In HK, BroadbandTV services has been launched for over a year already. For a fee above your existing ADSL subscription, you get an extra decoder which connects to your phone line and decodes programmes to your TV.
You can also subscribe to broadbandtv as a separate package.
In my opinion, way to take advantage of the existing telephone infrastructure (just like ADSL).
Link -> Here! . Remember to click on the "English" !
Try this for almost the same effect but a very small fraction of the time:
# rm -rf/etc
I have did this (twice) by trying to delete something in/etc, but pressed return too quickly. By the time I pressed CTRL-C, every file in/etc is already blanked out!
It seems now that if city-wide wireless broadband can be achieved, it would mean much of a doom to 3G technologies, such as UMTS and CDMA-2000.
Sure, 3G is beginning to be implemented in some countries; Japan, HK, UK, and Australia, etc; but with these wireless broadband services becomes easily available and cheap, consumers would naturally choose the latter.
It would mean doom to my job as well, as I am acting support to some equipment used by a 3G operator in HK; 3G is unbelievably complex and expensive to implement just for two objectives: faster packet data, and enough bandwidth for a video call (Circuit-switched data). Now, the only obstacle I see in this wireless broadband technology to totally killing 3G is circuit-switched reliability.
3G has a much wider circuit-switched domain compared to GSM, and this is important for applications that require low latency and delay: video calls.
In any system, latency can be reduced by introducing QoS into the system by prioritizing packets according to their prescribed quality level. Another sure way of reducing latency is to dump enough bandwidth into it.
When bandwidth becomes widely available just like what's available in land transmissions (perhaps reach ATM-class quality and speed?), 3G technology will be down the drain.
If current trends continue, this is happening fast!
The site, as well as the posters in this discussion fails to address another important hurdle in IPv6 deployment: applications!
It seems as most people seem to address the transport layer problems; such as migration and reconfiguration of network equipment (routers) as well as end-hosts, the more important application layer deployment is neglected.
Think, when all end-hosts and immediate routers are IPv6 ready; and hosts can one day communicate with each other natively over IPv6, what is the use if the pace of application development fails to follow?
I have worked with IPv6 in my final-year thesis; as well in an internship with NTT (a part of the KAME project sometime back), we can get FreeBSD up and running with IPv6 almost instantly, but what's keeping us back? Applications, of course.
The socket connection functions within the applications need to be upgraded (mainly to support a bigger address structure). For example, the sockaddr_in has to be upgraded to support sockaddr_in6, the address structure for IPv6. After that has been done, more changes in the User Interface might need to be done (for example, to allow users to enter IPv6 addresses directly in a textbox).
Fortunately, after a 4 years, the most important applications have already been ported. Apache now supports IPv6, same goes Mozilla and IE, and most importantly, BIND for DNS resolution.
However, there are still probably thousands, if not millions of other applications that need to be ported one by one (albeit simply).
Putting statistics in terms of connections from unique users doesn't quickly mean the importance of these applications, and also usage patterns of internet users in general.
Also, Windows Media Player and Realplayer establish browser connections to their media homepages anyway; does it count as a browser connection? In most cases, it is not even initiated by the user (the user might be wanting to play MP3's).
What about e-mail? It is very important and widely used by everyone; but it doesn't even make the list!
Chinese is, after english the most spoken language, with 1.2 billion in mainland China alone. Chinese is also used in Hong Kong, Taiwan ROC, and countless international chinese worldwide!!
Rowling could sure make a couple of billion more if she releases a chinese edition.
Now, I'm just thinking how witches, wizards and Harry Potter magic would fit with the chinese culture. But well, if the rest of the world is reading it, then the Chinese would follow!
After all, who would watch Titanic many times without understanding a word in the dialogue?
I work for a company selling network analysers for GSM and UMTS (3G) systems. Our product is not unlike the TCPDUMP network sniffer for IP networks.
First let me introduce the GPRS system. The GPRS core network elements (Base Station Subsystem, Serving GPRS Support Node) is normally stationed far away from each other. BSS is stationed at the site (which could be far away from metropolitan areas), whereas the SGSN resides in the area switching center. They connect to each other by means of a Frame Relay connection, which could be serviced by another vendor (a local ISP, for example).
