Network Services

Last mile

On the Isen blog a list of predictions about Wireless Broadband Internet Access is made:

4. In the ‘last mile’, wireline-based technologies and systems will generally prove to be insufficient or not cost-effective to provide ubiquitous, always-on, Broadband Internet to most homes and businesses;

I am not sure I agree with this. I do think that at home a WiFi-solution is great, both for in-home and offering a hot spot. But will wireless be enough to do the last mile, especially in crowded areas? DSL and cable seem to work well in cities as a solution for the last mile. Undoubtedly fiber will move closer in as well. I see wireless as an intermediate solution. As demand builds, fiber can get closer and the wireless part will get more dedicated to a single home. But maybe this mean that I do agree for the short term and also for the long term, but then the last mile is no longer a mile.

Hosted VoIP

AT&T seems to be testing a ‘hosted Voice over IP” service. The blog call it a “bring your own access” VoIP-service. I have to think where I will categorize this service.

[By way of Tazaa]

WiFi business models

An interesting blog entry by David Sifry appeared in which he discusses business models around WiFi. It turns out that it is very hard to create a business where you want to give some money to the owner of the Access Point. WiFI access is just too cheap to have any margins left. A problem is that you have to split the money between too many providers.
I fear that only telco’s will be able to create a business model based on WiFi. Mainly because they have already many elements in place, so costs can be shared with other wireless networks, such as DSL, GSM, GPRS or in the future UMTS, but also billing systems and customer service.

non-free WiFI is too expensive

An interesting quote via boingboing, that Marriott is going to introduce free wireless. The point is that all payment schemes are too complex in their operation. It is must cheaper to just give WiFi access away for free.

Sprint to launch public WiFi network in USA

WiFi seems to get the interest of larger companies. They have however some catching up to do.

WiFi at McDo

MacDonalds is experimenting with WiFi in its restaurants. The more base stations the merrier.

Filternet.nl

Thanks to a customer I just came across this special ISP (Filternet.nl). This ISP sells itself with the message that it provides a ‘clean Internet’. It does not allow access to pornographic, discriminating or violent sites. They seem to keep their own filter-list. You can do suggestions for sites that should or should not be filtered. For the rest it seems to be a normal ISP (however where is ADSL?). The company is owned by a religious broadcast company.

Tracking Service

Gizmodo mentioned an interesting service created by the Aalborg zoo in Denmark. It is an advanced combination of three mobile / wireless technologies (bluetooth, wireless LAN and GSM (SMS)). In combination it offers a tracking services, with notification by SMS

Gizmodo quote:
Base stations scattered around a site detect nearby bluetooth tags worn by kids and relay their location to a central database via wireless LAN (local area network). Parents register their cell phones with the system and can get an update on their progeny’s position within 20 seconds of sending a query text message.