They aren't talking about a cell phone. Its more like a broadband router with 3G network support.

      There are many instances where this would be helpful. For example mobile applications would be made possible by such a device. Think WiFi hotspots on trains, buses, and cars.

      It would also be an alternative for persons that have no other broadband internet access available to them. Cell networks are easier and cheaper to roll out than physically wired networks, so it might give someone access to the internet that might otherwise be impossible.

      Also think about all the possibilities for actual cellphones. Mix VOIP with broadband over cellphone, the right software, and voila, long distance, overseas calls for next to nothing. Maybe we could get video in addition to voice (after we figure out why we would want that)

      The future of cellphone and WAN technology is bright. Try ot to be such a wet blanket.

    2. Re:I Dunno by gl4ss · · Score: 2, Insightful

      * but I think the data / voice streams shouldn't intermingle. That way, if one gets hogged up by a lot of activity in a concentrated area, the other isn't adversly affected.*

      so.. what makes you think there's no priorisations and balancing?

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  2. Re:How is Routing Between Two Networks Non-Obvious by Bongo+the+Monkiii · · Score: 4, Insightful

    They're trying to reel in this specific type of routing. I don't know that it will fly, but clueless judges on the bench have been known to rule on, oh, say, taking non-portable address spaces with you like a telephone number, so who knows.

  3. a nice idea but come on by vmircea · · Score: 2, Insightful

    ok... I know that everyone likes broadband, and I think that this idea is pretty cool, but in all reality, being practical, you need to consider the fact that you generally won't need broadband on today's cell phones, but... in the future it will be useful, cell phones in the future may have the ability to stream video to a nifty little screen, or audio files, or who knows what, so setting up this technology as a framework for others to build on in the future is not a bad idea, it probably wont hurt anything... and another thing to consider is that as the services that cell phone providers offer increase, which is happening right now: 1. more and more people will use the services and 2. the features themselves will take up more bandwidth. So, for both of these cases, having a system like this will help. just my two cents

    1. Re:a nice idea but come on by np_bernstein · · Score: 3, Insightful

      Really? I can think of a lot of applications for this. How about live traffic updates for your car? Dynamically update the route when there's an accident. How about using your laptop on the beach? There are all sorts of uses....

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    2. Re:a nice idea but come on by metalligoth · · Score: 3, Insightful

      but... in the future it will be useful, cell phones in the future may have the ability to stream video to a nifty little screen, or audio files, or who knows what

      This is Insightful? My phone could do video and audio over the web in 2002, at three times the speed of dial-up. I live in Michigan, one of the USA, and everyone knows the USA are far behind everyone else when it comes to cellular phone technology. I'm sure people in Japan could do streaming video in 1999. Where do you live where you can't get a phone that gets streaming media over the web? Antarctica?

  4. Ridiculous by ikekrull · · Score: 3, Insightful

    Connecting my Bluetooth GPRS phone to my Wi-Fi enabled mac laptop and adding a couple of routes would accomplish exactly this. Is this actually patentable?

    How the hell is the trivial and obvious combination of widely available consumer technology patentable?

    Will we need a patent license to plug a phone into a laptop, if the laptop has a Wifi card in it?

    Will my zaurus w/GPRS card and built-in wifi be an infringing device?

    I mean really, it's not like you need a pHD. to connect to two wireless networks at the same time on the same device.

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  5. Some Slashdotters probably have prior art. by Jonathan+Quince · · Score: 4, Insightful

    I have had this idea, and I am surely far from alone. There are probably people here who are handy with embedded Linux (or Windows CE, a la Microsoft's own home broadband routers) who have hacked together a similar device. With consumer-market PCMCIA cards that can handle the cellular end and mini-PCI 802.11 cards you can extract from most any home cable/dsl router, this is more of a hardware geek's weekend pleasure hack than a non-obvious, patentable invention.

    Build one of these and mount it in your car, and you have Internet access for your laptop, PDA, and other gadgets when you hit the road. Run it on batteries and make a picnic basket or backpack that carries a wireless LAN wherever you go (power requirements shouldn't be huge, especially when the device is configured for use outdoors at very short ranges). The possibilities are endless. (Alas, I don't have the technical knowledge to build one myself.)

    --
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  6. Speed Vs Coverage by fembots · · Score: 4, Insightful

    Is broadband speed a pre-requisite for wireless services nowadays?

    Personally I would rather be able to use the Internet from as many locations as possible, than having a broadband conenction via 3G only in the city central.

    Is 1G or 0.2G (or whatever older technology) too expensive to implement mobile Internet?

  7. Re:How is Routing Between Two Networks Non-Obvious by SHEENmaster · · Score: 3, Insightful

    Just see if a competent engineer can work backward, generating the desired result from the claims without the rest of the patent. It would be a piece of cake to implement such trivialities as the SUID bit or swinging sideways without being told the solution, but it's much more difficult to create a light bulb without previously understanding how one works.

    --
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  8. Re:Would be nice if these were useful around Japan by timecop · · Score: 1, Insightful

    flat rate only to the handsets.
    you cannot use it for data.
    flat-rate "data" service to download ringtones and other garbage for $60 a month doesn't sound like a sweet deal to me.

    quoting the article:
    Japan has been wary of offering flat rate mobile services because of the strain on the limited amount of spectrum available. Users to the new service has unlimited access to e-mail and data services available through KDDI's portal, including access to the Internet, but does not apply to the use of a handset to connect a notebook computer to the Internet.