Network Services

Videoconferencing from the sky

Two Apple employees tried videoconferencing on a Lufthanse plane using the broadband ISP service. As you guessed it turned out pretty well.

Maybe this will not be available for long, now that the US is so nervous about terrorism (Jason Kottke).

WiFi in the car

WiFi planet reports that Atheros will be building a WiFi network on a 60 km stretch of road in Japan. This network is mainly for telematics purposes and will be a showcase for the technology.

I guess that especially the technology to handle hand-overs will be tested. The aim to offer this service to government agencies, but I get the impression that other customers will be targeted as well. Interesting to see how such a service will evolve alongside 3G in Japan.

[inspiration: Engadget]

Not Asymmetric DSL

James Seng has an entry about the limits of ADSL. He is especially worried by the fact that all consumer broadband offers are highly asymmetric. He thinks that a growing number of consumers evolve into publishers and that this publisher have higher upload demands.

Sounds good. This service must grow with the needs as well.

Lufthansa Broadband

Lufthansa is going to offer their clients access to Internet on long distance flights (LA - Munich). Users can get connection through a Wifi network.

Loic likes the idea of connections between the users. I hope that that is possible. Hacking each other PC’s on the plane.

[inspiration Loic LeMeur]

PTT goes international

Gerrit @ SmartMobs mentions that Nextel goes international with their Push-To-Talk service. Pricing is still pretty steep (2,39 US$/min). I wonder how this service will evolve, compared to VoIP.

WiFi for trucks

Doc Searls mentions three providers (Truckstop.net, Flying J and Petro Stopping Centers) of WiFi hotspots for truckers in the US. Really sound like a good target group for WiFi. I am not sure if we have something similar in Europe, but then Europe is more nationally organised. Is seems a natural extension of the service portfolio of petro stops (gas stations). Will this be part of a telco network? Or do we see the new telco’s here?

.mob

I saw some messages passing by on the idea of creating a top-level domain for mobile. This could be called .mob, or .mobile or whatever. And I thought who cares? But I found on Telepocalypse an excellent explanation how this could be used: If you manage the top level domain, you can also decide who you will pass on and who not. You can create a walled garden based on who comes by and tries to access your domain. Indeed an excellent idea. Telepocalypse calls it evil. It depends how they will use it. If you can only go to this tld from your mobile device, then it is evil. But if you can freely access other tld’s, then why care? There is enough free info around. Why do you want to go to this mobile tld?

No Generic Connectivity

Telepocalypse muses about WiFi for commuters in trains, buses, etc. He thinks that a problem is the possible price-plans. People are spoiled by a flat-fee all-you-can-eat price-plan and that businesses are not able to introduce other price-plans.

I wonder whether this is a US problem? In France I see an incredible number of price-plans for Internet Access. In fact it gets similar to the Mobile business price-plans. I guess this is all good for business, but confusing for customers. As customers sign up anyway, they will probably lose a bit. But maybe it is good for business progress. I assume a flat-free price-plan gives only very low (or none) profits. And thus innovation will be stalled. Just a thought…

Provisioning Aggregator

Telepocalyse calls iPass a Provisioning Aggregator. He refers the services of iPass related to WiFi. iPass makes deals with multiple WiFi Network Operators and resells the bundle to consumers.

I am not sure I like the term Provisioning Aggregator. It does remind me more of MVNO (Mobile Virtual Network Operator). iPass does not have a network, so they are virtual. What is different is the Roaming-function. For WiFi I guess that there is still no roaming between Network Operators. iPass only allows for connectivity with multiple Network Operators. I would not call this aggregation though.

But it is indeed an interesting development in a world where the number of Network Operators increases. Might make iPass stronger.

Ditch the landline-service?

An interesting report in Extremetech of an experience with going all mobile: it did not work out. I assume this is mainly a US-story. I have seen reports the KPN Telecom in the Netherlands is losing a lot of customers per year to people who go all mobile. So mobile can really be a substitution service.

Prepaid Internet

KPN Telecom, in the Netherlands, introduces a prepaid Internet service. You can buy prepaid-cards for 5 or 10 Euro.  This allows for 500 or 1000 minutes of surfing per 4 months (it is their 2-monthly billing cycle)! You must use their special ISP: Direct Internet. You can order the card (only?) online and you are up and running within three days. You will also receive a confirmation letter.

They seem to have created a lot of procedures around this product, which I think invalidates the idea of prepaid. For it would be useful if I arrive in a country and am able to go online within minutes, not three days! It does not seem to be geared to this user group. It is more a way to sell a fixed amount of internet minutes and hope that people won’t use it and cash in the left overs. The offer seems to be coupled to your fixed number, so it is not suitable for people on the road. But this is a bit unclear on their website. All in all it is a bit confusing, but is seems to be only a new pricing model for their restricted subscription-less ISP.

Come to think of it. It is not without a subscription as you must have a fixed line and thus already have a subscription with KPN through PSTN.

[inspiration: Webwereld]

ITXC

I am not a specialist of deep networking services, but there was is so much hype on VoIP that I wanted to have a look. ITXC is a wholesale network service provider. They have a proprietary network based on IP and the offer connection services to other VoIP-providers and to PSTN-providers. Thanks to their numerous interconnection deals, they can terminate any (?) international call. ITXC will merge with TeleGlobe, another global provider, so I guess the technology is getting accepted.

From a service point of view I do not understand why they are called VoIP-providers. They offer wholesale PSTN-interconnection services (if this a good term). From the PSTN-customer point-of-view, it is the same as other interconnection services. They do not (should not) care about the technology used. Only for other VoIP-providers it does matter (I think), as they need another interface in order to exchange the call control.

[inspiration Fred (a VC)]

Peer Sites

Dave Winer found yet another internet service, which is not clear: Peer Sites. And indeed their value proposition is very unclear. I get the impression that they want to create network of Peer Sites, that operate on top of Internet, but which are more secure. Access to this secure Internet from the regular Internet is through a gateway.

Wireless predictions

On Venture Blog some very interesting observations (predictions) are about the future of wireless. A must read!

Some things a picked out of it:
- Wireless CB (Voice Instant Messaging);
- No more desktops;
- Voice is just an app (I read service);
- Location based apps;
- People find services in order to fill up the bandwidth;
- Saturate the hotspot coverage: hardware costs beat the thinking;

WiFi a feature?

Interesting quote of a bakery/restaurant chain owner who will offer free Wi-Fi in its bakeries.  “You do not ask what is the ROI on a bathroom either:”  I my theory piece I should add something on free services that are bundled with non-free services.

[via BoingBoing]