Wireless

Wireless connections

Digital Hotspotter Wi-Fi Signal Finder From Canary Wireless
Canary Wireless have released their Digital Hotspotter device, which, as the name suggests, is a WiFi detection and analysis tool.
Unlike rival products that only detect signal availability and strength, this pocket sized marvel features a handy LCD display offering network ID, encryption status and channel data for multiple networks.
Using the Hotspotter is simple enough: whip it out of your pocket, hit the little grey button and watch as the scanner starts sniffing about for local wireless networks.
If it locates one, the screen will display a sequence starting with the network name, followed by the signal-strength readout (one to four bars), an indication of whether the signal is “Secure” or “Open” and the channel number of the detected signal. The whole process takes about ten seconds.
To scan for more networks, bash the button again.
The manufacturers claim that Hotspotter should work up to about 200 feet outside (with a clear line of site) and user reports have confirmed this range.
Benjamin Kern, founder of Canary Wireless, put on his ‘enthusiastic’ hat and explained what’s great about his product: “Canary Wireless’ Digital Hotspotter device offers the only convenient solution that lets a user know exactly what networks are available and allows the user to determine whether it’s a good time to boot-up.
With its ability to detect encryption status, signal strength and channel information, the device also provides the easiest way for tech professionals to detect rogue access points, perform site surveys and troubleshoot interference.”
And while we can’t disagree with Ben’s summary, we wonder how long it will be before laptop makers start fitting WiFi sniffers into machine cases to let users seek out accessible networks without going through all the palaver of booting up.
And if the next generation of VoIP phones doesn’t include built in sniffers, heck, we’ll eat Ben’s enthusiastic hat.
The Digital Hotspotter device is available at www.canarywireless.com and costs US$49.95 (£27/€39)
Canarywireless.com/
8 April, 2005
3 UK Launch Two Tempting 3G Pricing Plans
We’ve never quite been persuaded to move to 3, but these two price plans they’ve just announced sure look tempting.
The first of its tariffs, Off-peak 3000, is 3’s first off-peak price plan and is aimed at hardcore evening and weekend chatters.
For £25 (US$46/€36)a month, Off-peak 3000 gives fat-chewing customers an enormous 3,000 off-peak, any network, voice minutes (that works out at 50 hours – over two days!). This looks like the perfect plan for mumbling teenagers keen to talk about ghastly boy bands and repeat “whatever” constantly to their friends.
These 3,000 minutes can be used between 7pm and 7am weekdays and anytime on a Saturday and Sunday.
The second plan, “Talk, Text & Video 600”, is an enhancement to 3’s best selling plan, “Talk & Text 600”.As you’ve probably worked out, clever reader, this new plan bundles in 3’s video mobile services to the £35 (US$65/€50) a month package.
And you’re sure get a lot for your money. The monthly fee gives you 500 any network, anytime voice minutes, 100 any network, anytime text messages, 20 video calling minutes from one 3 video mobile to another, 20 video messages to other 3 mobiles and a range of 3’s video mobile services, including highlights of the Barclays Premiership, full-length music videos, comedy and games.
While potentially good for the consumer, this type of deal won’t do anything to dampen the voice of unrest from some quarters. Their beef? 3 isn’t doing anyone in the 3G/UMTS field any favors by selling services at reduced prices. They think 3G should be all about premium prices for a premium offering.
Bob Fuller, 3 UK CEO swivelled on his heels and span out the corporate spin: “3 is the fastest growing network in the UK, we now have over 3 million 3G customers and we continue to lead the market for both value and video mobile services. With these new price plans 3 continues to set the pace for value in the UK mobile market. 3 was the first network to launch live, over-the-air, multi-player gaming, the first to stream concerts live over video mobile and first to launch quickplay video streaming of 3’s content.”
3 has also announced that all its pay monthly price plans are available on 18 month contracts from the start of April. These will offer the same price plans as 12 month plans, but will be include different customer-tempting promotions, like April’s 6 month half-price line rental offer.
