Large Wi-Fi hot zones have been making news again, in Santa Clara (thanks to the city’s smart meter project), San Jose (free Wi-Fi downtown), Petaluma (free Wi-Fi hot zone), New York City (thanks to Google), and in metro stations, shopping centers and on public transportation. Many cities and private enterprises now have money to roll [...]
Free, the fourth mobile operator in France (and a subsidiary of Iliad-Free), has launched an even cheaper mobile phone plan: 2 EUR per month, no contract. It includes unlimited texts, 2 hours of voice calls (to mobile and fixed lines in France, the US and Canada), and access to Free’s Wi-Fi hotspots. If you exceed [...]
The Wireless Broadband Alliance (WBA) has released a new survey conducted during the 3rd quarter of 2012 among its members to gauge the status of the Wi-Fi market. The WBA got 386 responses, the largest percentage (23%) came from integrated operators, followed by 18% from mobile operators. The survey reveals several interesting points: (1) Smartphones [...]
The European Union has added an extra 120 MHz around the 2 GHz band to the radio spectrum available for 4G technologies such as LTE. The latest move has been hailed as significant for operators who are struggling to meet the demand from users for mobile connectivity, especially via iPhones. According to the European Commission, [...]
UCONNECT is a public transport WiFi project for buses and other vehicles. It uses cellular and WiMAX networks as backhaul for providing WiFi to passengers. Members of the UCONNECT consortium for Wireless Smart Transport are: GOWEX (SME-Spain), Eclexys (SME-Switzerland), Brightcom Solutions (SME- Portugal), Autocares Jiménez (SME-Spain), Saphyrion (RTD performer -Switzerland) and Universitatea Tehnica Cluj-Napoca (Romania). [...]
Xencode, Inc., a developer of cloud-based applications for mobile communications, has announced the launch of XenSurvey – the first software-as-a-service (SaaS) network analytics platform to combine the flexibility of everyday Android smartphones and the scalability of the cloud to measure, analyze and compare multiple cellular broadband networks. XenSurvey empowers every telecom professional with a powerful, carrier-grade network [...]
We’ve all been to conferences and other types of events where there’s Wi-Fi service, but it is too slow or even unusable. I asked people who set up Wi-Fi networks for crowded events what one must do to ensure that users have a good Wi-Fi experience. One wireless ISP provided the following tips: (1) Plan [...]
Mobile security, especially relating to mobile banking, is a major concern for many people today; many apps have been hacked and attacked. Are you worried about how much personal information may be leaked out once you download an app on your phone or how much of your banking information is safe once you have signed [...]
The number of Wi-Fi enabled devices shipped in 2012 is expected to exceed 1.5 billion, almost double that in 2010, according to ABI Research. Growth is occurring across many markets including mobile handsets, laptops, media tablets, printers, TVs, and automotive. “Since 2009 over 9 billion Wi-Fi enabled devices have been shipped,” commented Peter Cooney, wireless [...]
Ovum forecasts that by 2016 operators will have lost $54 billion in SMS revenues due to the increasing popularity of social messaging services on smartphones, more than double the $23bn they are expected to have lost by the end of 2012. occurs through platforms other than SMS, MMS, or email, and which is either tied to [...]
