Paul Kapustka's Blog

November 17, 2006

VONosphere Webisode #18 -- Motorola's Michael Krutz

Webisode #18 of the VONosphere, we interview Motorola VP Michael Krutz and talk about WiMax deployments, IMS and Mobility. Interview conducted at the Sylantro Global Summit in Las Vegas, Oct. 17.

(Camera by Mike Arledge, WMS Inc.)

Topics: WiMax; Sylantro; IMS; mobility

Links:
Sylantro gets win in Motorola WiMax deployment

Posted by paul at 02:17 PM | Comments (0)

October 05, 2006

VONosphere Webisode #12 -- Intel Developer Forum

Webisode #12 of the VONosphere from the Intel Developer Forum in San Francisco (Sept. 27).

Topics: WiMax, WiMax and more WiMax. And a cool old PC, and a cool new one.

Links: Where's Intel's WiMax PC Card?

Posted by paul at 02:26 PM | Comments (1)

October 01, 2006

Where's Intel's WiMax PC Card?

Since I didn't spend more than one quick afternoon at last week's Intel Developer Forum, I might not have all the information. But as far as I could tell, Intel's promised WiMax PC Card -- originally due out this Fall -- was nowhere to be found, and probably won't be available for slipping under the Christmas tree this holiday season.

Since I'm a WiMax wannabe (truly, I do think the technology has a great chance to enable the so-called third pipe of broadband access in this country) I looked hard for evidence of forthcoming wares, but the best I could find last week at IDF in San Francisco was an early days prototype, which does not look at all consumer-friendly unless we are all supposed to go back to the days of alligator clamps for connectivity.

Old-school!

Looking on the Intel Web site, I didn't find any solid shipping-date information, but I did find a recent presentation that seems to confirm that the cards are coming -- sometime -- and for added street cred, the presentation (as of Sunday night, anyway) still had a bunch of suggested fixes and changes left in. Hey, who's got time to proofreed, anyway? This iz the webb! (Besides, who knows if it's a sentence fragment, or poetic license?)

On the cool side of the ledger, Intel did say that it was coming out with chipsets for service provider gear-builders that would be software-switchable from fixed to mobile WiMax, allowing said providers to start building gear sooner for fixed networks that would be future-proofed for mobile WiMax. That alone may juice the market for WiMax even more than throwing more cash at Craig McCaw.

And Intel also said that it would work with Nokia to embed biggerbetterfaster Wi-Fi into its chipsets, which means we can all poach off our neighbors' Linksys routers much easier in the future.

But where's my WiMax card? The best I could find from last week was this report, which rehashes old news -- that there would eventually be a combined WiMax/Wi-Fi radio inside your laptop. Sure. But where's the card I can start using this Fall?

Posted by paul at 10:42 PM | Comments (1)

August 08, 2006

Sprint bets big on WiMAX for 4G

Confirming a report in the Wall Street Journal, Sprint Nextel on Tuesday confirmed that it's betting big on WiMAX for its long-expected 4G network rollout, bringing in WiMAX backers Intel, Motorola and Samsung as partners for a rollout that is supposed to go live by the end of 2007.

There are plenty of details in the WSJ piece (subscription required) and more undoubtedly soon to come, dissecting what it means for Sprint's partnerships with cable companies, what it means for Qualcomm, etc. etc.

But the big news as we see it is that this is the first true major independent commitment to WiMAX by a major U.S. service provider, and it is for Mobile WiMAX, the only version of the technology that will truly be able to compete going forward (current versions of pre-standard WiMAX, like Clearwire's, aren't mobile and require fixed base stations).

The announcement is really, really good news for Intel's Sean Maloney, a big mobile backer who needs WiMAX to win if he is to succeed in his new, more-important gig.

Posted by paul at 10:30 AM | Comments (0)

August 04, 2006

Can wireless or BPL really be the 'third pipe?'

Even as FCC commissioners decry the cable-telco duopoloy that currently dominates the broadband Internet access scene here in the U.S., it's hard to ignore the signs that wireless technology delivery schemes -- and even broadband over power lines -- are moving closer on the Internet-access radar screen.

