One day it happens. We look at the world around us in a completely new light. Something inside us that has been nagging at our inner most being says, "enough". What do we do then?
source : ekbtv.blogspot.com
Ericsson will conduct the world’s first demonstration of end-to-end HSPA Evolution technology with speeds of up to 42 Mbps at CTIA Wireless 2008, next week
HSPA Evolution can provide speeds of up to 42 Mbps, says Ericsson. It is currently being standardized by 3GPP in Releases 7 and 8 of the WCDMA specification (pdf). It achieves those speeds using higher order modulation (64QAM), combined with 2×2 MIMO antennas. The first step of the HSPA evolution will be introduced during 2008.
Ericsson says their 3G solutions offer a path for evolution. Their RBS 3000 family of Ericsson base stations has support for both HSPA Evolution and LTE the COFDM-based standard for “4G”. Ericsson’s recently launched next-generation radio base station family, the RBS 6000 series, is said to offer a enhanced multi-standard solution that supports GSM/EDGE, WCDMA/HSPA Evolution and LTE, all in a single package.
HSPA, the data network for 3G cellular companies like AT&T, has been commercially launched in 80 countries on all continents and in 185 networks. Ninety of these networks have been delivered by Ericsson.
Ericsson, which supplies communications services and manages networks that serve more than 185 million subscribers, is not a fan of Mobile WiMAX.
Ericsson believes the proper path for cellular networks is the voice-centric GSM/3G/LTE way. Data-centric Mobile WiMAX, using TDD, MIMO, beamforming and a host of other technologies does not conform to their world-view. Here is an Ericsson white paper comparing HSPA Vrs WiMAX.
LTE offers a choice of carrier bandwidths – from 1.4MHz to 20MHz – and supports both Frequency Division Duplex (FDD) and Time Division Duplex (TDD) access (pdf).
Ten paired and four unpaired spectrum bands have so far been identified by 3GPP for LTE. Operators may introduce LTE in ‘new’ bands where it is easiest to deploy 10MHz or 20MHz carriers. That would likely be AWS band in the United States and Canada.
LTE is a telecom-centric project. It is not a standard yet, but it is expected to mold the new release 8 of the UMTS IP-based standard. LTE’s overriding characteristic is many telco layers and proprietary protocols.
Most observers believe WiMAX has a 2-3 year lead over LTE.
Meanwhile, NTT DoCoMo says it can do 250 Mbit/s on an LTE downlink. They will detail the full trial results at next week’s CTIA Wireless show in Las Vegas.
DoCoMo has been testing LTE, which it calls Super 3G, since February in a field trial using a real wireless environment outside its research and development labs in Yokosuka, Japan. Unstrung says DoCoMo has set the most aggressive timeline for commercial deployment, which is planned for 2010.
source : dailywireless.org
Chrysler says it will be the first auto manufacturer to provide in-car internet access—and plan to offer a system by the end of this year.
Frank Klegon, Chrysler’s product development chief noted: “we want to make the radio itself a WiFi port.” In order for the service to work, it would have to utilize a broadband connection from cellphone towers.
Chrysler will initiate the effort by offering an off-road navigation system for its Jeep Wrangler. Chrysler will be forced to pick one cellular carrier for the backhaul, although which one isn’t certain.
Chrysler earlier said it is working aggressively to develop an advanced, in-vehicle wireless communications systems that go beyond current systems.
Chrysler envisions future GPS systems with satellite imagery downloaded from the Internet as well as automatic wireless map updates, real time weather information. Downloads to in-car entertainment centers can also include service reminders, Internet search, e-mail access, and online shopping
The following features will be coming to Chrysler, Dodge and Jeep vehicles over the next few years:
AutoNet Mobile provides CDMA EV-DO Rev. A backhaul to connect autos. Their TRU mobile IP platform, costs $595 with a $39 monthly charge. It works with Novatel’s Expedite E725 Express Mini Cad Module and is used by Avis car rentals. AutoNet is also working with auto electronics supplier Delphi to develop telematics and in-car entertainment products.
