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Wi-Fi Br.

IDG Now! - Ministério das Comunicações investe R$ 30 milhões em internet sem fio:

Ministério das Comunicações investe R$ 30 milhões em internet sem fio
Por Redação do Computerworld
Publicada em 04 de janeiro de 2008 às 13h16
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São Paulo - Pasta considera tecnologia wireless essencial para a inclusão digital e vai utilizar recursos do Funttel para estimular produção.

O Ministério das Comunicações vai destinar 30 milhões de reais, ao longo dos próximos três anos, para o desenvolvimento de soluções de acesso à internet sem fio. Para isso, serão utilizados os recursos do Funttel (Fundo para o Desenvolvimento Tecnológico das Telecomunicações), segundo informações da assessoria de imprensa da pasta.

O objetivo do projeto é aumentar a produção nacional de sistemas e componentes que permitam o acesso sem fio à internet em banda larga e, assim, tornar o Brasil referência mundial nessa tecnologia.

“Com o investimento, a tecnologia sem fio vai ficar mais barata para o consumidor final, pois seu custo de produção e implantação é mais baixo que a conexão através de cabos”, afirma o ministro das Comunicações, Hélio Costa, em comunicado distribuído à imprensa.

Para viabilizar a produção local, o BNDES (Banco Nacional de Desenvolvimento Econômico e Social) articulou a constituição de uma joint venture, formada por cinco fabricantes nacionais de equipamentos de telecomunicações, as empresas Asga, Icatel, PadTec, Parks e Trópico.

Juntas, elas irão desenvolver sistemas integrados de comunicação digital sem fio em banda larga, em consórcio com o CPqD (Centro de Pesquisa e Desenvolvimento em Telecomunicações) e o Ceitec (Centro de Excelência em Tecnologia Eletrônica Avançada). De acordo com o ministério, os sistemas devem ser colocados no mercado a partir de 2008.

O Brasil ainda tem um leilão de freqüências WiMax, de banda larga sem fio, parado há mais de um ano por questionamentos do Tribunal de Contas da União (TCU) e liminares na Justiça. A Anatel quer vender licenças nas faixas 3,5 e 10 GHz em todo o País e recebeu cerca de 100 propostas, mas o leilão foi suspenso no próprio dia (4 de setembro de 2006) e desde então continua sem solução à vista.

Most important muni wireless stories of 2007

MuniWireless - Most important muni wireless stories of 2007:

Most important muni wireless stories of 2007
It's the end of 2007, a year that began with unbounded optimism and ended with a lot of questions about the viability of municipal wireless projects, the rollout of WiMAX across the US and business models. Here's my take on the most significant stories of the year.

(1) Launch of the iPhone

The iPhone is the first portable Wi-Fi enabled phone that people are really crazy about. It will drive the demand for Wi-Fi access especially in cities.

The design and the interface of the iPhone are revolutionary. What the iPhone has done is to put a spotlight on the thorniest issues that plague (cellular) wireless service: lack of affordable flat-fee all-you-can-eat data subscriptions. When you go abroad with your iPhone, you will suffer huge roaming costs unless you turn off the cellular function in the iPhone.

A lot of iPhone users are thankful for the Wi-Fi capability of the phone, but it's not everywhere, at least not at every corner where they dare to stop and check an address on Google Maps.

As the number of iPhone users rises across the world (and the number of Wi-Fi enabled portable devices like the iPod Touch), people will demand high-speed wireless access and so far, it's Wi-Fi that's been capable of doing that.

Sure, the iPhone has EDGE (and in future models it will have 3G), but EDGE is slow. 3G is faster theoretically but in practice, it can be very slow as well, especially when there are a lot of people using it. It's a just a matter of time before someone figures out how to meet the demand for Wi-Fi almost everywhere (but especially in densely populated cities where people walk around a lot and take public transport). This is the promise of municipal wireless networks. But what's the business model?

(2) Business models

There are three models at work here.

(a) Free service supported by advertising: this works if there are a lot of people using the network. You need a certain population density and frequent use. This will not work in a suburb where most people have gone off to work during the day and at night, sit behind their computers accessing the Internet via wired DSL or cable.

(b) Subscription-based model: if you can get enough people to pay for wireless access, whether hourly, daily, weekly or monthly, you have a decent stream of income, but it must exceed the deployment and ongoing network operations costs over a reasonable period of time. Like (a), you need a lot of people - tourists, business people - who pay for the short-term subscriptions. This won't work in a suburb or town unless there's no other form of broadband available. The downside is you irritate people who want to access the network for only an hour so having a free option works for them.

