MetroFi, Microsoft launch Portland Wi-Fi
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(InfoWorld) - Portland, Oregon, became the latest city to launch a municipal wireless network, starting a free, ad-supported service featuring localized content and services from Microsoft Corp.'s MSN. The network, being built by MetroFi Inc., went live in a few central neighborhoods on Tuesday and is intended eventually to provide Internet access in 95 percent of the city's indoor and outdoor spaces. Cities and counties around the U.S. wantÂ to build wireless networksÂ to promote business and tourism, provide Internet access to residents who can't get or afford wired broadband, or add another choice to the usual options of cable or DSL (Digital Subscriber Line). Municipalities in some other countries, including Taipei, are also part of the trend. Traditional carriers have opposed city-owned networks. But many municipalities, including Portland, are simply contracting with private service providers to build, own and operate their systems. Portland's is the first service to feature local content from MSN. It will appear on a special MSN home page for Portland that will always appear after users start up the service. When they first try to use the network, users will see a MetroFi page that asks them three anonymous demographic questions, such as whether they are male or female. Then the network will remember the client device's MAC (media access control) address, and the next time the user goes on the network, there won't be any questions, according to MetroFi. There are no plans now for services or ads that use the subscriber's physical location in the city. MetroFi has built municipal wireless networks in several cities, including Aurora, Illinois, and Cupertino, Santa Clara, Sunnyvale, San Jose, Foster City and Concord in the San Francisco Bay area. It uses mesh technology in which a Wi-Fi access point can reach the Internet partly through other access points rather than needing a direct wired connection. The service in Portland will deliver speeds comparable to DSL, according to the company. To pay for the service, banner ads about 1 inch (2.54 centimeters) deep will appear continuously at the top of the user's screen, Van Haaften said. MetroFi has already secured a handful of local sponsors and plans to add more over time. The City of Portland will act as an anchor tenant, with public-safety and other employees using the network for improved connectivity in the field. MetroFi may offer the city a special grade of service, Van Haaften said. The service became available Tuesday in Pioneer Courthouse Square and in much of the Buckman, Lloyd and Kerns neighborhoods. The network, using access points mounted on street light poles, is scheduled for completion by mid-2008. To improve reception inside homes, MetroFi recommends indoor modems from Ruckus Wireless Inc. that can amplify the signal from the service.ADVERTISEMENTNEW IT SERVICES FROM IBM: EASIER TO BUY AND IMPLEMENTDiscover a simpler, more cost-effective way to get the solutions your company needs to grow more flexible and efficient.
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Dual-mode handsets will be able to connect to the company's worldwide Wi-Fi network on the cheap.
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City will build the world's largest mesh Wi-Fi network to spread Internet access.
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Philadelphia may spread the joy of wireless Internet access to its citizens.
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Cities and towns are jumping on the Wi-Fi bandwagon. But a municipal model of connectivity may be tricky to pull off.
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SAN FRANCISCO - The big idea came on a trip: Ted Morgan and Michael Shean used Wi-Fi signals in their travels so often to pick up e-mail, they saw a business opportunity in their future.
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AUSTIN, Texas, June 25  /PRNewswire/ -- Interoperability certification for high-performance Wi-Fi gear is now underway.