Case in point: From the very same public FCC meeting Thursday that prompted commissioner Michael Copps'declaration that "we are behind the game in putting high-speed, high-value bandwidth to work for all our citizens," the FCC did in fact unanimously vote to speed up the deployment of BPL and make more spectrum available for wireless net access, according to the National Journal's account of the meeting.

For BPL, the FCC basically said that it wouldn't ban the development of the technology, for the moment tossing out interference concerns of entities that include "ham" radio operators and TV broadcasters until there are more data. For wireless, the FCC said that the hoped-for 700 MHz chunk of spectrum that is supposed to be turned over by broadcasters by 2008 (betting line coming on this one soon) may be split into geographic chunks, giving smaller providers some hope in the bidding process.

Combine these actions with some on-the-ground happenings -- like the testing of a WiMAX/Wi-Fi blend to provide wireless access to train commuters in Silicon Valley, or the serious RFP process in the idea of building a Silicon Valley-wide free Wi-Fi net, and you have the seedlings of some hope that someday soon, real broadband alternatives may arise.

Sure, there are still a lot of technological hurdles to cross over, as always, but then again five years ago did you think you'd be downloading movies to something the size of a cell phone? At this point I would bet more heavily on wireless than BPL, only because I don't know much about BPL technology but I do know something about the relative (low) quality and stability of electrical wiring in houses, and not sure that's the best place for communications to go next.

Of course, I'd love to be proven wrong. Anne Broache's well-researched story over at C/Net provides more details about the BPL side of things.

Posted by paul at 01:34 AM | Comments (0)

August 01, 2006

Ed Whitacre, WiMAX user

SAN FRANCISCO -- It's good to be the boss of a telecom company, especially when you want WiMAX service set up at your rural ranch. That was the most exciting news from AT&T CEO Ed Whitacre during his speech to the NARUC summer gathering here Tuesday, along with a bunch of company-line updates on other pressing telecom topics like net neutrality and video over IP. More after the jump, and don't forget to check back later for Big Ed video highlights.

-- Net neutrality: Bonus smackdown honesty points to Whitacre for prefacing a quote from a Phoenix Center study (which purports that passing net neutrality rules will increase bandwidth costs) with the line "I'll be the first to tell you I don't know who they [the Phoenix Center] are."

[Editor's note: After which you could almost hear Phoenix Center president Larry Spiwak cringing from the back of the room.]

Instead of calling Google or Vonage nuts, Whitacre said that it would be "nuts" for AT&T to try to block any Internet services. "Nobody's going to block," he said. But Whitacre did say that AT&T is "not going to build [new] networks with no chance for [financial] return." He added that he was sure others in the online world would love for AT&T to build new networks so they could get "all the revenue and have no expenses," but that won't happen if Whitacre has his way. "Nobody gets a free ride," he said.

And: "It's best if [net neutrality] is worked out on a commercial basis," he added. [Editor's note: Those who have the gold...]

-- WiMAX: In addition to his own home network (which he said provides 5 Mbps downstream), Whitacre said AT&T is testing WiMAX and said it works "most of the time," but is "not ready for prime time yet."

-- TV: Whitacre noted that AT&T has 10 percent market share in San Antonio (the only launched market for its U-verse TV over IP service), and plans to have 15 more markets running before the end of the year. [Editor's note: Which is only a year behind schedule, but who's counting? Other than us?]

The U-verse service that is up and running isn't fully ripped, without the interactive and multiple-camera features that will supposedly make it better than vanilla cable. "It's not bad, but it's not where we want it to be," Whitacre admitted.

-- Soundbite: "You just can't call us a phone company anymore." [editor's note: especially when it comes to regulation!]

-- ICC: More honesty, as Whitacre said "I wouldn't confess to know" exactly what or how intercarrier compensation works. But he does know that AT&T "supports the [Missoula] plan," an effort backed by NARUC. "It's a good start," Whitacre said. [editor's note translation: "Just wait until Dorothy Atwood and Jim Cicconi get done with it."]

-- Soundbite: "We are committed to serve 5 million lower-income families" [with AT&T's new broadband services]. [editor's note translation: "Just as long as the lower-income families are willing to move into the rich neighborhoods where we'll be stringing fiber."]