(c) Municipal-use wireless network with public access: This is being tested in places like Minneapolis and Corpus Christi where the network is partially paid for by the municipality. The municipality uses the network for applications such as public safety and wireless automated meter reading, and allows a private provider to use the same network to deliver Internet access to residents and visitors. This is promising because the network is being used for a variety of purposes, government and commercial. Indeed, cities can improve efficiency and services dramatically using these networks -- if they have a real plan. Unfortunately, the real estate downturn in many cities has created budget problems. That leaves cities with little money to devote to wireless broadband projects.

(3) Waiting, waiting for WiMAX

Sprint and Clearwire, the two WiMAX operators in the US, decided in the middle of 2007 to band together and share the costs of deploying WiMAX. I spoke out against this anti-competitive type of partnership, but now it appears that Sprint may not be building out its WiMAX network on schedule. This leaves Clearwire in a difficult situation. WiMAX was supposed to kill Wi-Fi (and any large scale network built on Wi-Fi) but here we are still using good old Wi-Fi.

WiMAX is expensive to deploy and people are waiting for mobile WiMAX, not fixed WiMAX. There are hardly any devices with WiMAX and why should anyone get such a device (or a WiMAX card) if WiMAX is available only in certain areas? WiMAX is very good for delivering broadband in rural areas, but this isn't what Sprint and Clearwire were targeting. WiMAX is being used now for backhaul and that's where it might stay for a while. We'll see in 2008.

(4) EarthLink implodes

EarthLink pulled out of the municipal wireless business but not because of muni Wi-Fi itself. EarthLink has not even built out San Francisco's or Houston's networks. EarthLink wasted a lot of money on its investment in Helio, the MVNO joint venture with SK Telecom, and lacking funds, decided to cut back on the municipal business. Because it was required to pay for all of the costs of deployment in various cities (without commitment of anchor tenancy from the municipalities), EarthLink decided that the return on investment was a bit too far beyond its short-term outlook.

EarthLink isn't the only wireless provider that encountered problems this year but it's the largest (and it's publicly traded), so it drew a lot of attention from the mainstream press.

(5) Minneapolis is going ahead with the network

Despite the gloom and doom heaped upon municipal networks by the mainstream press, we found out in a study that we conducted last summer that the municipal wireless market will grow 35% year-to-year. Cities are now focusing on using these networks for municipal applications. Minneapolis is one of the cities that has an anchor tenant agreement with the provider who is deploying the network and so far, it's going forward. The other cities - Houston, Chicago and San Francisco - have not canceled their wireless projects. They are rethinking them. Others like Burbank have plans to use the network for innovative services such as managing the energy grid.

In summary, we've gone from extreme exuberance to tempered optimism about municipal wireless networks.

- - - - - -

Next week: Why the traditional telecom business model does not work anymore (hint: it has something to do with 700 MHz and "net neutrality")

Parana, Brazil, launches muni wireless pilot project

MuniWireless - Parana, Brazil, launches muni wireless pilot project: "Parana, Brazil, launches muni wireless pilot project
Broadband connectivity is coming to Curitiba University and its surrounding neighborhoods in Parana, Brazil.

The Associcao Paranaense De Cultura (APC) has signed a contract with NewMarket Technology, Inc. to build a wireless broadband pilot that is expected to expand to other cities in the Brazilian state of Parana.

In a press release announcing the project, Bruce Noller, NewMarket Managing Director of Operations, said that Curitiba has won numerous awards for public transit and overall municipal planning.

NewMarket and APC have worked closely with the local telco and electrical utility, Companhia Paranaense de Energia (COPEL) which will use the solution as a platform to deliver new solutions for business and home customers."

WiMax City

Folha Online - Inform?tica - WiMax móvel deve chegar pela TVA até janeiro de 2008 - 21/12/2007

"WiMax móvel deve chegar pela TVA até janeiro de 2008
Publicidade

da Folha de S.Paulo

A TVA anunciou que já tem tecnologia WiMax móvel --banda larga sem fio que pode ser usada também em portáteis-- pronta para ser oferecida no Brasil, se possível neste mês. A empresa depende somente da homologação da Anatel (Agência Nacional de Telecomunicações), de acordo com Eduardo Koki, gerente executivo de produtos da operadora, cuja compra pela Telefônica foi aprovada em 31 de outubro último.

"Temos espectro de 2,5 [GHz, que é usada para WiMax] em São Paulo, no Rio de Janeiro, em Porto Alegre e em Curitiba. Falta definir quais cidades serão priorizadas", comenta Koki.

Tudo indica que Curitiba deverá ser a primeira cidade, devido à grande quantidade de condomínios que estão sendo criados na periferia. "Aí, onde a infra-estrutura é precária, o WiMax entra para oferecer banda larga com velocidade competitiva".