7 April, 2005
Cicero, Talktelecom Launch Business VoWiFi Service In UK
Irish VoIP solutions provider Cicero Networks has announced its first major telecom provider deal with Talktelecom Ltd, an independent, fully licensed General Telco Operator, based in Dublin.
The deal will give Talktelecom’s corporate customers access to Cicero’s mobile VoWiFi service to its corporate customers, following the completion of a two-month trial.
According to Cicero CEO Ross Brennan, the bulk of mobile calls are made from business premises by people plumping for convenience over cost (fixed-line costs are generally much cheaper than mobile rates)
Talktelecom hope that there’ll be healthy profits on the horizon to companies offering a mobile phone service using the global IP network
According to a study cited by Cicero, of the €0.75 (£0.51/US$0.96) cost of a three-minute cellular call, about €0.69 (£0.47/US$0.88) goes to the mobile operator and only about €0.6 (£0.41/US$0.77) to the fixed-line carrier. By contrast, the VoWiFi solution will deliver all of the €0.15 (£0.10/US$0.19) cost of the same three-minute call to the fixed-line provider, leaving room for both higher margins and cost savings for customers.
Talktelecom has deployed Cicero’s full package, consisting of three components; the Cicero Phone – a softphone client running on dual-mode GSM/Wi-Fi handsets – a Cicero Controller, handling call management, call routing, QoS, back-end authorization and authentication functions and billing data, and the Cicero Connect, gateway to the PSTN or other external network type.
“Cicero Networks’ integrated end-to-end solution has given us a fast time-to-market in delivering a truly innovative and cost-effective wireless voice service,” buzzworded Talktelecom CEO, Johathan Mills. “Cicero lets us grow our existing business and enter new markets while delivering a substantial return on investment in a short time,” he added.
“Talktelecom is pioneering the advancement of fixed-mobile convergence by offering its customers wireless voice services at fixed-line costs,” added Cicero’s Ross Brennan.
Talktelecom customers will be able to use the Cicero solution wherever a Wi-Fi connection is available, with the company increasing coverage through its recent partnership with The Cloud, managers of the UK’s largest wi-fi hotspot network.
Talktelecom
Cicero Networks Ltd
6 April, 2005
‘Great For Music’ Handsets And ‘Find Music’ Programme Launched By Orange UK
Orange, the UK’s most popular mobile network, has wheeled out the initial line-up for its Great for Music handsets; the Nokia 6680 3G handset, Nokia 3230 and Sony Ericsson K300i handsets.
All the phones utilise the full range of music services available from Orange World, making it easy to download tracks, news and gossip, follow the hit40uk chart and buy videos, True Tones, wallpapers and tickets.
If all that proves too technologically challenging for confused customers, Orange are kindly staffing their stores with “phone trainers” to explain what button does what (we can’t help imagining a store full of lycra-clad sales assistants dancing to bad disco).
Music downloads from Orange World are to be included in the Official UK Download Chart, paving the way for tracks downloaded to Orange mobiles to be included in the Official UK Singles Chart for the first time.
“The Official UK Chart’s decision to include music downloads from Orange World in its Chart demonstrates that the music industry has recognised the rising importance of mobile music downloads within the digital music sphere,” said Mark Ashford, head of music, Orange UK. “The advent of digital music downloads on mobile means that up-to-date phones also act as music players, making digital music accessible for one in three people in the UK.”
A backslap of sponsorship deals will make it possible to book gig tickets through Orange handsets and download exclusive artist material and downloads.
“Enjoying music on your mobile handset is the going to explode in 2005. Therefore it is no surprise that Orange is committed to providing customers with the richest and most rewarding music experience possible. With Find music we are working with the best in both the music and mobile industry to help people buy, receive, listen and even interact with music in much more spontaneous and exciting ways.” enthused Julian Diment, head of brand and commercial partnerships, Orange UK.
Music downloads from Orange World cost £1.50 (US$2.8/€2.20) per track (£3.50/US$6.55/€5.10 for Fireplayer tracks), with users able to browse through the latest releases or search for the artist of their choice on Music Player.