-- Soundbite: About access lines: "Don't come to see us, we're not selling those."

-- UNE-P: When asked by host Tony Clark (commissioner and commissioner president of the North Dakota PUC) about what he likes or dislikes from the 1996 Telecom Act, Whitacre said UNE-P (also known as line sharing) is "burned in my brain," and not in a good way. Whitacre wondered aloud why people thought UNE-P was a good thing: "how many people [companies] got in with no skin in the game?" Whitacre wondered. [editor's note 1: maybe because there were only so many monopoly infrastructures to go around?] [editor's note 2: Seems to be working well for customers in Japan and France. And who has more skin in the game than customers?]

Smackdown score for Whitacre: 4.0, bonus for honesty but really very thin gruel for the audience of state PUC'ers.

Posted by paul at 01:49 PM | Comments (0)

March 07, 2006

Spectrum Reform -- From Ted Stevens

Thanks to David Isenberg for this coverage of a new idea from the ever-lovable Sen. Ted Stevens, which calls for turning over unused TV spectrum for Wi-Fi. Just when you thought Ted was sleeping, he pulls this rabbit out of the hat...

Of course, as David I notes, some other folks may have done the heavy lifting. No problem. With some good heavyweight bi-part backing (Kerry, Boxer on the left, Sununu and Allen on the right), this bill is a mover. At least until the man from the mouse gets aholt of it.

Posted by paul at 10:00 PM | Comments (0)

Forget Origami -- get me one of them WiMAX cards!

SAN FRANCISCO -- While the media masses swarmed around the Origami prototype PCs at the Intel Dev Forum today, I was trying to see if I could swipe the WiMAX PC card, a product due out later this year. Gimme WiMAX! Give it to me NOW!

Other cool non-Origami announcements from Sean Maloney's afternoon keynote included Intel's development of a programmable WiMAX radio chip that would let equipment vendors build base stations that could communicate at three different bands of spectrum -- 2.3-2.5 Ghz, 3.5 Ghz and 5 Ghz. Such a chip could remove a huge stumbling block for WiMAX acceptance and costs, since currently products must be built specifically for each spectrum band.

More later from the talk (well, probably tomorrow later since I also have to produce a video clip. But the bonus! We'll link to that tomorrow as well so you can see the "Origami" live).

Posted by paul at 04:49 PM | Comments (0)

March 06, 2006

If Ma Bell can return, so can Ricochet

Help me off the floor, please, I just got done reading this story about Ricochet's planned return to the Bay area. Yeah! I knew someday my old Ricochet modem would rise again... to surf at sub-standard (but untethered!) speeds.

Maybe there's a self-help group out there somewhere for us old, rejected, left by the roadside of the info highway Ricochet users. If you used Ricochet, and you had the grace to be in a good reception zone, it was wonderful. No phone lines to worry about. Any room in the house would do. You could even take it on the road to another city that had Ricochet, and fire right up -- no changing SMTP settings or any of that other fun stuff that was part and parcel of the old way of connecting.

We could even forgive the old gal for the occasional DNS slipup.

One of my great geek stories involves taking my Ricochet down to LA for Internet World, and finding a "hidden" Ricochet network that the company had set up for the LAPD. Ah the joy of turning on that modem and hearing the four beeps that said "bandwidth is yours!"

But it's a love that shan't be rejoined, since I have now found a new suitor for my mobile broadband needs... who reaches speeds Ricochet will never see. But maybe, just maybe... on a dark night... I'll take the modem out and see if I hear the beeps again. And remember... the way we were...

Posted by paul at 12:37 PM | Comments (0)

February 13, 2006

Ted Stevens' cell phone bill

From the you-gotta-hope-he's-got-the-no-roaming-fees plan: Sen. Ted Stevens on how he uses his cell phone:

My Eskimo friends in Alaska call me from a walrus skin boat in the Arctic Ocean to tell me they are celebrating that they just harpooned a whale. When I am in Iraq, and I was in Iraq last August, with our troops, I checked in with my wife to make sure she had fed the cat.

(From Commerce Committee Chairman Ted Stevens Addresses
the National Association of Regulatory Utility Commissioners. And you thought press releases were boring!)

Posted by paul at 05:32 PM | Comments (0)