A tecnologia não depende de cabeamento, apenas de uma antena, como as redes celulares. Atualmente, já existe WiMax no Brasil, oferecida pela operadora Neovia. Porém a conexão oferecida por essa empresa é apenas fixa.

Apesar de a tecnologia ser móvel, a Anatel ainda não permite a mobilidade do WiMax. "Isso porque há questões dos tipos de serviços oferecidos, que concorreria com licenças de algumas operadoras de celulares", diz Koki. Por isso, inicialmente, o WiMax da TVA deverá ser somente fixo."

Cidade Wi-Fi

Cidade Wi-Fi

Após Paris e a pioneira Issy-Les-Molineaux, é a vez de Grenoble, Lyon e outras cidades francesas aderirem ao Wi-fi. Vejam trechos da matéria do "Le Figaro", La folie Wi-Fi gagne les villes:


Zone Wi-Fi, sur le pavis du centre Georges Pompidou. À Nantes, Lyon et Grenoble, l’opération Wi-Fi Cité donne depuis quelques jours accès sans fil à Internet depuis les principales places et les grandes artères. Crédits photo : DENIS/REA



"(...) L’expérimentation lancée à Lyon début décembre, en partenariat avec Neuf Cegetel et SFR, se concentre actuellement sur trois zones : la place Bellecour, une partie des berges du Rhône et de la rue de la République, et la place Louis-Pradel, située devant la mairie. Mais l'enthousiasme reste encore assez limité. La première semaine, une petite centaine de connexions ont été recensées sur le réseau opéré par SFR, provenant pour l'essentiel des techniciens.

(...)

D’autres villes se sont engagées dans des initiatives similaires. La Mairie de Grenoble, qui a décidé de déployer un réseau Wi-Fi gratuit d'ici à la fin de 2008, a commencé par équiper plusieurs sites : Jardin de Ville-place d’Agier-place de Gordes, Jardin des Plantes, Hôtel de ville-Parc Paul Mistral, places Victor Hugo, Saint-André et Grenette.

À Nantes, c'est l’opération Nantes Wi-Fi Cité qui donne depuis quelques jours accès sans fil à Internet depuis les principales places et les grandes artères, certains cafés et restaurants. Une centaine de bornes couvriront l’essentiel du centre-ville d'ici à l’été. Mais ce service ne donne accès gratuitement qu’au site de la municipalité. Pour naviguer sur Internet, il faut souscrire un abonnement mensuel, acheter un forfait journalier ou hebdomadaire ou payer à la durée, à partir de 3€ l’heure.(...)"

Cidade Wi-Fi

Favela em Belo Horizonte terá internet sem fio gratuita (da Folha Online)

A cidade de Belo Horizonte estará completamente coberta por internet banda larga sem fio e gratuita em 2008. É o que planeja o Ministério das Comunicações.

Segundo anúncio do governo na semana passada, já está confirmada a instalação de Wi-Fi na comunidade Vila Cafezal, que será uma das primeiras a receber acesso gratuito a web. Ela fica situada no Aglomerado da Serra, uma das maiores favelas de Belo Horizonte, onde vivem milhares de famílias sem condições de comprar um computador.

De acordo com o ministério, os computadores das comunidades carentes serão doados por empresas e instalados pela prefeitura. Até a metade de 2008, toda a cidade de Belo Horizonte estará conectada à internet banda larga sem fio, diz o governo.

O Ministério das Comunicações investiu R$ 3,5 milhões e a prefeitura de Belo Horizonte, cerca de R$ 800 mil. Caso o o projeto seja concluído, Belo Horizonte será a primeira metrópole brasileira completamente coberta pela internet sem fio.

EarthLink: No more "significant' investments in muni Wi-Fi

MuniWireless - EarthLink: No more "significant' investments in muni Wi-Fi

EarthLink: No more "significant' investments in muni Wi-Fi
EarthLink announced Friday that it will make no more "significant" investments in muni Wi-Fi and that it is seeking "strategic alternatives" to the market. But what, exactly, does that mean?

At a glance, this seems to be the next step in the new direction that the company announced in August. That direction is clearly away from the muni market but just how far away still remains to be seen. Various analysts are putting various spins on EarthLink's announcement--interpreting its meaning as everything from a possible sale of the business to a valuation assessment in the event that the company exits the market entirely--but even the company's municipal partners are not altogether sure of what will play out.

The company's press release quotes CEO Rolla Huff, saying "After thorough review and analysis of our municipal wireless business we have decided that making significant further investments in this business could be inconsistent with our objective of maximizing shareholder value.Accordingly, at this time, we are considering our strategic alternatives with respect to this business."

