MSNBC 'Wi-Fi' gives cell carriers static

"At first glance, software executive John Baron would seem to be a cellphone company's dream. He subscribes to the slow Internet browsing option on his cellphone, painfully pecking away on the dial pad to type in Web addresses. Lately, though, he has found a better way: When on the road, he uses Wi-Fi, the technology that gives him wireless access to the Internet on his laptop computer, at blazing speeds. "It's brilliant," he says. "The phone stuff is pretty clunky."

ONCE VIEWED as little more than a toy for tech hobbyists, Wi-Fi -- short for wireless fidelity -- is starting to emerge as a serious force in the Internet business."

redux [05.23.02]
News.Com Why 3G should fear the wireless LAN

"To be sure, the technologies may be complementary, but might wireless LANs still whittle away at carriers' 3G revenue?

Wireless LAN operators in so-called hot zones can offer service more cheaply and won't be constrained by spectrum and infrastructure costs. As a result, it will be much easier for them to pass down lower costs to consumers. Cellular operators are trying their best to cut 3G launch costs, but they still don't have the ability to wage a mobile data price war--and won't be in any position to do so for the near future."

Unstrung Why 2.5G Plus WLAN Doesn't Equal 3G

"Now, don't get us wrong -- we here at Unstrung are very excited about the many, many applications of wireless LAN technology. But talk of a combination of 2.5G technology and wireless LAN public access points supplanting 3G is just plain wrong, especially on the old continent."

"However, if carriers do start to roll out WLAN services, Unstrung will make one last bold prediction: You can kiss the idea of WLAN services being cheap or even free goodbye. Despite the fact that WLAN bandwidth is cheaper, carriers won't be keen to eat their cellular margins by offering an inexpensive alternative."

redux [03.17.02]
ComputerWorld Wireless LANs gain over cellular

"A growing number of localities have already decided to sidestep emerging third-generation cellular technology in favor of making creative use of wireless LANs.

Greg Anderson, director of IT for the city and county of Broomfield, Colo., said he plans to cut off his Cellular Digital Packet Data service from Redmond, Wash.-based AT&T Wireless Services Inc. because it's too costly and the data rates are too slow. And he said he has no intention of using the more advanced 3G cellular once he completes his industry-standard 802.11 wireless LAN, or Wi-Fi, installation countywide later this year."

redux [03.04.02]
The New York Times The Corner Internet Network vs. the Cellular Giants
[requires 'free' registration]

"Mr. Pozar, a radio engineer, is a member of the Bay Area Wireless Users Group, an active band of hobbyists who have been building free networks in communities through the region. Mr. Pozar and some of his friends have quietly begun obtaining the rights to place $2,000 wireless network access stations on the mountains and hilltops that encircle San Francisco Bay. If he succeeds, the network will be a starting point for a wireless data network that could eventually spread all over the Bay Area.

Significantly, what will set Mr. Pozar's planned Sunset Network and those like it apart from the commercial cellular networks now being constructed at great expense is that they will "self assemble" -- expanding from one neighborhood to the next as individuals and businesses join by buying their own cheap antennas that either attach to the wired Internet or pass a signal on to another wireless node."

redux [04.14.01]
The Street Can You Kiss 3G Goodbye -- and Still Make a Buck?

"Permit me to throw a stick of dynamite in the room: Third generation, or 3G , wireless is dead before it was even born. And after billions wasted on 3G, it's going to be replaced by free wireless local area networks, or LANs.

A technology that the cell-phone industry is spending untold billions on, 3G promises to deliver high-speed data precisely where you don't need it -- on your phone. On the other hand, homes, offices, coffee shops, airports and hotels are building out cheap and grass-roots wireless local area networks that deliver even higher-speed access where you do need it -- your personal digital assistant and your laptop."