Buying a Frame Relay connection is more affordable, but since there are privacy issues, operators are forced to turn on a cipher. For troubleshooting purposes, operators would need to look into the signalling traffic for given GPRS subscribers, but they would need to break the cipher.
Our new product line-up includes the deciphering capability for breaking the cipher code in the interface and looking at what's inside. Cracking should be the more correct word.
Are operators in Sweden (we have big customers there) free from breaking the cipher in their own network? Are we even allowed to deliver such a product in Sweden?
If not, we'd be out of business very soon. We have important clients in a big Swedish GSM vendor (guess who), and also the rest of the EU world (which, in my opinion, _is_ the GSM world at the moment).
Anyone in need for a GSM and UMTS support personnel? I need to look for a job.
If you don't believe me you could pee in a beer mug.
Of course you would have to have the necessary nutrition, and the lack of water to make the perfect brew, just golden in color and also thick frothy foam...
I work in the telecoms industry as a vendor supplying equipment to fixed line and mobile operators. As there are increasingly more and more players in this once-monopolized industry, there comes a great need for reduced costs, especially in the core and switching networks.
The number of subscribers increases everyday, and how would the telecom operators cope with the increasing need for additional bandwidth without laying more cables (which of course, increases cost)? By using existing IP network, of course!
The dot-com internet slump has left most of the urbanised areas on the planet over-wired, and underutilized. By deploying VOIP in their switching and access networks, fixed-network operators can now cater for more subscribers, and at the same time, stay competitive with lower prices.
Also, operators can then focus on their business (customer service, billing, operations) without worrying about network expansion, deployment and maintenance of the physical medium, since it's already taken care of by the IP network provider.
One further advantage that VOIP has over conventional switched networks is that IP networks can include a Quality of Service (QOS) package for each subscriber. This means that by subscribing to different QOS packages, subscribers can now have a choice between a low-cost, low (but bearable) voice quality; and high cost and quality alternatives.
VOIP could be the telecom's way into the future. I personally do not see the end of this industry so soon, as there are still lots of terrain to cover. The world is wider than we think!
The problem with VNC is that computers cannot be contact if behind NAT or firewall.
Therefore there needs to be a publicly available mediator to sit between both client and host computers, and this is what GoToMyPC.Com is selling in addition to their client and host software.
First the host computer connects to the service and maintains the connection.
Then the client computer connects to the service from another location; and since the connection to the host is already been established, GoToMyPc.com is able to relay data to/from the host and the client.
With VNC, you need a public IP address which is unfortunately unavailable in most office connections.
Few weeks ago I had the system time set to somewhere far in the future (2 months in the future), and all the mails that I send were on the top of everyone's e-mail list (assuming they sort by datestamp).
Now I'm thinking I arrive on Monday morning, and still make a Sunday e-mail by backdating my clock a single day early!
Surely the mail will arrive late, but it will be sorted as such that it appeared to have been sent a day earlier!
I'll try it today, if I don't reply your message tomorrow, please help me retract my statement!
There's a very detailed and interesting story, hosted in Oreilly which describes the history of UNIX.
"Twenty Years of Berkeley Unix- From AT&T-Owned to Freely Redistributable " remembers how UNIX evolved from it's early days as a proprietary software owned by AT&T; branching over to the educational field as BSD (Berkeley System Distribution), and finally ending up as various flavors of SysV and BSD's both proprietary, and freely-redistributable.
IPv6 support for X seems to be a logical move, since the only way IPv6 would be embraced by the masses would be the support by the applications. After all, it takes but a few changes to the network layer socket code for the different packet structure.
However, the applications layer is important as well. For example, the X team has to consider changing XDM-AUTHORIZATION-1 to XDM-AUTHORIZATION-2 since the earlier could not support the longer packet structure.
Another change of mindset for X users that is required is the way of specifying the display number (:0,:1, etc) with the IPv6 address, since both IPv6 and the screen number uses the colon (:) separator.
Thus, the traditional way of denoting 2003:1080:1111:4034:1212:3fdb:1123:0001 with screen:1 would be
2003:1080:1111:4034:1212:3fdb:1123:0001:1 !!
For the clients, the X team has suggested the use of strrchr or rindex in their code so as to maintain compability.