That much was opbvious in Rolla's remarks back in AUgust whenhe announced a corporate restructuring. The release goes on to say EarthLink plans to "work closely with the municipalities in which it has operations as it considers these alternatives" and estimates a net book value of its muni Wi-Fi business at approximately $40 million.

Greg Richardson speculated on the Civitium blog that the announcement effectively, put a price tag on the business. Glenn Fleishman's at Wi-Fi Networking News noted that the number is "useful to know when they shut it down entirely and write off the value. There may be a company or two willing to buy the networks on the cheap if the engineering conforms to the buyers’ expectations."

The emerging exception seems to be Philadelphia where the network is about 70 percent complete. Greg Goldman, CEO of Wireless Philadelphia, told me EarthLink was working through last week to bring new sites online and to optimize the network. “I expect that to continue to go on," he told me. In any event, EarthLink's direction would in no way impact theirs. "Our job is to make sure our contract with EarthLink is executed and we fully expect it will be,” he said. Wireless Philadelphia holds a 10-year contract with EarthLink.

In a recent post to the Civitium blog, Greg Richardson drilled into the Philadelphia contract to illustrate the contractual difficulties that will face EarthLink as it determines its new strategic direction.

No doubt, this latest move will continue to generate broad brush reports that decry the failures of muni Wi-Fi but, as Glenn Fleishman noted In his insightful comments to theSeattle Post-Intelligencer , muni wi-Fi may be dead in big cities but it is working well in small to mid-sized markets where deployments are of manageable size and municipalities recognize the need for competitive broadband rates to promote economic development and sustain vital community services.

City Wi-Fi

Northern Ireland's walled city goes wireless
The medieval walled city of Derry claims to be first in northern Ireland with a city-wide wireless network. The Walled City to Wireless City initiative was launches was designed to cater to business travelers and touriss, as well as city residents and local university students.

In addition to providing free wireless Internet access, the network is offering Digital Tour Guides, multi-media location-aware tourist information guides to areas around the city. The network uses Tropos Networks' MotoMesh technology. Public works applications are expected to be deployed.

The digital tour is an interesting application that fits well into the city's efforts to promote its historic sites. Tourists can pick up hand-held Wi-Fi devices at the local tourist information center and be guided through an audio/visual tour around the city.

I've not seen this particular application at work but it's similar in concept to the wireless audio devices that art museums are using to provide narrated tours. Users can roa m at will and pick up the tour at any given site.

Wi-Fi City

The Philadelphia experiment: Making muni Wi-Fi work


"Not long ago, we featured an address by Greg Goldman on keeping the dream of overcoming the digital divide alive in Philadelphia. Since then, I spoke with Greg, CEO of Wireless Philadelphia, about the organization’s abilty to do just that, the peculiar chemistry that contributed to its successes, and the challenges ahead.

Wireless Philadelphia, you’ll recall, was the organization that spurred interest in municipal Wi-Fi as a means of addressing the digital divide. Its goal was to deploy low-cost high-speed Wi-Fi networks to bring last-mile connectivity to underserved populations in one of the largest cities in the U.S.

Like any effort to deploy muni Wi-Fi, Wireless Philadelphia has had its share of problems. Early on, network performance was spotty and EarthLink, the group's service provider, had to nearly double the number of nodes per square mile. The network probably won’t meet its goal for completion this year but it’s remained close to schedule; presently, Greg reports, the build-out is about two-thirds complete. The original goal, to deploy a city-run free Wi-Fi network, yielded to a public-private model in which the non-profit Wireless Philadelphia partnered with EarthLink; service is not free but persons who qualify for the digital inclusion rate pay only $6.95 for the first three months and $9.95 thereafter.

There's been some amount of grousing about the differences between the original model and the outcome. But outcomes in most ventures rarely match original intentions and, as a non-profit, it seems that Wireless Philadelphia has been surprisingly productive in ways that a pure city-funded model might not.

It succeeded in raising the funds needed to provide free computers to qualifying low-income families.Goldman attributes the group's success in that area to its status as a non-profit. The group’s 501C3 status, he says “qualifies us as a social-mission entity. It’s not about a company or a commodity. It’s about a civic vision and, at a transactional level, it’s about a needed social service.” He doubts that Wireless Philadelphia would have generated the community and philanthropic support it’s achieved “if there was a guardianship laced in a for-profit entity.”

Similarly, he says, “there is no way it would survive if it resided in the mayor’s office or some other public agency.” Indeed, muni Wi-Fi was outgoing Mayor John Street’s pet project; mayor-elect Michael Nutter has never perceived it as a city priority. Additionally, its independence has given the group status within a foundation community that has made significant financial contributions toward its goals.