Orange will also be trying to look hip and radical while promoting their corporate brand at the forthcoming Glastonbury and T in the Park events.
Orange UK
Nokia 6680 3G handset
Fireplayer
4 April, 2005
EuroSport, RTL Nieuws Launch TV on Vodafone Netherlands UMTS
Vodafone Netherlands have added two further ‘channels’ to their current 20 plus channel UMTS (3G) service.
The first provides live access to the Eurosport channel where subscribers can listen to Dutch commentary. The version running on the Vodafone UMTS handsets is exactly the same as what is shown on TV, with a slight delay to allow for the encoding of the video.
Vodafone are a significant sponsor of sport around the world, covering F1 motor racing, a number of football teams, cricket, rally championships, Sking, even hurling and football in Ireland.
The second additional service is RTL Nieuws, RTL’s news channel. Rather than take a live stream, the news is packaged in to a 20 minute show, comprised of items of between 30-seconds and 2 minutes. The on-demand service is refreshed six times a day.
This joins the news service NOS-journaal, the public service news channel that has been running on Vodafone Live! for some time.
To date, Vodafone has EuroSport and RTL Nieuws exclusively and their addition brings the total number of TV channels available to 23, joining CNN, Playboy Channel, 2GOTV and MTV.
The charging for TV service over UMTS is worth spending a short while looking at. For data transfer 3G/UMTS services have been charged on a price per kilobit transferred basis.
Seeing the confusion this would cause with the consumer watching TV (how would they have the faintest idea how much they had spent watching a TV show), Vodafone took the decision to charge TV viewing by the minute.
In Holland, Vodafone customers pay 2.5 Eurocents for each minute they watch, so a 10 minutes session costs 25 Eurocents (US$0.32/£0.17). Time for another acronym? What You Watch Is What You Pay, WYWIWYP? No, we can’t see it catching on either.
As yet there are no bundles available, but we would imaging this is just a matter of time and competition. As yet, there’s no competition for this service. Vodafone were the first provider in Holland to launch UMTS with their Connect Card in Feb 2004 and followed this up with the first launch of the consumer service.
TV over UMTS works on all eight of the 3G handsets available on Vodafone Netherlands.
Vodafone Netherlands
NOS-Journaal
1 April, 2005
Vodafone Access Control: Mobile Porn Block Offered To Dutch
As of early May, Dutch Vodafone customers will be able to say ‘nr!’ to saucy adult content offered via Vodafone live! from their mobile phone.
A new ‘Vodafone Access Control’ service created in partnership with De Kijkwijzer allows sleaze-allergic customers to customise their mobile needs by allowing them to block adult content.
But who the chuffin’ Nora is De Kijkwijzer, do we hear you ask?
A quick rattle of the keys at babelfish tells us that De Kijkwijzer means “Look indicator” and their Web site reveals that it is a “classification system to advise and warn parents and educators about the possibly harmful influences that children may experience from a programme or film.”
This classification is carried out by suppliers of audiovisual productions for the Dutch market, including both public service broadcasters and commercial broadcasting organisations.
With hand-rubbing porn-shifters keenly eying up a growing – and lucrative – mobile multimedia market, it makes sense for telcos to be able to reassure parents that young Timmy’s new handset isn’t going to become a mobile gateway into the portals of smut.
With this in mind, Vodafone will only be offering sexually explicit content to its ‘postpaid’ customers, a service only provided for over 16s.
Using ‘Vodafone Access Control’, customers wanting to avoid titillation will have the ability to block access to the saucy stuff by simply calling Vodafone Customer Services.
The service will only be offered in Holland, but we expect other telcos to follow suit.
Vodafone
De Kijkwijzer
30 March, 2005
E680i, E725: Motorola Previews New Music Phones
After the humiliating no-show of their much hyped (and currently in-limbo) iTunes phone at CeBIT earlier this month, Motorola have hit back with two new music phones.