For the human users, we need a DNS (most probably, since the address is too long to remember), or, well, we can all use an extra octet in the address, can we?
Let me report the situation in Hong Kong. Perhaps this is the first regional economic hub to be affected, and well, it got hit pretty hard.
The tourism industry is down by 70%, restaurants, bars and popular entertainment spots, well, empty as people are staying at home.
However, there are industries that are surfing tidal waves that's sweeping the economy; and Internet has been one of them.
I just called the sales manager of our service provider, and business has never been so good in years! This is due to companies that's cancelling their business trips and meetings, conferences, etc has to be done online. Phones have been ringing non-stop, with queries from companies to speed up and upgrade their internet access. I guess that's the break that all these internet companies have been waiting for!!!
People suspected of contracting SARS are quarantined for 10 days; but communicate with their families via videophone donated by the telecommunication companies and the government.
Technology has never found better use, and importance!
Also enjoying boom are, the facemask industry, the herbal medicine industry (chinese herbs which are slow stock for a few years have been wiped out by hungry consumers), television industry, and, the food snack (instant noodles, etc).
Perhaps this is the break that this fast-paced region needs: some time to rest, breathe easy for a while. It isn't long before the pace picks up again and everything resumes to normal!
HKSAR territory resident, SARS-free for 5 weeks...
You are right about which version to install; even though both 4.x and 5.0 are stable enough to work a system properly. If you have a mission-critical server, and is not 100% sure that 5.0 will work for your hardware; hold the horses!!!
However for my case, especially with a older ThinkPad 600, I didn't have a good time with the CardBus support (which I have been praying for it to be corrected somehow). The whole system locks up when I insert a cardbus card (however, not with a 16-bit card).
Perhaps users with this configuration would just hold until it is in a better condition; or you'll have to do like me; downgrade the OS back to 4-STABLE.
I know this is not a tech support group; but I know I am ignorant relative to the other slashdot FreeBSD'ers. I would appreciate it much if anyone has got cardbus to work properly with older thinkpads, and please drop me a line if you do.
One difference between 803.11 and 3G technologies, apart from the obvious physical layer, is that 3G spectrums are licensed property, and would require permission from governing bodies for access to the specified frequencies and channels.
WiFi, on the other hand, resides on the unlicensed 2.4Ghz spectrum. Therefore, it lacks the lawful enforcement of any usage for the spectrum.
With this lies the problem of billing. Even though hotspots are booming all over the world, one day access providers will realise that they cannot provide internet free forever, and would need to charge for WiFi access (this is already true in some airports). However, some business (i.e. cybercafes), use WiFi as a tool for attracting customers; but they still have to charge for the coffees!
Now, WiFi won't die because of the lack of billing and charge systems. It is _designed_ for home and office use anyway, as a wired LAN replacement. Wifi can still be used in the closed premises to share the internet we already have (i.e. ADSL) to our users in our network (our employees and family).
Question is: now that this 802.16 is used for MAN (metropolitan area networks), how does it fit into the current situation of these wireless networking standards?
Would control be in governing bodies to grant access rights to use certain frequencies (just like in 3G)? Or would it be like WLAN's where nobody has control over the frequencies and everybody can use as they like?
If the latter is true, it could provide good competition against 3G and 803.11a, but how can access providers gain control over the use of a certain frequency in a certain area to provide internet services?
Judging from the frequency of this network, between 3.1GHz and 10.6GHz, the distance must be limited to the size of a PAN (personal area network). The article puts how useful it is to replace bluetooth as the medium of transfer for PANs (also, it solves the conflict between bluetooth 802.11b, since they use the frequency bands).
Perhaps one day we'll be able to synchronize our ipods over this connections; it beats connecting the firewire cable anytime! I can even put the ipod in the pocket. Something that we can already accomplish with bluetooh, minus the available bandwidth (and also minimizes interference with WLAN networks).
For longer radius of operation, 802.11a is suggested to be used (for example between buildings).
In Hong Kong, they have had it since the beginning.
The country code is +852, and mobile phone numbers always start with either 9 or 6. All the numbers are governed centrally in a pool by a regulatory body.