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(InfoWorld) - WiMax World 2007 opens in Chicago Tuesday with major service providers and network equipment vendors expected to offer demonstrations and a few details on plans for mobile WiMax deployments that will hit their stride next year. Sprint Nextel CTO Barry West will provide an update of Sprint's Xohm wireless network in a keynote Wednesday. In August, he said the service will be launched in Chicago and the Washington/Baltimore area by year's end and will reach 100 million users by the end of 2008. Motorola, meanwhile, is planning to demonstrate its coming mobile WiMax technology from a boat in the waters of Lake Michigan. Many of the WiMax plans are focused on major hardware devices being sold to carriers for backhauling wireless signals from outdoor mesh networks that have Wi-Fi connectivity. Sprint's Xohm will be open access, giving WiMax-certified devices like laptops and handhelds the ability to operate at speeds up to 4Mbps, perhaps five times faster than what carriers call third-generation wireless speeds, West said in August. However, one vendor, MobileAccess Networks in Vienna, Va., announced new WiMax hardware today that will work in remote wiring closets of businesses to deliver WiMax capabilities alongside Wi-Fi, cellular, and public safety networks. The MobileAccess WiMax module, to be shown at the trade show, will undergo WiMax certification from Sprint, said MobileAccess CEO Cathy Zatloukal in an interview. "We expect several existing customers will be interested in it," she said. The module will fit inside an existing MobileAccess MA-2000 Universal Wireless Network box now deployed in many businesses to aggregate multiple wireless signals for Wi-Fi, cellular, and public safety, she explained. The value of having a WiMax module to add-in is that it will work alongside existing infrastructure and provides a single cabling infrastructure to support it. One MobileAccess customer, Tommy Russo of Akridge Real Estate Services in Washington, said he plans to add the WiMax module to his MobileAccess hardware when it is available. "WiMax will give us bigger play and more robust service," said Russo, CTO at Akridge, which provides Wi-Fi and cellular services in a downtown building for hundreds of employees and customers. "As more devices use WiMax, which will happen, it enables more things to connect, everything from telephones to laptops with WiMax." Russo said he expects building management and lighting controls could run over WiMax. Someday, WiMax could even be used to merge Wi-Fi and ZigBee, a wireless standard for embedded control devices, he said. Russo said he has seen the MobileAccess module, but he has not tested it and is eager to start testing as soon as possible. His building has been using voice-over-Wi-Fi for about 18 months. The price for the module has not been announced, Zatloukal said. MobileAccess' module is so far unique, although placing WiMax alongside other wireless modes inside a building will be important to other vendors, said Craig Mathias, an analyst at The Farpoint Group in Ashland, Mass., and a Computerworld columnist. MobileAccess competes with LGC Wireless in San Jose and Interwireless in Universal City, Calif., he said. At WiMax World, there will be plenty of demonstrations, including the module by MobileAccess, Mathias said. "The WiMax market is here now, and we'll see a rollout of commercial services this year, so the show is a chance to get your hands on it, to see what it does and what it costs. The reality is coming quickly, and we'll see how successful it will be." Computerworld is an InfoWorld affiliate
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InfoWorld - A startup says it can give subway riders wireless Internet access that's faster than most home broadband in the U.S.
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Wireless networking startup Meraki plans to deliver free wireless Internet access across San Francisco by the end of the year.
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Boston's plan to blanket the city with wireless Internet connections is set to pick up speed this month as companies jockey to play a role and a pilot WiFi project gets underway in a square-mile area of the Grove Hall neighborhood.
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Prepares to enter broadband era with Wi-Fi adaptor
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After an apparently successful initial test run in parts of Washington State, T-Mobile USA today is ready to roll out its first hybrid WiFi/EDGE phone service: its UMA-based Hot Spot @ Home.  The idea is to enable customers to drop their land lines altogether, without picking up someone else's bundled service that would usurp those savings.
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The (sort of) new IEEE 802.16 Metropolitan Area Network standard (MAN) promises to break the cable modem/DSL monopoly on the "last mile" of Internet connectivity to peoples' homes.    With ranges up to 30 miles and speeds up to 70 mbps it seems like a pancea.    While I suspect the actual usable speeds and distances will be considerably less, my real question is where is it?  This standard has been in the works for years.
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Ten products to sport Wi-Fi Multimedia brand next week
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By Christie Smythe, Cape Cod Times, Hyannis, Mass.  Sep. 9--WEST BARNSTABLE -- The "Unwired Village" project in Orleans,  offering wireless Internet service, is off to a running start after launching  in June.
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By Larry Sandler, Milwaukee Journal Sentinel  Sep. 14--A pair of major national companies are now in the running to build a wireless Internet network in Milwaukee, city officials say.   Milwaukee-based Midwest Fiber Networks also is still seeking to establish Wi-Fi service.