“So many entities and individuals have bought into what we’re trying to say--that people in transitional housing need computers and network access. Young mothers moving from welfare to work need computers and network access," says Greg. "People understand this is an issue and we have raised the awareness and the profile of this issue in this community. There is a well of good feeling, overall, toward Wireless Philadelphia in the Philadelphia community.”

The advantage of being the front-runner in the digital divide crusade also cannot be under-estimated. Philadelphia was way ahead of other cities in promoting the need to address the digital divide, largely due to the efforts of its then CIO Diana Neff. “We are definitely benefiting from that,” says Greg, “but the other shoe is that this thing was pretty well hyped. We’re dealing with a set of very high expectations that we’re having a hard time maintaining.”

Perhaps. But the group has already far outdistanced my original expectation (and this is where your humble commentator eats some serious crow). Back in 2005 when Wireless Philadelphia was little more than a dream on a drawing board and I was a wireless editorialist at eWEEK, I wrote that the only thing larger than Philadelphia's ambitions were the challenges it faced in achieving them. I, frankly, doubted that a city as big, as political, and as struggling as Philadelphia was in so many ways could make much headway at all. The city's crime and poverty rates were and are daunting; the notoriety of its politics span generations. So today, it's really quite heart-warming to be able to say I was wrong. Two-and-a-half years later, Wireless Philadelphia is not only scoring successes in addressing the digital divide, it continues the drive toward its goals when similar groups in communities like Sacramento, a fraction of Philadelphia's size with a fraction of its problems, are struggling.

No doubt, Wireless Philadelphia was in the unique position of being the brightest star in EarthLink's business plan at a time when the company was staking its future on the muni market. As such, its build-out was well ahead of cities that partnered much later with EarthLink and saw their build-outs go on hold when the company restructured in August. EarthLink scored several high-profile successes in the market. It achieved a high J.D. Powers ranking for customer satisfaction in both broadband and dial-up Internet services this year and its Philadelphia network won the Most Improved award in Novarum's recent performance rankings. Wireless Philadelphia shared in the glow of those honors. But Goldman says that, in some ways, the group's early successes have just escalated the challenges.

Despite recent moves to reduce its presence in the muni market elsewhere, EarthLink has said it is committed to honoring its 10-year contract with Wireless Philadelphia. On the flipside, says Greg, we’re working with longer than expected time tables and working out bugs in the technology and customer services. A big part of what we have to do is level-set peoples’ expectations.'"

Wi-Fi

Projeto pretende criar uma super area de acesso Wi-Fi na Sillicon Valley. Vejam o post e o video sobre o projeto aqui:

"Silicon Valley is planning one of the world's largest wireless networks, providing outdoors Web access to all and services to police and first responders. But how exactly does the technology known as Wi-Fi work?"

Hong Kong Wi-Fi

Honh Kong é lider mundial em oferta de serviços públicos de oferecimento de redes Wi-Fo. Vejam matéria HK's public Wi-Fi spots exceed 5,000

"Hong Kong has installed more than 5,000 Wi-Fi hotspots at around 3,000 locations in the territory, according to the latest statistics published Friday by the Office of the Telecommunications Authority (OFTA) of Hong Kong. The number made Hong Kong a world leader in the provision of public Wi-Fi service, said a spokesman for the OFTA. Unlike other cities, where public Wi-Fi service involves either public funding or co-ordination by governments, Hong Kong's service is entirely funded by the commercial sector."

Onibus Wi-Fi

Onibus Wi-Fi

Onibus Wi-Fi em Madri. Vejam matéria do elmundo.es:



"La Red llega a la carretera, pero tiene un precio. La compañía Alsa ha anunciado que proporcionará conexión gratis en sus autobuses, pero sólo en los de la 'clase Supra', es decir, aquellos cuyos billetes son más caros. (...)Este servicio es fruto de un acuerdo con la operadora Vodafone, que porporciona la conexión en ruta. Para ello, los nuevos autobuses disponen de un router con tecnología HSDPA, capaz de dar servicio a un máximo de 3,6 Mbps. (...) Estas líneas se corresponden con los siguientes recorridos: León-Madrid, Palencia-Madrid, Asturias-Hendaya, Asturias-Zaragoza, Asturias-Madrid, Galicia-Madrid, Benidorm-Madrid y Cartagena-Madrid.(...)

Sanford, Florida Wi-Fi

MuniWireless - Sanford, Florida deploys downtown wireless hotzone

"Sanford, Florida deploys downtown wireless hotzone
Sanford (Florida), a city of 50,000 people located north of Orlando, has recently deployed a downtown Wi-Fi hotzone (10 blocks) at a cost to the city of $30,000 (the total cost was $55,000, part of which was borne by the city's partner, F4W, a company based in Lake Mary, Florida). F4W recently won a regional technology award for the Sanford Wi-Fi network.