When you subscribe to a network, you would pay a surchange to the regulatory body for the "number", and then it belongs to the network you are subscribed to. When you change networks, you keep your old number but you have to pay about US$10 to the regulatory body to change your information.
In this way, there is better competition between operators (there are 7 in this small country!!), and the users are not bound in anyway to an operator that offers shitty service.
There is a flip-side, however. Here SMS'es between networks are charged at about USD 0.20, but SMS'es in the same network are charged USD 0.10. There is no way of determining whether your receipient is in the same network! Even if you know, they might have changed their mobile network...
Also, with MMS coming up, it gives additional problems if you do not know which network your receipient is in. But the networks are opening their MMS services for inter-network sending soon, so it would be solved (just like SMS'es).
IPv6 does _not_ have IPSEC built-in. It just allocates space for IPSEC headers to reside in. There is really no big difference between IPSEC implementation in IPv4 or IPv6.
The Security Association between hosts or routers can be fairly setup as long as both of the hosts have visibility of each other, regardless whether they are using IPv4 or Ipv6.
One thing that you have missed out is the autoconfiguration of the hosts and/or routers. For every network, there is a network address and a prefix. For example, 3ffe:1800:2030:1080::/64 has the first 64 bits for the network, and the next 64 for the host, just like IPv4.
But the difference is that with IPv6, all the hosts would add their MAC address (in the case for Ethernet hosts) as their host ID, and thus alleviating the need for a DHCP for configuration of hosts addresses. This way, hosts are sure to have a unique address (since it's based on their MAC address) in the network.
Hosts can also roam between networks, with just a change in the Network ID! The host ID is always the same (again, since it's based on the Ethernet address). This coupled, with DNS, can locate your host uniquely even when it is roaming between many networks.
Ideally, Ethernet hosts can be uniquely identified anywhere in the whole world!:)
I wonder how reliable this service will be, in terms of locating what we need? What will happen if a split happens in the network? We will have 2 separate p2p networks and then it becomes difficult to find information we need. If the network uses some permanent hosts for servers, then what is the difference with using a server-based solution?
Slashdot Mirror
In HK, BroadbandTV services has been launched for over a year already. For a fee above your existing ADSL subscription, you get an extra decoder which connects to your phone line and decodes programmes to your TV.
You can also subscribe to broadbandtv as a separate package.
In my opinion, way to take advantage of the existing telephone infrastructure (just like ADSL).
Link -> Here! . Remember to click on the "English" !
Try this for almost the same effect but a very small fraction of the time:
/etc
/etc, but pressed return too quickly. By the time I pressed CTRL-C, every file in /etc is already blanked out!
# rm -rf
I have did this (twice) by trying to delete something in
It seems now that if city-wide wireless broadband can be achieved, it would mean much of a doom to 3G technologies, such as UMTS and CDMA-2000.
Sure, 3G is beginning to be implemented in some countries; Japan, HK, UK, and Australia, etc; but with these wireless broadband services becomes easily available and cheap, consumers would naturally choose the latter.
It would mean doom to my job as well, as I am acting support to some equipment used by a 3G operator in HK; 3G is unbelievably complex and expensive to implement just for two objectives: faster packet data, and enough bandwidth for a video call (Circuit-switched data). Now, the only obstacle I see in this wireless broadband technology to totally killing 3G is circuit-switched reliability.
3G has a much wider circuit-switched domain compared to GSM, and this is important for applications that require low latency and delay: video calls.
In any system, latency can be reduced by introducing QoS into the system by prioritizing packets according to their prescribed quality level. Another sure way of reducing latency is to dump enough bandwidth into it.
When bandwidth becomes widely available just like what's available in land transmissions (perhaps reach ATM-class quality and speed?), 3G technology will be down the drain.
If current trends continue, this is happening fast!
The site, as well as the posters in this discussion fails to address another important hurdle in IPv6 deployment: applications!
It seems as most people seem to address the transport layer problems; such as migration and reconfiguration of network equipment (routers) as well as end-hosts, the more important application layer deployment is neglected.
Think, when all end-hosts and immediate routers are IPv6 ready; and hosts can one day communicate with each other natively over IPv6, what is the use if the pace of application development fails to follow?
