Hooked on unlimited data plan

The take up rate of smartphones are at an all time high.

Partnering with smartphone manufacturers, GSM/3G operators had massive discounts for subscribers to purchase the smartphones for easy access to their social networking and constant connectivity to tons of web applications.

The astounding statistics of smartphones market share can be seen here at Admob.(Circa May 2010).

With unlimited data plans offered together with the discounted smartphones, gave subscribers the chance to be truly mobile with information,work,emails,videos,gaming,etc all at their fingertips. It can be said that the boom of the smartphones era is largely attributed by the "low cost" unlimited data plans offered by these telco operators.

Now almost everyone from the age of 10 to the age of 50 can comprehend the use of smartphones such as the Apple "IPHONE". When Internet Messaging(IM) started to gain popularity years ago, not everyone could be reached as they were "offline", ie not connected. But now, everyone can afford to leave their mobile IM application "online" all the time. On top of IM, new social networking applications such as Facebook, LinkedIn, Twitter, etc have had smartphone users more excuses to be online all the time. May it be updating and broadcasting their own thoughts to everyone in their "network", or merely retweeting someone else's thoughts, more smartphone users are now online more often than they are offline. They can even possibly online 100% of the time.

This trend of social networking and online availability makes it easier for the smartphone user to be constantly reachable without having to be in a call. Now anyone can be reached, located, and even be called without having to use any airtime. Emails, IM, Skype, Google Voice, allows for the unlimited data plan subscriber to be contacted without having to dial his/her cellphone number.

This trend eventually will mean that the mobile service provider will no longer be able to bank on incoming/outgoing call minutes as their main source of revenue. And the unlimited data plan contract means that the provider has no chance of earning more from the customers. Such a business model without growth will mean the end of the providers. If this goes on, then it'd just be fighting of customer contracts with the same offerings from different operators and the customer is the only one to gain.

And so, the mobile operators have their unlimited data plan smartphone users hooked on being online 24/7. That's a known fact. The bait has been taken. For the providers to reel in the income revenue, the only way to go is to stop the cheap unlimited data plans and start a rate-based charging scheme.

This will be a dark area as it might cause customers to move to another competing service provider. But in the business model whereby price is the only factor for consumer choice, it'd be wise for competitors to follow suit as well. Else the vicious cycle of unlimited data plan will eventually take its toll on the providers.

Akin to the tobacco industry several decades ago, when they realized that the each marketing campaign only resulted in a larger marketing campaign from the competitor and neither of the brands were getting more revenue as a result of competing marketing campaigns, they merely stopped extravagant spending on the campaigns as if agreed mutually for the sake of each other's bottom line. And it only takes the first brand to stop the campaign for everyone else to realize their potential savings.

So AT&T has started the wise move by introducing the tiered data plan and Verizon will be following suit soon. The two giants will trigger all other providers in other regions to do the same soon too. By then, consumers will soon have to pay more for being online all the time and depending on the intensity of bandwidth they consume, they might pay even more.

So after being hooked on unlimited plan contract for a 2 year plan, if the smartphone user continues to be hooked on popular social networking applications and IM, may not be that smart after all.

Germans Get Fined For Not Securing Wi-Fi Networks

In Germany, it is a crime not to secure your Wi-Fi network!!!

Germans To Get Fined For Not Securing Wi-Fi Networks [Crime]: "

Learn About Satellites [Documentary Video Series]

Real Art is a company that aims to 'bridge the gap between design and advertising,' recently completed a series of 7 animated videos about Satellites.

The series, which was produced for European satellite maker Astra, covers every aspect of the machines over the course of seven videos: History, Physics, Control, Launch, Why We Need Satellites, Business, and The Future.

Below is one of the 7 part series of how Satellite works in brilliant animation and gorgeous graphics!

1,000 taxis in Taipei to be equipped with WiMAX!

Taipei will be having up to 1000 taxis to be fitted with Wimax radios.

VMAX Telecom Co. will officially launch the Internet service March 9, 2010 according the the company's spokesperson. The main aim of the Wimax service is to provide wireless internet access for the commuter. The service will be free to commuters for now.