PePWave’s CarFi continuously scans and connects to the nearest citywide Wi-Fi transmitter. Instead of trying to establish a direct connection from a laptop device to the Wi-Fi transmitter, the PePWave CarFi acts as a high power signal repeater that connects to a citywide Wi-Fi transmitter and creates a stable local AP for laptop connectivity. It allows low powered devices, such as a PDAs or Apple’s iPhone, to maintain fast and steady connection, without scouting for a signal.
In related news, Greyhound’s BoltBus service provides a WiFi-enabled bus along the popular New York-Boston corridor and will also add service between New York and Philadelphia. BoltBus daily service features low fares and AC outlets by seats. On the left coast, the San Francisco Municipal Transportation Agency unveiled a yearlong pilot program, called the Connected Bus (pdf), which is a single bus outfitted with wireless Internet capabilities. The bus will be moved around to different lines throughout the year.
At CES this January, Intel’s Julie Coppernoll gave a Mobile WiMax tour of Las Vegas using Motorola basestations with Clearwire spectrum - a clone of the Hillsboro trial setup in Oregon. The 3 sector base stations connected to Motorola Wi4 Diversity access points (pdf) plugged into Wi-Fi access points inside the vehicles.
source : dailywireless.org
Verizon and AT&T, now own the bulk of the frequencies in the 700-megahertz band, formerly used by UHF television stations. Signals at these frequencies penetrate buildings better than current cellular service, which operates at 850 and 1900 megahertz. KB Enterprises has maps of the winning bidders.
The FCC’s 700 MHz auction raised $19.6 billion for the U.S. Treasury with AT&T Wireless and Verizon Wireless accounting for the bulk ($16 billion). Google acquired no spectrum. Here’s the FCC’s full list of 700 MHz winners. Commissioners Michael Copps and Jonathan Adelstein issued separate statements; (Copps and Adelstein).
Verizon’s C-Block coverage (right) appears nearly total.
AT&T will cover 100 percent of the top 200 markets when their auction winnings are combined with their purchase of Aloha Partners’ 700 MHz spectrum. Combined with their AWS spectrum coverage, AT&T will now cover 95 percent of the U.S. population with new cellular licenses.
Qualcomm and Echostar bought up most of the 6 MHz that will likely be used for mobile television with Qualcomm picking up the California coast and NE, while Echostar covers most everything else. The auction failed to attract significant new competitors.
What did consumers get out of it? Not much. When’s the last time your phone or cable bill went down? Meanwhile the cost of digital electronics and services is plummeting.
It also means that 700 MHz will use HSDPA/LTE not Mobile WiMAX. Will AT&T and Verizon wait until 2011 or 2012 for LTE? Probably not. That may not seem like a big deal by itself, but it DOES mean there will be a forklift upgrade to LTE. If it ever happens.
New LTE handsets and replacement LTE infrastructure will cost real money. Plan on paying twice as much ($50 vs $25) for half the speed (500 Kbps vrs 1 Mbps) using cellular’s dead-end, HSPA voice network. For a long time.
Like ATSC (the U.S. digital television standard), old school cellular operators on 700 MHz could also drag down more cost/effective [mobile WiMAX] options in Canada and Mexico, too.
Consumers got screwed. Here’s my argument:
That would indicate that a competitor (like Google) could come in and clean up. But they didn’t.
Here’s why:
Verizon has won spectrum it arguably didn’t even need, given its existing spectrum holdings. It retains the discretion to act as a traditional cellphone-model company - picking and choosing among applications and devices, underselling “open” devices, and discriminating against traffic that undermines its business model.
Verizon and AT&T could afford to overpay. They’ll get taxpayer subsidies from USF and IWN to bolster their dominance. They could NOT afford to have Google come in and essentially provide “free” phone service — even if Google’s cost of doing business was 2-3 times higher. Incumbent wireless carriers come to the auction with a vast array of existing assets, as Google lawyer Richard Whitt, pointed out last year.