I have worked with IPv6 in my final-year thesis; as well in an internship with NTT (a part of the KAME project sometime back), we can get FreeBSD up and running with IPv6 almost instantly, but what's keeping us back? Applications, of course.
The socket connection functions within the applications need to be upgraded (mainly to support a bigger address structure). For example, the sockaddr_in has to be upgraded to support sockaddr_in6, the address structure for IPv6. After that has been done, more changes in the User Interface might need to be done (for example, to allow users to enter IPv6 addresses directly in a textbox).
Fortunately, after a 4 years, the most important applications have already been ported. Apache now supports IPv6, same goes Mozilla and IE, and most importantly, BIND for DNS resolution.
However, there are still probably thousands, if not millions of other applications that need to be ported one by one (albeit simply).
The link from google to port your application:
Porting applications to IPv6 Howto
Putting statistics in terms of connections from unique users doesn't quickly mean the importance of these applications, and also usage patterns of internet users in general.
Also, Windows Media Player and Realplayer establish browser connections to their media homepages anyway; does it count as a browser connection? In most cases, it is not even initiated by the user (the user might be wanting to play MP3's).
What about e-mail? It is very important and widely used by everyone; but it doesn't even make the list!
Chinese is, after english the most spoken language, with 1.2 billion in mainland China alone. Chinese is also used in Hong Kong, Taiwan ROC, and countless international chinese worldwide!!
Rowling could sure make a couple of billion more if she releases a chinese edition.
Now, I'm just thinking how witches, wizards and Harry Potter magic would fit with the chinese culture. But well, if the rest of the world is reading it, then the Chinese would follow!
After all, who would watch Titanic many times without understanding a word in the dialogue?
I work for a company selling network analysers for GSM and UMTS (3G) systems. Our product is not unlike the TCPDUMP network sniffer for IP networks.
First let me introduce the GPRS system. The GPRS core network elements (Base Station Subsystem, Serving GPRS Support Node) is normally stationed far away from each other. BSS is stationed at the site (which could be far away from metropolitan areas), whereas the SGSN resides in the area switching center. They connect to each other by means of a Frame Relay connection, which could be serviced by another vendor (a local ISP, for example).
Buying a Frame Relay connection is more affordable, but since there are privacy issues, operators are forced to turn on a cipher. For troubleshooting purposes, operators would need to look into the signalling traffic for given GPRS subscribers, but they would need to break the cipher.
Our new product line-up includes the deciphering capability for breaking the cipher code in the interface and looking at what's inside. Cracking should be the more correct word.
Are operators in Sweden (we have big customers there) free from breaking the cipher in their own network? Are we even allowed to deliver such a product in Sweden?
If not, we'd be out of business very soon. We have important clients in a big Swedish GSM vendor (guess who), and also the rest of the EU world (which, in my opinion, _is_ the GSM world at the moment).
Anyone in need for a GSM and UMTS support personnel? I need to look for a job.
Urine.
If you don't believe me you could pee in a beer mug.
Of course you would have to have the necessary nutrition, and the lack of water to make the perfect brew, just golden in color and also thick frothy foam...
yummmm sluurrrp
I work in the telecoms industry as a vendor supplying equipment to fixed line and mobile operators. As there are increasingly more and more players in this once-monopolized industry, there comes a great need for reduced costs, especially in the core and switching networks.
The number of subscribers increases everyday, and how would the telecom operators cope with the increasing need for additional bandwidth without laying more cables (which of course, increases cost)? By using existing IP network, of course!
The dot-com internet slump has left most of the urbanised areas on the planet over-wired, and underutilized. By deploying VOIP in their switching and access networks, fixed-network operators can now cater for more subscribers, and at the same time, stay competitive with lower prices.
Also, operators can then focus on their business (customer service, billing, operations) without worrying about network expansion, deployment and maintenance of the physical medium, since it's already taken care of by the IP network provider.
One further advantage that VOIP has over conventional switched networks is that IP networks can include a Quality of Service (QOS) package for each subscriber. This means that by subscribing to different QOS packages, subscribers can now have a choice between a low-cost, low (but bearable) voice quality; and high cost and quality alternatives.
VOIP could be the telecom's way into the future. I personally do not see the end of this industry so soon, as there are still lots of terrain to cover. The world is wider than we think!