VMAX Telecom is one of 6 Wimax operators in Taiwan and their Wimax coverage is currently limited to within the greater Taipei area.




Source : Engadget : Taipei gets 1,000-strong fleet of WiMAX-equipped taxis

Free Xirrus Wifi Inspector to troubleshoot and analyze wifi networks

Xirrus has a very good "free" tool to monitor and troubleshoot wifi networks!

It allows the user to :

• Searching for Wi-Fi networks
• Managing and troubleshooting Wi-Fi connections
• Verifying Wi-Fi coverage
• Locating Wi-Fi devices
• Detecting rogue APs

It doesn't require any proprietory hardware and this tool is free for download!
Works with most wifi cards/sticks on Windows platform.

A good alternative to Netstumbler!


Screenshots below

Firetide : Municipal Wi-Fi making a comeback!

"Wireless mesh network vendor Firetide is forecasting a 100% increase in demand for city-wide wireless mesh networks — an indication that muni-Wi-Fi is experiencing a resurgence from the crash and burn days of 2007. The difference this time around is a municipal focus on providing mesh networking for public safety — primarily wireless video surveillance solutions — and adding more applications, such as remote metering and traffic monitoring.

...................

"We'll see a real focus on mesh and mobility in 2010," Coffman predicted. Firetide's MIMO-based wireless solution provides 300 Mb/s in outdoor environments and 400 Mb/s indoors, and is the only mesh technology capable of supporting live streaming video in a mobile environment, she said."

Full article here at Urgentcomm


Wikipedia entry of Firetide

Xirrus: Guide to Designing WIFI networks in Education

Xirrus, provider of Wifi Array products, have posted a informative guide and checklist for deployment of Wifi in the education sector.

A very good comprehensive checklist and guide for Wifi deployment generally.

100 Mbps achieved by Nokia Siemens and LG on their 4G LTE equipment

Nokia Siemens Networks and LG Electronics recently announced that they have achieved an LTE downlink data transfer rate of 100 Mbps, the maximum speed for a Class 3 LTE terminal.

A Class-3 USB wireless modem was used to achieved this 100Mbps speed.
2100 MHz was the frequency used in the tests.

Read the full article here from Mybroadband.co.za

Far EasTone launches WiMAX in Taiwan ( without voice services )

Apparently, the operator FET, is not launching voice over the Wimax infrastructure as yet for fear of overshadowing its cellular business.

Read more in link below from Telecoms.com

Taiwanese operator Far EasTone (FET) this week launched its commercial WiMAX service in Taichung city, delivering entertainment focused content such as music and movies as well as wireless internet access.

Proxim Wireless Connects Venezuela Public Survelliance and Emergency Services

Proxim connects public CCTVs, telephony and fleet management system in Venezuela.

Selected due to the flexibility of using 5 and 10 MHz channel bandwidths, Proxim was selected by Venezuela to implement a city-wide surveillance system.

The system deployed will connect the Bolivar city's emergency and transport agencies' CCTV, VOIP and various emergency control system wirelessly.
Besides the advantage of having a high bandwidth network, there are significant savings compared to using leased lines or fiber.

Read the full article here at Proxim's press release.

Electrocardiography with wifi

Everyone is familiar with the traditional Electrocardiography aka EKG – you lie in the hospital bed, the leads connected to your body, as a machine is recording your heart rate and other vital statistics. But what if it was all wireless? What if you didn’t need to be in the hospital stuck in bed to be monitored?

The Japanese website Nikkei’s Tech-On! reports that engineers are developing a small, portable, and most importantly, wireless EKG system. Designed to run approximately 3 days on a charge, the device will communicate wirelessly using either a wifi or cellular connection.

Source : Crunchgear:Wireless EKG becoming a reality

James Cook University chooses Meru Networks' 802.11n wireless LAN

James Cook University in Australia chooses Meru Networks' 802.11n wireless LAN

James Cook University (JCU) has awarded a tender to Wavelink Communications reseller CCNA to implement a Meru Networks 802.11n wireless LAN at JCU’s Townsville and Cairns campuses. The highly contested tender followed an extensive technology review and evaluation testing of WLAN equipment by the University.

