[Fwd: [HSMM-technical:1857] Re: Verizon to offer wireless broadband]

Sat Jan 10 08:55:28 CST 2004

An interesting discussion on the new broadband wireless systems now 
being deployed. This is forwarded from the ARRL HSMM working group list. 
Are any local hams (DC area) using this new service?

-------- Original Message --------
Subject: 	[HSMM-technical:1857] Re: Verizon to offer wireless broadband
Date: 	Thu, 08 Jan 2004 22:16:35 -0600
From: 	Gerry Creager N5JXS <gerry.creager at tamu.edu>
Reply-To: 	hsmm-technical at arrl.org
Organization: 	Texas A&M University -- AATLT
To: 	HSMM Technology <hsmm-technical at reflector.arrl.org>

As far as I'm concerned, go ahead and forward it.  The other reviewer is 
Kurt, WB5BBW, who is our real expert in these cards now.  Please mention 
him favorably.

73, gerry

Alex Fraser wrote:
> Go Gerry!
>    What great information. I have felt for a while that a role hams can 
> play in our society is that of impartial knowledgeable reviewers and 
> evaluators of new technology. We have the trust of the people to perform 
> this role  based on our history (We will lose this trust if we babble on 
> about CW).
>    How can we show this review to the highest number of hams? We can 
> spin it to show how easy it would be to connect a 802.11 ad hoc lan to 
> this system for instant area internet access (like field day) and there 
> by feed two birds from the same feeder (I don't like to kill birds with 
> stones).
>    May I forward this review to a couple of ham lists I am on, in 
> particular to my local club and to AMRAD's TACO list?
>    And as an after thought I must mention that WWI (Woodbridge Wireless 
> Inc.) my local club shares our main repeater site with a Ricochet 
> Network installation (Metricom R.I.P.). Do you think the new owners have 
> a chance in hell of revitalising their service? See 
> http://www.denverpost.com/Stories/0,1413,36~33~1809980,00.html 
> <http://www.denverpost.com/Stories/0,1413,36%7E33%7E1809980,00.html> for 
> latest info.  I really would like to have this local  system dumped in 
> Amateur radios lap.  Their local site is 6 panel antennas on a hough 
> water tower with concrete enclosed cable and huge steel equipment boxes, 
> we could run some cat 5 into our co located  repeater hut for an instant 
> WAN.  I'm not too proud to accept corporate charity.
> 
> 
> 
> Gerry Creager N5JXS wrote:
> 
>> Er... Old news.  Sprint's 1xRTT implementation is currently 
>> outperforming Verizon's in all the markets I've tried it in.  I now 
>> travel with a 1xRTT card for the laptop, so I can at least retrieve 
>> e-mail (albeit somewhat slowly) wherever I go.
>>
>> 1xRTT is CDMA-2000, and the predecessor to 1xEVDO, which should jump 
>> from the current 80k (real numbers vice the 150k marketting hype) to 
>> between 256k and 512k.
>>
>> I've not been able to lay hands on any EDGE (GSM) hardware to test so 
>> far, but reports say, AT&T aside, it's slower than 1xEVDO but faster 
>> than 1xRTT.
>>
>> There remain some issues with bad handoffs and dropped calls, but it's 
>> interestingly enough not as bad in this digital realm as my digital 
>> cellphone is.  I'll be talking on the phone and beating on the 
>> computer, the cell call will terminate abnormally, and the computer's 
>> just goin' on.
>>
>> If you ever see n5jxs-8 on the APRS Internet side, that's almost 
>> always me, running 1xRTT.
>>
>> FWIW, we've tested both Sprint and Verizon for an ambulance research 
>> project.  We implemented both systems for failover/redundancy in our 
>> system, as a stack of 4 effectively channel-bonded modems for each 
>> service, in a Linux PC-104A stack.  We use power dividers and amps to 
>> make sure our ambulances have enough oomph to make it to the tower.  
>> The amps we use do incorporate circuitry for automatic power control.
>>
>> gerry
>>
>> KC5QCN wrote:
>>
>>>
>>> Verizon to roll out wireless broadband
>>>
>>> http://www.usatoday.com/money/industries/telecom/2004-01-08-verizon_x.htm 
>>>
>>>
>>> ----------------------------------
>>>
>>> January 8, 2004
>>>
>>> Wireless broadband network on horizon
>>>
>>> By Andrew Backover, USA TODAY
>>>
>>> Broadband on the go will get a lot closer to reality Thursday when 
>>> the USA's No. 1 phone and wireless carrier details plans to build the 
>>> first national wireless network that's truly broadband.
>>>
>>> While popular "Wi-Fi hot spots" offer public wireless broadband in 
>>> coffee shops and airports, this service would make a laptop as mobile 
>>> as a cell phone.
>>>
>>> The first phase of the build-out, which will take 18 months to two 
>>> years, will begin by summer, says Verizon CEO Ivan Seidenberg, who 
>>> will discuss the plan at the Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas. 
>>> He did not identify the first cities for the high-speed wireless 
>>> service but says, "We will hit the major markets as soon as we (can). 
>>> Whenever we've said we would roll something out nationwide, we did it 
>>> pretty quick."
>>>
>>> Verizon has tested the $80-a-month service, not including a required 
>>> PC card ($150 after rebate), in Washington, D.C., and San Diego. 
>>> Seidenberg says demand is so strong that it's time to expand. Mostly 
>>> for use with laptops and PDAs, the service is data-only and can't be 
>>> used for voice. It is geared to business users but is expected 
>>> eventually to reach consumers.
>>>
>>> Verizon's plan is a big step for the wireless industry, which for 
>>> years has promised broadband networks but delayed them because of 
>>> cost and lack of demand.
>>>
>>> "This tells me there is demand within the business market," says Legg 
>>> Mason wireless analyst Craig Mallitz. "It's creating a true mobile 
>>> office."
>>>
>>> But Blaik Kirby of consultants Adventis still wonders how much work 
>>> people will do in a cab: "Most places you would want to use a 
>>> high-speed connection are indoors (and) likely to be covered by Wi-Fi."
>>>
>>> Most current wireless services, including Verizon's primary offering, 
>>> equal or slightly exceed the speed of a dial-up modem. That's good 
>>> enough for e-mail, trading photos and limited Web access but not for 
>>> big downloads. "Think of the capacity that you now will have 
>>> instantly at your disposal," Seidenberg says.
>>>
>>> Among nationwide services, AT&T Wireless' Edge network is fastest, at 
>>> about three times a dial-up modem. AT&T plans broadband trials in 
>>> four markets in 2005. Sprint PCS' Vision for phones equals dial-up 
>>> speeds; its laptop service is twice that. But Sprint broadband might 
>>> not come until 2006.
>>>
>>> Find this article at:
>>> http://www.usatoday.com/money/industries/telecom/2004-01-08-verizon_x.htm 
>>>
>>>
>>
> 
> 
> 

-- 
Gerry Creager -- gerry.creager at tamu.edu
Network Engineering -- AATLT, Texas A&M University	
Cell: 979.229.5301 Office: 979.458.4020 FAX: 979.847.8578
Page: 979.228.0173
Office: 903A Eller Bldg, TAMU, College Station, TX 77843

-- 
>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>----<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<
........ Alex Fraser  N3DER .........
......... beatnic at comcast.net .......
[~]_>^</\-[~]_>^</\-[~]_>^</\-[~]_>^<