I agree with DSL Reports’ take on the 700 MHz auction:
Yes, here’s the part where we’re supposed to tell you that Google’s loss was actually a win, because Google forced the FCC to attach some barely enforceable Carter-fone “open access” conditions to the spectrum, resulting in a brave new world of wireless connectivity. Sorry, that’s nonsense.In the years we’ve watched AT&T and Verizon at work, there’s not a law, condition, or requirement their lobbyists haven’t been able to wiggle around, through or over — given enough time and resources. To expect otherwise here is folly.
The most Google accomplished was to make a small ripple in the very large pond that AT&T and Verizon inhabit. While the auction’s biggest winner, Verizon, is taking baby steps toward “open access,” those steps are largely showmanship, over-stated by the media, and will come at a steep premium for consumers.
The primary focus will remain on promoting their traditional phone options, with “open access” connectivity offered begrudgingly as a luxury service (with a highly restrictive terms of service). It will remain business as usual.
I don’t blame Verizon or AT&T. They’re just trying to make a buck and need to protect their cash cow.
Congress and the FCC dropped the ball by not creating a more competitive environment. They could have created a USF funding model that encouraged competition. They could have avoided making the Integrated Wireless Network a $10 billion narrow-band boondoggle [that will probably never get built]. They could have encouraged “4G” technology, more competition, and lowered consumer costs with more effective use of the spectrum.
Congress and the FCC could have done more. But they were probably afraid of the dominate carriers — unlike the political leadership in Australia, Argentina, Canada, Mexico, Europe, Singapore, Taiwan, Pakistan, Russia, India, Japan, South Korea, and many other places around the globe.
The Universal Service Fund (wikipedia), is a $4 billion program that subsidizes telephone access in rural and poor areas. USF funds are provided to multiple carriers, both wired and wireless.
But members of a House committee said the five-year, $1.2 billion Universal Service Fund to provide rural communities with broadband was broken, reports the Washington Post. The Universal Service Fund missed many unserved areas while channeling hundreds of millions of dollars in subsidized loans to companies in places where service already exists, charged the committee.
“If you don’t fix this, I guarantee you this committee will,” House Agriculture Committee Chairman Collin C. Peterson (D-Minn.) told James M. Andrew, administrator of the Rural Utilities Service at the U.S. Department of Agriculture. “I don’t know why it should be this hard.”
The FCC’s AWS auction in September, 2006 (FCC summary) grossed $13.9 billion for the U.S. Treasury. T-Mobile USA, the No. 4 U.S. wireless provider, topped the bidding by offering almost $4.2 billion for 120 licenses.
While the Bush Administration promised to “bridge the digital divide” with 90 MHz of new spectrum, it was cellular operators that benefited.
The truth is the 700 MHz auction was rigged from the start.
The FCC carved up the spectrum for cellular operators. It used frequency pairs (FDD). But with FDD, one channel is always listening, wasting spectrum. Mobile WiMAX, with TDD, is widely believed to be more cost/effective and a better match for MIMO and beamforming. Why didn’t the FCC encourage TDD on the 700 MHz band? Perhaps it was money. Cellular money.
The wireless industry’s top lobbying group, CTIA, spent nearly $6.9 million in 2007 to lobby on re-allocation of wireless airwaves for commercial use, and other issues, according to a disclosure form posted online Feb. 14 by the Senate’s public records office.
It also lobbied Congress, White House, Commerce Department, Homeland Security Department and other agencies on other wireless tax and security issues.
They did a pretty good job of helping themselves.
The 3.65 GHz [semi] licensed band that the FCC enacted last summer, may provide a real opportunity to provide broadband wireless, especially in rural areas. It is “lightly” licensed with WiMAX gear available from several providers.
Alzustar is planning to use 3.65 GHz in some of their municipal wireless projects using equipment from Airspan and Redline. One catch; there is an exclusion zone around certain satellite earth stations that use nearby frequencies.
But, reports Tim Sanders, there is no easy way on the FCC site to search via zip code, GPS coordinate or city name to find a listing of these Fixed Satellite Services (FSS) operators.