The Motorola E680i is a stylised version of its first Linux-based music phone, retaining the integrated FM tuner and tri-band GSM/GPRS 900/1800/1900 MHz coverage with improved Bluetooth support capable of outputting stereo audio courtesy of the AD2P profile.
The handset boasts dual stereo speakers with virtual surround sound and can handle just about any music format you care to lob at it, including MP3 and WMA, AAC, MIDI and WAV.
The E680i comes with a large 65K colour touchscreen with QVGA (240 x 320 pixels) resolution and the same 0.3 MP integrated digital camera as found in the E680.
There’s also the usual basic suite of applications, support for J2ME, handwriting recognition, messaging support (including e-mail), and USB 1.1.
The handset is slated for release in the Asia Pacific in April 2005, but there’s been no pricing or worldwide availability announcements from Motorola yet
Motorola E725
Sporting a ‘slider’ form factor, the E725 is a music player-cum-smartphone featuring a 1.9″ display (176 x 220 pixels resolution) with dedicated music keys, 5-band graphic equaliser and dual stereo speakers with virtual surround sound.
The E725 offers support for CDMA2000 1xEV-DO which – in English – means that it can rapidly download full music tracks over the air directly to the handset. Naturally, users can also sync the handset with their PCs and make use of the memory expansion slot supporting miniSD cards up to 2 GB.
All the rest of the features of the E680i are present and correct: an FM radio, a 0.3 MP camera, a 3.5 mm earphone jack, USB, a memory expansion slot (supporting miniSD cards up to 1 GB) and the same dual stereo speakers with virtual surround sound.
The E725 also sports a set of daft ‘rhythm lights’ for funky disco people who think its waaaaay cool to have a series of LED lights pulsating to the beat of the music currently playing.
The E725 is expected to arrive in North America in the second half of 2005, but, once again, Motorola are being coy about pricing details.
Motorola
29 March, 2005
Lampposts To Access Web And Location-Based Services?
A British company has unveiled its cunning plan to roll out high-speed wireless networks and location-based services using street lampposts.
It sounds as mad as a box of gerbils to us, but Last Mile Communications reckons that the humble lamppost can be used to provide broadband Internet access and also to store useful information about its location.
The company has announced that it will work with security company Qinetiq to commercialise its plans, with trials scheduled later this year at an undisclosed location. The company is confident that its service can be rolled out on a large scale.
Last Mile’s service wouldn’t just turn the humble lamppost into wireless Internet access points – the company is also planning to turn the things into groovy info centres, with installed flash memory storing information about local pubs, coffee shops and retail outlets.
According to Barry Shrier, Last Mile’s sales and marketing director, people who run an application called the MagicBook on a mobile device will be able to connect to their nearest enabled lamppost and access the information stored on it.
In a slightly less than convincing move, Last Mile is also hoping to win the backing from emergency services agencies. The idea would be that firefighters rushing to a flaming building would flip out their laptops and start accessing local information from a handy knowledgeable lamppost.
Ian Fogg, broadband and personal technology analyst at Jupiter Research Europe, said that Last Mile will need the support of the public sector for this ambitious plan to succeed.
“The idea of a local wireless network that emergency services, local utility companies and local government officials can use generally for day-to-day activities is a common one that is used in many places around the world,” Fogg said.
Last Mile believes its lack of reliance on other telecommunications infrastructures such as local telephone exchanges would give their scheme the edge, with the system still working in the event of widespread network failures.
Shrier believes that revenue could be generated by persuading companies to store their information on lampposts, paying Last Mile whenever someone accesses data using the MagicBook.
“Say you operate a petrol station….The results of Last Mile’s proposition, developed in partnership with Qinetiq, would allow you to communicate instantly, quickly and very cheaply with motorists who need petrol and are near you,” Shrier said. “This is a profound advance in how the Internet works, and the benefits it provides.”
We’d think these petrol-seeking motorists would be more likely to flip open a map, use a GPS device or make use of the many location based services available through WAP and mobile phones, but the real killer blow to MagicBook’s plans may come from the increasing proliferation of Wi-Fi hot spots.