The problem with VNC is that computers cannot be contact if behind NAT or firewall.
Therefore there needs to be a publicly available mediator to sit between both client and host computers, and this is what GoToMyPC.Com is selling in addition to their client and host software.
First the host computer connects to the service and maintains the connection.
Then the client computer connects to the service from another location; and since the connection to the host is already been established, GoToMyPc.com is able to relay data to/from the host and the client.
With VNC, you need a public IP address which is unfortunately unavailable in most office connections.
Few weeks ago I had the system time set to somewhere far in the future (2 months in the future), and all the mails that I send were on the top of everyone's e-mail list (assuming they sort by datestamp).
Now I'm thinking I arrive on Monday morning, and still make a Sunday e-mail by backdating my clock a single day early!
Surely the mail will arrive late, but it will be sorted as such that it appeared to have been sent a day earlier!
I'll try it today, if I don't reply your message tomorrow, please help me retract my statement!
There's a very detailed and interesting story, hosted in Oreilly which describes the history of UNIX.
"Twenty Years of Berkeley Unix- From AT&T-Owned to Freely Redistributable " remembers how UNIX evolved from it's early days as a proprietary software owned by AT&T; branching over to the educational field as BSD (Berkeley System Distribution), and finally ending up as various flavors of SysV and BSD's both proprietary, and freely-redistributable.
The link: here!
IPv6 support for X seems to be a logical move, since the only way IPv6 would be embraced by the masses would be the support by the applications. After all, it takes but a few changes to the network layer socket code for the different packet structure.
:1, etc) with the IPv6 address, since both IPv6 and the screen number uses the colon (:) separator.
:1 would be
However, the applications layer is important as well. For example, the X team has to consider changing XDM-AUTHORIZATION-1 to XDM-AUTHORIZATION-2 since the earlier could not support the longer packet structure.
Another change of mindset for X users that is required is the way of specifying the display number (:0,
Thus, the traditional way of denoting 2003:1080:1111:4034:1212:3fdb:1123:0001 with screen
2003:1080:1111:4034:1212:3fdb:1123:0001:1 !!
For the clients, the X team has suggested the use of strrchr or rindex in their code so as to maintain compability.
For the human users, we need a DNS (most probably, since the address is too long to remember), or, well, we can all use an extra octet in the address, can we?
--
Let me report the situation in Hong Kong. Perhaps this is the first regional economic hub to be affected, and well, it got hit pretty hard.
The tourism industry is down by 70%, restaurants, bars and popular entertainment spots, well, empty as people are staying at home.
However, there are industries that are surfing tidal waves that's sweeping the economy; and Internet has been one of them.
I just called the sales manager of our service provider, and business has never been so good in years! This is due to companies that's cancelling their business trips and meetings, conferences, etc has to be done online. Phones have been ringing non-stop, with queries from companies to speed up and upgrade their internet access. I guess that's the break that all these internet companies have been waiting for!!!
People suspected of contracting SARS are quarantined for 10 days; but communicate with their families via videophone donated by the telecommunication companies and the government.
Technology has never found better use, and importance!
Also enjoying boom are, the facemask industry, the herbal medicine industry (chinese herbs which are slow stock for a few years have been wiped out by hungry consumers), television industry, and, the food snack (instant noodles, etc).
Perhaps this is the break that this fast-paced region needs: some time to rest, breathe easy for a while. It isn't long before the pace picks up again and everything resumes to normal!
HKSAR territory resident, SARS-free for 5 weeks...
You are right about which version to install; even though both 4.x and 5.0 are stable enough to work a system properly. If you have a mission-critical server, and is not 100% sure that 5.0 will work for your hardware; hold the horses!!!
However for my case, especially with a older ThinkPad 600, I didn't have a good time with the CardBus support (which I have been praying for it to be corrected somehow). The whole system locks up when I insert a cardbus card (however, not with a 16-bit card).
Perhaps users with this configuration would just hold until it is in a better condition; or you'll have to do like me; downgrade the OS back to 4-STABLE.
I know this is not a tech support group; but I know I am ignorant relative to the other slashdot FreeBSD'ers. I would appreciate it much if anyone has got cardbus to work properly with older thinkpads, and please drop me a line if you do.