Now two groups Zing Wireless (an independent wireless ISP) and WirelessGuys (an equipment distributor and integrator) have collaborated on a simple solution — here.
Their free mapping site at zing.naviciti.com uses Microsoft’s Virtual Earth maps with high resolution photos.
The site is very easy to use. FSS sites are visually represented and the operator name pops up when moused over. You can search by zip code and zoom until the virtual border is visible. They have the community for help in compiling additional data for this free service. Those with information can contact Tolly at map@getzing.com.
The “lightly regulated” 3.65 - 3.7 GHz band, is non-exclusive, but does require base station registration and a filing fee for the spectrum by each provider. This is close to the unlicensed-band approach, aside from the registration and fee.
The block of 50 MHz spectrum boasts a mid-range blend of power allotment (higher than unlicensed spectrum and lower than licensed spectrum) that has a lot of utility, especially for rural providers. A restriction of WiMAX gear to the lower 25 MHz is designed to prevent interference with unrestricted protocols in the upper 25 MHz.
The FCC’s 3650-3700 MHz band requires fixed and base stations be at least 150 km from 86 grandfathered earth stations without consent, or within 80 km of three federal radar facilities without successful coordination. The rules give the locations of these facilities. The FCC’s public notice is available here (pdf).
source : dailywireless.org
It looks like soldiers could one day have their own tab key of sorts to call up detailed, 3D maps at will, at least if the folks at General Dynamics UK have their way. As Physorg reports, they've developed a "near real-time" 3D map system that makes use of an array of different technologies including LIDAR, thermal imaging and x-ray backscatter techniques to not only display buildings and streets, but objects and people inside buildings as well. The use of LIDAR also promises to provide measurements of doors, windows, and alleys with "millimeter accuracy." All that obviously makes the system, dubbed Masthead, slightly less than portable, however, although General Dynamics says it'd be able to be carried in the back of a military vehicle or civilian 4x4, or in a plane for that matter. Of course, like most such projects, General Dynamics isn't just setting its sights to military applications, with it also touting Masthead's potential benefits for police forces in planning security measures for large events, to name one example.
Details are still shaky, but GigaOM is reporting that the futures of certain AT&T executives may also be dubious. In addition to a recently replaced CTO and recently departed USi CEO, apparently VPs are being offered exit packages or demotions (their choice!), possibly to trim some of the fat at the top of the pyramid before the US economy gets any crappier. We can't say for sure, but hey, those billions of dollars in 700MHz auction funds have to come from somewhere -- immediately, too, you don't want the FCC sending over hundreds of goons to kneecap thousands of employees. AT&T had no comment on matters both of downsizing and the FCC's mafia-like collection practices.
It’s a bit behind schedule and somewhat over budget but, says Muniwireless, by the end of the month, the Minneapolis muni Wi-Fi network will be a reality. And, by all reports, folks there think it’s worth the wait.
The city of Minneapolis (pop: 369,051) is an anchor tenant on the system, operated by U.S. Internet, based in nearby Minnetonka.
USI has spent several million dollars on additional antennas and hardware to insure appropriate coverage, as Minnesota Public Radio reports (audio). US Internet had to increase the number of nodes per square mile from an average of 26 to 42 to combat interference and attenuation from some 200,000 boulevard trees.
As an anchor tenant, the city accounts for more than $1 million a year. So far U.S. Internet has signed up more than 5,000 subscribers. Company officials said 8,000 people have preregistered for the service. They predict the network will be self-sustaining once they reach 10,000 subscribers.
The Belair-based system proved its worth during the Minneapolis bridge collapse, say advocates, when the ability to put up live cameras and provide broadband emergency information became vital to police and fire agencies.
US Internet charges $19.99/month for 1 - 3Mbit/s with premium data rates of $24 - $29 per month. Cheaper than cellular, DSL or cable modems. Available city-wide.
Still, it’s hard to beat free. That’s the holy grail MetroFi hoped to achieve.