The network provides Wi-Fi access in all the outdoor public areas of downtown Sanford and some of the indoor areas of restaurants and cafés along the main business street. The city deliberately played down expectations; they told residents not to abandon their DSL or cable Internet service.

How did the project come in to being? They put it together as an Economic Development project, so there are no plans for other city departments to use it (the limited geographic area doesn't make it very useful for other departments). On the other hand, because other departments were not involved, they managed to get it up and running within four months of inception. And because they keep it under $50,000, they avoided having to go through the RFP process.

Being a mesh system, expansion would be technically simple but bureaucratically more complicated. They expect to expand the network in five block increments, based on lobbying by city commissioners and interested residents and businesses. The funding would probably originate from the city's IT budget which would slow things down.

Given that the fiscal system in Florida has deteriorated considerably in the past six months, it will be difficult to expand the network quickly.(based on Q&A with Robert Tunis, Economic Development Director for Sanford, Florida)"

FreeTheNet.ca

Free Net Canada



O movimento FreeTheNet.ca busca criar em Vancouver uma comunidade wireless compartilhando acesso wi-fi usando os roteadores Meraki. Há movimentos similares em São Francisco, Prestonsburg e outros lugares do mundo.



O objetivo do projeto Meraki é: "to bring affordable Internet access to the next billion people. Meraki's new approach to wireless networking empowers individuals and groups to bring access to local communities, anywhere in the world. Meraki has focused on changing the economics of access since its beginning as a MIT Ph.D. research project that provided wireless access to graduate students. Using their research, Meraki got its start at a low-income housing community in the US. News about Meraki's products spread by word of mouth into over 25 countries around the world. Every day, new Meraki networks bring access to locations ranging from urban apartment complexes in London to villages in India."

Wi-Fi City

Duas cidades desplugadas. Update de Portland e Davao City.

DAVAO

MindaNews - Davao City eyed as free wi-fi zone.

"DAVAO CITY (MindaNews/06 October) – Making Davao City a free-access wireless internet (wi-fi) zone will be on the agenda of the 6th Mindanao ICT (Information and Communications Technology) Congress on October 23 to 24 here, an organizer said. Bert Barriga, congress special events chair, said they would push for the passing of a resolution to urge telecommunication companies and government agencies, including the local government, to transform the whole city into a wi-fi zone. Barriga, manager of Davao City's NCCC Mall, is vice president of ICT Davao, one of the congress' three-partner organizers. He said it would be advantageous to Davao City."

PORTLAND

Free Wi-Fi's future seems up in the air

"The future of Portland's experiment with free wireless Internet access appears precarious after city officials said wireless contractor MetroFi Inc. plans to stop expanding the Wi-Fi network. MetroFi later denied that it plans to stop work, and said it remains committed to Portland. However, the timing and location of future growth remain unclear. Portland's network now serves about a quarter of the city, mostly around downtown and the close-in east side.

The privately funded, ad-supported network has attracted thousands of users, along with vocal complaints about erratic service. Nationwide, several major municipal Wi-Fi projects have been abandoned in recent weeks as cities concluded the networks were financially or technically unworkable. MetroFi landed Portland's Wi-Fi contract in the summer of 2006, promising to make "reasonable best efforts" to expand the network citywide by the middle of 2008. It planned a privately funded network, consisting primarily of antennas atop streetlights, that would cost less than $10 million to complete. Portland hoped the network would provide fast Internet access to people who can't afford to subscribe to cable or DSL service, which typically cost at least $30 a month."

Wi-fi update helps eye doctors

Wi-Fi ajuda nas consultas médicas (oculistas, no caso) no interior da India. Vejam matéria da BBCWi-fi update helps eye doctors.

"The network allows specialists at Aravind Eye Hospital at Theni, in the state of Tamil Nadu, to interview and examine patients in nine remote clinics via high-quality video conference.

The new technology has been developed by researchers at the University of California, Berkeley and at Intel Corporation in collaboration with the Indian hospital.

One of the scientists' first priorities was to develop inexpensive and robust wireless networking technology which would stand up to the demands of developing regions.

The team could have used Wimax technology for long-range wireless networking but it is expensive to implement, explained Eric Brewer, a Berkeley professor of computer science and director of the Intel Research Berkeley lab.


