Friday, September 24, 2004

Whispers about WISPs

One of the advantages of a blog with around seven readers :) is that you can stretch the rules of journalistic confidentiality a little and report stuff that is not quite ready to be reported.
So here is a little look into the near and mid-term future:

A big WISP (that's wireless internet service provider) and, as a matter of fact, the only multi-site WISP in Latvia, may be reshuffling its equipment and software suppliers. A small (in relation to Cisco) local company will be contributing to the Big Guy's WiFi solution, since Big Guy's own routing arrangements aren't working as well as they might.
Meanwhile, a hotel chain (two links is enougjh :)) has Big Guy at one of its Riga places, but the WiFi at its other site is being set up by the small local company.
Finally, look for some others to attempt to offer local WiFi roaming, maybe among academic institutions to start with. Now that Lattelekom (see Dienas bizness on Monday, September 27) has confirmed it will offer international roaming, the idea of domestic roaming becomes interesting. If you have a substantial domestic network, you can attract foreigners in competition with Lattelekom, This blogger has been told that setting up a server and the necessary software to authorize users of the shared hotspot network is neither very expensive nor "rocket science." Let's see who makes some kind of moves in coming months.
Another possibility – why go WiFi when bigger footprint technologies are available now, ahead of the real-life debut of WiMax. Or maybe with WiMax?

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

Hmm, could it be that WiFi is sooo yesterday?Surely, there are many different versions of WiFi, but hear this: modern cordless phones work on the 2,4Ghz frequency. Same as 11mbit WiFi. And since 2,4Ghz has changed into a public frequence (anyone can use it how and when they want to) the pure frequency is... getting crowded. Put a WiFi access point in your garage, you're set. Put a 2,4Ghz Panasonic cordless phone in the kitchen and nothing works because of interference. If you could 'listen' to the airwaves you'd see how messed up it is :) 2,4 WiFi is a pain in the ass to set up in a public place, you have to look for other people and their personal antennas and access points, if the airwaves cross each other - it's a big no go.

Think nineties. Remeber picking up your HUGE white plastic telephone (cordless) and turning it just to hear your neighbour talk with his wife? I remember things like this. Then, the frequency in which the phone transmitted to the central dock station was SO LOW, if you hooked an old model like that up today, you'd probably hear your mircrowave working. Or your DVD player. Or whatever, coz that frequency is long gone... umm, wasted.

Well not that this comment has to do anything with ISP's in Latvia. Just a thought before supper.