Portland signed a contract with Metrofi to build a “free” system in 2006 — without any “anchor tenant” dollar commitment by the city. MetroFi said they’d spend some $10 million on a 134 square mile WiFi network. But last fall MetroFi told the city it would stop building the network unless the city bought “anchor tenant” services. The system has stalled out with only 25% built.
The story has been repeated around the country. But most of those municipal wireless systems are based on a subscription model. The “free” model (with a premium $19/month ad-free option), is something new.
Yankee Group says cities with the population size and demographics of Minneapolis or Boston could realize as much as $7 million annually from advertising revenue once the network is fully built out.
The market for portable WiFi devices and location-based advertising is growing, so there may be room for cautious optimism. But the future is uncertain. Consumer demand and technological progress is always a wild card.
source : dailywireless.org
China Mobile, the world’s largest mobile carrier with over 376 million customers, announced that it will begin testing the country’s homegrown 3G standard — TD-SCDMA — next week. The carrier said it will issue 20,000 handsets and 5,000 data cards to select customers with free airtime. China Mobile will also offer an additional 40,000 handsets in stores for $7.13 a month, with outgoing calls costing some 6 cents a minute.
China Mobile said the testing will begin April 1 and run through July in eight cities, including Beijing. The government hopes to roll out 3G services before the summer Olympics begin this August.
China is the world’s largest telecommunications market with some 362 million landline subscribers [27 per 100 persons] and some 565 million [42 per 100 persons] mobile cellular subscribers.
TD-SCDMA stands for Time Division – Synchronous Code Division Multiple Access. China began developing its own 3G standard in 2001, in an attempt to compete with other 3G standards including WCDMA (3G). In fact, the government has delayed 3G licensing in part to allow more time for TD-SCDMA to catch up with competing standards. TD-SCDMA uses Time Division on a single channel with time slots allocated for downlink and uplink. CDMA is used within each time slot.
Some criticize the Chinese government for its anti-market practice. China Mobile was directed to develop eight cities out of 10 for the Olympics with TD-SCDMA. But China Mobile, the largest GSM operator in the world, may be able to avoid paying significant WCDMA intellectual property fees and the government could help develop the technology for sale outside the country.
Proponents of TD-SCDMA technology say it has 3 unique advantages in relation to W-CDMA and CDMA2000:
Mobile WiMAX also operates with TDMA, but uses COFDMA rather than CDMA.
According the Telecom Magazine, it is estimated the number of cell phone users will continue to grow an average of 54 million a year and reach nearly 900 million by 2013. During that time 3G users will rise from 0.5 percent in 2008 to 25 percent.
Some observers believe China Unicom will merge with China Netcom sometime this year. If China Unicom sells its CDMA operations to China Telecom, the number of 3G licenses would be reduced to three: China Mobile for TD-SCDMA; China Unicom for WCDMA; and China Telecom for CDMA EV-DO.
According to global trade body GSM Association, about 80% of cellular users world-wide use the GSM (Global System for Mobile communications) technology, or 2,571 million people. The second largest mobile technology, CDMA (Code Division, Multiple Access), had 421 million users by the end of September, 2007.
Last year, on passing 2 billion GSM users, the GSM Association said China was the largest single GSM market in the world, with more than 370 million users, followed by Russia with 145 million, India with 83 million and the USA with 78 million users. In India, mobile has even become the fastest selling consumer product - pushing bicycles to the number two spot.
India’s wireless subscriber base is now set to become the second largest in the world, after China’s, by mid-April, reports EE Times. India’s 250 million wireless subscriber base will likely surpass that of the 256 million wireless subscriber base in the U.S. during April 2008.
This year, worldwide mobile telephone subscriptions reached 3.3 billion — equivalent to half the global population, according to research firm Informa.
source : dailywireless.org
This could make for one odd family reunion: Barack Obama is a distant cousin of Brad Pitt, and Hillary Rodham Clinton is related to Pitt's girlfriend, Angelina Jolie.
Researchers at the New England Historic Genealogical Society found some remarkable family connections for the three presidential candidates -- Democratic rivals Obama and Clinton, and Republican John McCain.
