Comments on: More MuniFi Woes?

By: Victor Blake

Victor Blake — Tue, 09 May 2006 01:47:21 +0000

Single radio = big problems … It’s like a router with one interface (what we used to call a one arm router)…

By: Robert Berger

Robert Berger — Sun, 07 May 2006 21:09:13 +0000

Could it be that Tropos over promised and under-delivered?

By: martin varsavsky

martin varsavsky — Sun, 07 May 2006 18:15:36 +0000

At (link) we already signed up 35,000 foneros, people who are happy to share excess bandwidth at home in exchange for free roaming around the world and in the process build a global wireless cooperative. We estimate that in 120 days these 35K foneros will be up and running. We may lose some along the way, but we are getting many more each day. I know these numbers seem small but 3 months ago before Google and eBay invested with us we were only 3000. And think about T Mobile, they have invested years of labor and over one hundred million dollars and only have around 20K hotspots according to their web site. So with all respect to my partners at Google and the muni wifi folks I think that Fon´s citizens based approach is a better way to reach massive coverage than going light pole after light pole. Replacing individual wifi routers for social wifi routers is better than adding more wifi on a crowded spectrum.

By: matt m

matt m — Fri, 05 May 2006 18:04:27 +0000

What about the clutter of all of the other WiFi networks out there? I have problems with the 10 other G networks, who knows how many cordless phones, and what not in range of my living room…had to switch to A.

By: Jacomo

Jacomo — Fri, 05 May 2006 15:03:16 +0000

It is the single radio nodes that is the problem folks. When one needs to regenerate the bandwidth after every 3 hops one has a problem.

By: Dennis Evans

Dennis Evans — Thu, 04 May 2006 23:15:42 +0000

Tree and wet foliage attenuation and the differences in residental construction material [wet and dry] and screens are almost never accounted for in the fade margin…something cellular skipped in the past…did they care how well the phone works inside, you can move the phone around, lap tops are harder to find the window.

By: Martin

Martin — Thu, 04 May 2006 20:10:28 +0000

I’d also look at the geography of the areas you’re talking about. I’ve only been in Mountain View once but it looked pretty hilly to me. As for St Cloud, that shouldn’t be an issue given FL’s billiard table flatness…

By: Jesse Kopelman

Jesse Kopelman — Thu, 04 May 2006 18:27:11 +0000

Of course it’s an issue of network planning. I’ve worked on many a wireless project (WiFi, WiMax, Cellular) and detailed engineering is often an afterthought that happens after a bunch of people who don’t really know the technology have done a bunch of back of the napkin work and come up with a bill of materials and budget. The other thing that happens if you are working inside an existing network operator is that the budget people have no understanding of technology at all and want everything to be cookie cutter to make their lives simpler. You can explain until you are blue in the face and such people will never accept why your real world situation deviates from their expectations and if by some miracle they do understand they still don’t give a shit.

By: rick

rick — Thu, 04 May 2006 14:35:36 +0000

I just read where Google has backed out of the Valley wifi bid. Wait until Wimax?