Meru’s solution was selected over other major vendors based on Meru’s unique single-channel approach, which is much simpler to manage and implement than the traditional micro-cell approach adopted by other vendors. Another key benefit of Meru is the ability of its Access Points (APs) to support much higher densities of wireless users than other vendors.

Read the full article here at Recognition Newsroom

Strix Systems WIFI MESH covers 1000 square miles in Macedonia

Strix Systems, one of the pioneer vendors in the red-hot wireless mesh market (WIFI MESH), announced that the Republic of Macedonia has selected Strix's Access/One Outdoor Wireless System for a country-wide wireless mesh network spanning more than 1000 square miles, and being constructed by native Macedonian service provider On.Net.

Source : ConnectedPlanetOnline.com

Economical, Technical, Regulatory Implications of 2.5 - 2.6 GHz Spectrum for Mobile Broadband Networks

A good technical read into the 2.5-2.6 GHz band for Wimax!
Frequency schemes of FDD and TDD Wimax and the implementation feasibility.

2.6 GHz Spectrum : the Next Generation Mobile Broadband Networks: "

Pepwave Surf Mini to tackle WIFI inadequacies

Pepwave has a little nifty gadget, aka Pepwave Surf Mini, that can do many wireless mini-miracles...

MERU NETWORKS: 99.99% WLAN Service Assurance for Business Critical Applications

Meru Networks Announces a Transformative Program to enable 99.99% WLAN Service Assurance for Business Critical Applications:


The Meru Wireless Service Assurance program provides a set of three service level benchmarks that promises end-to-end predictability, high quality real-time application services and a reliable, high-capacity WLAN system.

First LTE Network deployed in Sweden and Norway by TeliaSonera

TeliaSonera, an ISP in the Nordic and Baltic region has deployed the first commercial deployment of the 4G LTE network.

Samsung is the main partner in providing the client dongles and the 2 main cities available for this 4G service will be Stockholm and Oslo in Sweden and Norway respectively.

This is  the world's first deployment and one has to wonder if the service will be commercially viable for the early adopter, given the fact that LTE is competing with 3G connectivity, where most cellphones can double up as the dongle without having the subscriber to buy additional connectivity devices.

Teliasonera Press Release on LTE Launch

Original Article Source : Afterdawn

Aruba Networks used in U.S. Air Force Special Operations Command

The FIPS 140-2 standard specifies the cryptographic security requirements for sensitive but unclassified information and Aruba is qualified for this security requirements.

SUNNYVALE, Calif.–(BUSINESS WIRE)– Aruba Networks, Inc. (NASDAQ:ARUN), a global leader in wireless LANs and secure mobility solutions, today announced that the U.S. Air Force Special Operations Command (AFSOC) has deployed FIPS 140-2 Compliant Aruba wireless LANs to provide instant-on, rapidly-deployable Wi-Fi access to classified and unclassified networks. Highly trained and rapidly deployable, AFSOC personnel conduct global missions ranging from precision application of firepower, to infiltration, aviation foreign internal defense, exfiltration, resupply and refueling of SOF operational elements. The hardened, secure Aruba networks were provided to the AFSOC by Aruba-authorized partner Telos® Corporation.

Read original article : U.S. Air Force Special Operations Command Uses Hardened FIPS 140-2

Broadband Femto Cell connects to GSM network over Internet connections

This isn't new technology but it sure helps to save overseas roaming costs.

A broadband device that behaves like a mini gsm cell station.

Wonder if the telcos around the world are blocking this service if connected from overseas...

An extract from Wikipedia definition of Femtocell :

NYC: Better behaved crowds on new year's eve with wireless CCTVs

Better behaved crowds with use of wireless CCTV over NYC's Times Square over new year's eve of 2009.

Ringing in a Safe New Year with Wireless Video Surveillance Cameras: "

Think about the logistics involved with security and safety that go along with managing any large-scale event. Then think about Times Square in New York City on New Year’s Eve. The potential for disaster doesn’t get much greater than it does at that event. And that’s where the use of wireless video surveillance cameras comes in.

Read the full article from Wireless Woman here.