A map of the wi-fi network in southern India
The map shows the nine vision centres and the distance of each the wi-fi travels from Theni hospital
The map shows the nine vision centres and the central Theni hospital with the distance the wi-fi network covers

Instead the Berkeley scientists adapted existing wi-fi technology. The key challenge is that wi-fi is designed for short, and not long distance communication.

'Better antennas'

"It turns out that you can get the radio signal to go further just using better antennas," says Professor Brewer. "However, in doing so, you have to pick a particular direction for the signal. This long-distance wi-fi is a fixed point to point wireless technology, like microwave links.

This could revolutionise the delivery of health care services and greatly improve the quality life in the rural developing world
Professor Eric Brewer, Berkeley

Berkeley's team has built wireless fixed links between the vision centres and the hospital. "Ours is a solution tuned to the needs of developing areas; NGOs (Non-Governmental Organisations) don't have the resources to implement the more expensive long-distance systems such as Wimax, " says Sonesh Surena, one of Brewer's PhD students working in the project.

The innovation for the India wi-fi system was to provide high bandwidth, for high quality video imaging, over long distances.

The researchers redesigned the software, so that some of the unneeded information typically sent over a wi-fi connection was discarded.

By combining their modified software with directional antennas and routers to send, receive and relay signals, the research team so far has been able to obtain network speeds of up to six megabits per second (Mpbs) at distances up to 40 miles.

Impressive results

But the team has obtained even more impressive results: "In our current world record, we achieved almost 6 megabits/second over a distance of 384 kilometres using only one link," he adds. These tests were carried out in a project in Venezuela last summer.

Vision centres in the region are now conducting real-time eye exams with doctors in Theni, over a direct connection 150 times as fast as the old dial-up modem, which used to cost $200 a year.

The long-distance wireless link, installed at a cost of $1,800, is practically free to operate.

"With our old system we only had audio, and a little of video," says Dr Namperumalsamy, chairman of Aravind Eye Care System.

He adds: "After the scientists from Berkeley came over, we have a powerful bandwidth and we can have video conferences, we can send e-mails and documents.

"Ultimately we can reach more patients at a affordable cost so that we can serve more people."

For P Ramaswamy, an 64 year-old patient, the vision centre that was built half a kilometre away from his home has made a great difference in his life.

He now can avoid a day's travel and have his eye test done locally.

'Skillful work'

"Someone told me that you can talk to the doctor in Theni through the system and that it is very convenient. I prefer coming here," he says.


Eye test. Patients can take eye tests at local clinics

At the moment, there are nine centres linked to the hospitals at Theni, which serve more than 50,000 residents in the area. And roughly 2,500 patients per month are using the video conference to meet with a doctor.

Each vision centre is run by three paramedical technicians, so that "eye doctors can do skilful work in the hospital such as surgery", says Dr Namperumalsamy.

The current network is expected to expand in the state to include five hospitals within the Aravind Eye System Care that will be linked to 50 clinics.

They are expected to serve half a million patients each year in rural South India - most of whom have no access to eye care today.

These vision centres will positively impact the health of the Indian economy, according to a recent study by the Aravind Eye Care System. It showed that 85% of the men and 58% of the women who had lost their jobs due to sight impairment were reintegrated into the workforce following treatment.

For now, the focus is on India, but the experimental wireless networking infrastructure developed by Intel and UC Berkeley researchers could make it possible to deliver eye care services in other rural areas in the developing world.

"Wherever there's a demand for eye care or other medical services, you can easily and inexpensively install one of our networks," says Professor Brewer. "This could revolutionise the delivery of health care services and greatly improve the quality life in the rural developing world."

Honolulu Wi-Fi

Honolulu Wi-Fi

Bairro Chinatown, em Honolulu, ganha acesso Wi-Fi. Vejam starbulletin.com



"Honolulu-based Tri-Net Solutions LLC -- not Earthlink Inc. as originally planned -- is providing the service, through a mobile wireless mesh system based on community participation. Local businesses volunteer to let Tri-Net install a node, or antenna, on their property, which then becomes an access point to the wireless network.

So far, some 25 nodes have been installed in Chinatown. The antenna hardware, purchased from Mountain View, Calif.-based Meraki Networks Inc., costs between $50 to $100 per node. Tri-Net purchased them itself, and is not charging the city or users for access. Tri-net is also the Internet service provider.

Volunteers range from Into, an upscale boutique on Hotel Street, to the Arts at Marks Garage on Nuuanu Avenue, and Fisher Hawaii at Fort Street Mall.

The same approach is now being used for municipal Wi-Fi in cities like San Francisco, which also originally had a deal with Earthlink.

There were 98 users on the Honolulu network as of early this week. The Wi-Fi soon could extend as far as Bishop Square in the central business district.

"There's nothing to stop us from going there," said Bruce. "We will start looking at Bishop Square and all of that area."