Clinton, who is of French-Canadian descent on her mother's side, is also a distant cousin of singers Madonna, Celine Dion and Alanis Morissette. Obama, the son of a white woman from Kansas and a black man from Kenya, can call six U.S. presidents, including George
W. Bush, his cousins. McCain is a sixth cousin of first lady Laura Bush.
"You'd think with all that singing talent in the family she'd be able to carry a tune," Clinton's senior adviser Philippe Reines said. "But now it makes much more sense how she snagged a Grammy."
Clinton won for best spoken word Grammy in 1997 for "It Takes a Village." Obama also won a Grammy in that category this year for the audio version of his book, "The Audacity Of Hope: Thoughts On Reclaiming The American Dream."
Genealogist Christopher Child said that while the candidates often focus on pointing out differences between them, their ancestry shows they are more alike than they think.
"It shows that lots of different people can be related, people you wouldn't necessarily expect," Child said.
Obama has a prolific presidential lineage that features Democrats and Republicans. His distant cousins include President George W. Bush and his father, George H.W. Bush, Gerald Ford, Lyndon Johnson, Harry S. Truman and James Madison. Other Obama cousins include Vice President Dick Cheney, British Prime Minister Sir Winston Churchill and Civil War General Robert E. Lee.
Obama often jokes about his cousin Cheney at campaign appearances.
"His kinships are across the political spectrum," Child said.
Child has spent the last three years tracing the candidates' genealogy, along with senior research scholar Gary Boyd Roberts, author of the 1989 book, "Ancestors of American Presidents."
Clinton's distant cousins include beatnik author Jack Kerouac and Camilla Parker-Bowles, wife of Prince Charles of England.
McCain's ancestry was more difficult to trace because records on his relatives were not as complete as records for the families of Obama and Clinton, Child said.
Obama and President Bush are 10th cousins, once removed, linked by Samuel Hinkley of Cape Cod, who died in 1662.
Pitt and Obama are ninth cousins, linked by Edwin Hickman, who died in Virginia in 1769. Ben LaBolt, a spokesman for the Obama campaign, declined to comment on the senator's ancestry.
Clinton and Jolie are ninth cousins, twice removed, both related to Jean Cusson who died in St. Sulpice, Quebec, in 1718.
The New England Historic Genealogical Society, founded in 1845, is the oldest and largest nonprofit genealogical organization in the country.
The REAL ID Act of 2005 stipulates that after May 11, 2008, "a Federal agency may not accept, for any official purpose, a driver's license or identification card issued by a State to any person unless the State is meeting the requirements" specified in the REAL ID Act.
The Act includes the following requirements:
A driver's license or identification card must include certain specific information and features.
A driver's license or identification card cannot be issued unless certain specific documentation is presented.
The state must verify all documentation presented with an application.
Driver's licenses or identification cards issued to persons who are present in the United States only temporarily can be valid only for the amount of time for which the persons are authorized to be in the United States.
Controls and processes must be established to ensure the security of the issuance process.
Each state must maintain a motor vehicle database and provide all other states with electronic access to the database.
The REAL ID Act also stipulates that the technology incorporated into the driver's license or identification card must meet the following requirements:
It must support physical security features designed to prevent tampering, counterfeiting, or duplication of the credential for fraudulent purposes.
It must be a common, machine-readable technology, with defined minimum data elements.
The Department of Homeland Security has the authority to issue regulations and set standards for compliance with the REAL ID Act.
Smart Card Technology and Identity Applications
Smart card technology is currently recognized as the most appropriate technology for identity applications that must meet certain critical security requirements, including:
Authenticating the bearer of an identity credential when used in conjunction with personal identification numbers (PINs) or biometric technologies
This is a segment of the aftershow yesterday. We ran an hour longer. Go hear the whole thing. Mr. Ettaro has done some great work and was a Host on WTPRN (Jones' network) and the National Media Director for Aaron Russo. America Freedom To Fascism.
JACK MCLAMB WAS THE HIGHEST DECORATED POLICE OFFICER IN PHOENIX HISTORY.