One difference between 803.11 and 3G technologies, apart from the obvious physical layer, is that 3G spectrums are licensed property, and would require permission from governing bodies for access to the specified frequencies and channels.
WiFi, on the other hand, resides on the unlicensed 2.4Ghz spectrum. Therefore, it lacks the lawful enforcement of any usage for the spectrum.
With this lies the problem of billing. Even though hotspots are booming all over the world, one day access providers will realise that they cannot provide internet free forever, and would need to charge for WiFi access (this is already true in some airports). However, some business (i.e. cybercafes), use WiFi as a tool for attracting customers; but they still have to charge for the coffees!
Now, WiFi won't die because of the lack of billing and charge systems. It is _designed_ for home and office use anyway, as a wired LAN replacement. Wifi can still be used in the closed premises to share the internet we already have (i.e. ADSL) to our users in our network (our employees and family).
Question is: now that this 802.16 is used for MAN (metropolitan area networks), how does it fit into the current situation of these wireless networking standards?
Would control be in governing bodies to grant access rights to use certain frequencies (just like in 3G)? Or would it be like WLAN's where nobody has control over the frequencies and everybody can use as they like?
If the latter is true, it could provide good competition against 3G and 803.11a, but how can access providers gain control over the use of a certain frequency in a certain area to provide internet services?
Judging from the frequency of this network, between 3.1GHz and 10.6GHz, the distance must be limited to the size of a PAN (personal area network). The article puts how useful it is to replace bluetooth as the medium of transfer for PANs (also, it solves the conflict between bluetooth 802.11b, since they use the frequency bands).
Perhaps one day we'll be able to synchronize our ipods over this connections; it beats connecting the firewire cable anytime! I can even put the ipod in the pocket. Something that we can already accomplish with bluetooh, minus the available bandwidth (and also minimizes interference with WLAN networks).
For longer radius of operation, 802.11a is suggested to be used (for example between buildings).
In Hong Kong, they have had it since the beginning.
The country code is +852, and mobile phone numbers always start with either 9 or 6. All the numbers are governed centrally in a pool by a regulatory body.
When you subscribe to a network, you would pay a surchange to the regulatory body for the "number", and then it belongs to the network you are subscribed to. When you change networks, you keep your old number but you have to pay about US$10 to the regulatory body to change your information.
In this way, there is better competition between operators (there are 7 in this small country!!), and the users are not bound in anyway to an operator that offers shitty service.
There is a flip-side, however. Here SMS'es between networks are charged at about USD 0.20, but SMS'es in the same network are charged USD 0.10. There is no way of determining whether your receipient is in the same network! Even if you know, they might have changed their mobile network...
Also, with MMS coming up, it gives additional problems if you do not know which network your receipient is in. But the networks are opening their MMS services for inter-network sending soon, so it would be solved (just like SMS'es).
IPv6 does _not_ have IPSEC built-in. It just allocates space for IPSEC headers to reside in. There is really no big difference between IPSEC implementation in IPv4 or IPv6.
:)
The Security Association between hosts or routers can be fairly setup as long as both of the hosts have visibility of each other, regardless whether they are using IPv4 or Ipv6.
One thing that you have missed out is the autoconfiguration of the hosts and/or routers. For every network, there is a network address and a prefix. For example, 3ffe:1800:2030:1080::/64 has the first 64 bits for the network, and the next 64 for the host, just like IPv4.
But the difference is that with IPv6, all the hosts would add their MAC address (in the case for Ethernet hosts) as their host ID, and thus alleviating the need for a DHCP for configuration of hosts addresses. This way, hosts are sure to have a unique address (since it's based on their MAC address) in the network.
Hosts can also roam between networks, with just a change in the Network ID! The host ID is always the same (again, since it's based on the Ethernet address). This coupled, with DNS, can locate your host uniquely even when it is roaming between many networks.
Ideally, Ethernet hosts can be uniquely identified anywhere in the whole world!
I wonder how reliable this service will be, in terms of locating what we need? What will happen if a split happens in the network? We will have 2 separate p2p networks and then it becomes difficult to find information we need. If the network uses some permanent hosts for servers, then what is the difference with using a server-based solution?