It might not be the fastest wireless connection, but it will be secure, according to Bruce, and it will filter out pornography.

"You'll get reasonably good speed and access," he said. "If private-sector guys provide value-added service, fine. We're not going to do that. Our goal is to provide free, secure access of a relatively adequate speed."

Hannemann originally announced the Wi-Fi plans after a Chinatown Summit last summer as part of an initiative to stimulate economic development in the neighborhood.

Bruce said the city has outfitted Honolulu's first responders, including police, fire and ambulance workers, with Wi-Fi access and plans to also give government workers the ability to conduct regular business on wireless.

But the city does not want to interfere with the services provided by the private sector. Private providers, however, are partnering with the city to provide Wi-Fi access in public venues.

Skywave Broadband Inc., which recently struck a deal with Hawaiian Telcom to provide more than 100 hot spots throughout the state, has offered to provide Wi-Fi in satellite city halls.

Hawaii Open Source Education Foundation -- or HOSEF -- is providing Wi-Fi Internet access at the city-owned Blaisdell Center as well as city parks. Clearwire Corp. volunteered to provide Wi-Fi access for Kalakaua District Park in Kalihi.

Aryn Nakaoka of Tri-Net declined to give an overall cost estimate for the pilot project, which will be tested for a year. Meraki says its technology typically costs one-tenth of traditional wireless systems.

"We're doing this as an experiment to see if it's sustainable," Nakaoka said. "We will consider every angle on how to make money. We truly believe the Internet is a powerful tool for the economy."

It is good exposure for now, he said, but options down the line might include seeking ad sponsorships.

Earthlink, the provider originally chosen for the project, pulled out of the Chinatown Wi-Fi deal three to four months ago, as it did in San Francisco, Houston and other mainland cities.

Earthlink was going to install antennas on light poles, with Hawaiian Electric Co. as a partner. HECO was going to test various utility applications but is no longer involved in the project."

Bahrain WiMAX

Bahrain WiMAX

MuniWireless - Bahrain opts for WiMAX:


"Bahrain opts for WiMAX Zain, a mobile telecommunications company in the Arab kingdom of Bahrain, is launching nation-wide mobile WiMAX services. The country, however, is smaller than the international airport in neighboring Saudi Arabia. The new service will use the technology in a 'double-play' service called Zain@home that provides both fixed line voice and high-speed Internet service. The deployment is expected to cost 25 million Euro over the next three years. "

Cidades Wi-Fi

Cidades Wi-Fi

Duas matérias interessantes sobre as cidades Wi-Fi.



A primeira vem do Ecrans e é sobre o projeto Paris Wi-Fi (já postamos sobre isso aqui no Carnet) e fazendo um balanço das inciativas de livre conexão wi-Fi em cidades ao redor do mundo.

"Paris Wi-Fi permet à tout possesseur d'ordinateur, de téléphone portable ou de PDA, équipé d'un système de connexion Wi-Fi, d'avoir accès librement et gratuitement à Internet en haut débit et sans fil dans la capitale. Pour cela, il doit se trouver près de l'un des 225 espaces verts et sites municipaux (mairies, bibliothèques, musées, etc) où sont installées 315 bornes d'accès (voir la liste des sites par arrondissement). Les 400 bornes et 260 sites annoncés pour septembre ont été repoussés à fin octobre. Un retard dû à 'des ajustements' notamment liés 'à la difficulté d’obtenir une connexion stable dans des espaces ouverts', explique t-on à la mairie de Paris."



A segunda matéria vem do el mundo, mostrando como a comunidade wi-Fi cresce com o projeto FON em junção com a BT, criando a BT Fon. Agora a operador British Telecom fez acordo com a empresa espanhola FON permitindo que os 3 milhões de clientes da BT possam compartilhar suas conexões sem fio ao redor do planeta.

"Un acuerdo entre la operadora British Telecom y la compañía española FON permitirá a tres millones de clientes de banda ancha de la compañía británica (BT Total Broadband) el acceso gratis a la red WiFi promovida por FON. Este acuerdo se traduce en la comunidad BT FON. Según afirma Martin Varsavsky, fundador y CEO de FON, 'el resultado inmediato es que ahora millones de abonados de banda ancha de BT podrán automáticamente formar parte de la Comunidad BT FON'. Según un comunicado de BT, 'los nuevos miembros pasarán a formar parte de una comunidad ya existente de más de 500.000 usuarios y tendrán acceso a más de 190.000 puntos de acceso de FON en todo el mundo. Cualquier miembro podrá conectarse gratuitamente a los puntos de acceso de FON en todo el mundo y de la nueva BT FON'".