Pubs, railways stations and airports and cybercafes are all falling over themselves to offer free and paid wi-fi access in the UK, with even the roadside restaurant chain Little Chef announcing free access.
Ian Gogg shares these doubts, “3G manufacturers are building location-based functionality into handsets and base-stations today. “There are also a tremendous number of Wi-Fi hot spots in place already, for which the demand is relatively weak.”
Last Mile reckons it would cost around £500 (US$933) to upgrade one lamppost to provide their service. We think it’ll be some time before we see gangs of laptop-flipping consumers hanging around their lampposts.
Lampposts to provide location-based services (news.com)
Last Mile Communications
29 March, 2005
Cell ID: Orange Claim ‘GPS-Beating’ Location Service
Mobile operator Orange has announced a GSM-based tracking service which it claims is both cheaper and easier to use than GPS technology.
The service – snappily entitled Cell ID – gives the developers of location services details of the Orange GSM network.
When this data is combined with their own location application and other data, Orange claims that it will allow location service providers to offer much more accurate location based services.
Orange has high hopes for the product, boldly predicting that by next year more than 40,000 devices will be tracked using its Cell ID service.
These devices could include farm machinery, train carriages, vending machines and even boats being driven off by drunk holidaymakers.
Melissa Jenkins, M2M product manager at Orange Business Solutions, said Cell ID doesn’t use special antennas or need to be able to see the sky like a GPS system.
“If you are using a Cell ID-type of solution you can chuck it in anywhere and as long as you can get GSM you can get a location. You don’t have the complexity of deploying it – you can use it in much lower cost solutions,” Jenkins said.
The system helps pinpoint devices by their location in relation to mobile phone cells.
“You can see the device is 500 metres from cell A and 800 metres from cell B and work out approximately where it is,” Jenkins explained.
Electronic Tracking Systems (ETS), makers of battery powered security tracking devices under the mtrack brand, is one of the first to pilot the product.
Angela Harvey, Director, Electronic Tracking Systems (ETS), explains how the company is using the service:
”With Cell ID we are able to track assets to within 550m, whereas previously the average distance was around 4.5km and could range up to 11km. As a result our rate of recovery improved from 96% in 2004 to 100% so far this year – that’s around £2m of recovered stolen goods.”
“Cell ID has significantly reduced the time recovery personnel need to spend searching for a missing item, lowering costs and helping us return stolen property faster. It has also given our customers and distributors increased confidence that we will retrieve their stolen items.”
Orange
24 March, 2005
London Tube Users To Get Underground Mobile Coverage by 2008
Commuters on London’s Tube network could soon be able to bellow out, “I’M ON THE TUBE!” if trials to introduce mobile and wireless Internet connections underground from 2008 get the green light.
London Underground (LU) is planning to install technology that will give commuters mobile phone coverage in the concourse, ticketing areas and platforms of underground Tube stations – but not on trains rumbling through underground tunnels.
LU will be chatting to suppliers shortly and aims to undertake a trial of the technology at one underground station in 2006 with a view to extending it across all tube stations by 2008.
Tube bosses say there is strong support among passengers for mobile phone access across its network with plenty of companies interested in getting involved, commenting that suppliers faced “unique practical challenges” around space, power and ventilation constraints.
LU director of strategy and service development, Richard Parry commented, “The process we launch today is to start getting information from the market about how we could best provide a mobile phones service”.
Although execs haven’t revealed how revenues would be generated and split between the operator and the Tube, any income generated would be re-invested in the Tube network to fund further improvements for passengers.
The proposals were announced by London Mayor, Ken Livingston, who said in a statement: “We know that many Londoners would like the convenience of being able to use their mobile phones at Tube stations throughout the Underground network. We also want to see how the technology could be taken even further, for instance wireless internet so passengers could receive up-to-the-minute travel information via their laptop or mobile phone.”
An LU spokesman added “Passengers would like to have mobile coverage at Tube stations but they are less keen to have it on trains”.
Photos copyright urban75
Transport For London (The Tube)
23 March, 2005