MuniWireless

The Wissenschaftliches Institut für Infrastruktur und Kommunikationsdienste (WIK) is holding a conference on “National strategies for ultrabroadband infrastructure deployment: Experiences and challenges” in Berlin on 26-27 April 2010 at the Radisson Blu Hotel. The conference brings together experts from Japan, Germany, Sweden, France and other countries to share their experiences in this field. Check out the program on the WIK website.

Excerpt from the conference website:

Many carriers in the world are today investing in high bit rate broadband infrastructure or are…

Now here’s a very interesting use of Twitter if you are a cafe and want to get new visitors. Jaunted reports that they were Twitter-stalked by a Belgian cafe in Bruges. When Jaunted announced via Twitter that they were in Bruges, the cafe sent out a message: “enjoy Bruges – why not stop at our American coffee house? located at Genthof 5 (at Van Eyckplein).” Funny. It’s a good way for a cafe to advertise that they have free Wi-Fi.

Please…

Occasionally I post comments that expose the abysmal experiences of people who buy telecommunications services. This week’s comment comes from Fuming SFR  Customer: “My experiences with the SFR prepaid internet have been atrocious. First, other countries in Europe offer prepaid internet based on data usage – not time connected, which makes a lot more sense. SFR asks you to send a copy of your i.d. by mail after purchase, and they will terminate your connection if you don’t, but this…

Instanet, a brand owned by Clearwire, is offering WiMAX service in Malaga, Spain starting March 2010. There are two kinds of service: home (stationary) and city (mobile). Prices are quite reasonable at €29.90 per month (€34.68 with VAT) for the city or home service, and if you sign up for an 18-month contract, the first three months costs €11.48 per month. There is a cancellation fee of €90 if you terminate the contract before the 18-month period expires. The service…

Last Friday in Paris, the French regulator ARCEP held a press conference to announce that Iliad-Free will be the new mobile operator in France. It has taken five years for the French government to bring a fourth operator market because of strong opposition from the other incumbents, France Télécom-Orange,  SFR and Bouygues.  ARCEP had no other choice because Iliad-Free was the company to respond to the second RFP which was issued on 3 August 2009 (two years after the first…

A few weeks ago, Swindon (pop. 190,000) announced that it is rolling out citywide Wi-Fi service in partnership with Aqovia and Avity, two private companies that own shares in Digital City UK which will run the network. We have more details about the service. The network cost £1m to deploy and Digital City plans to recoup its investment by selling Wi-Fi access to residents and businesses. Prices: £8 per month for unlimited access at speeds up to 20 Mbps, but…