The Wimax wait in the US seems to be endless.  Most of the action has been from small companies serving small markets.Every now and then a little deployment news from the big players drifts in. Such is the case today, and we are only too eager to share:

Portland in August:

Clearwire has been beta testing its Portland service for several weeks with “a very small group of Intel employees” (Intel is among Clearwire’s big financial backers, and the companies held a joint WiMAX trial in Hillsboro last year.)

The company tells me it will announce its rollout plans, including a Portland timetable, on its quarterly earnings call early next month. (Silicon Forest)

Baltimore in September:

Sprint’s first launch, under the name Xohm, will be in Baltimore in September, with switch-ons following in Chicago and Washington DC. Clearwire plans to launch in Portland, Oregon, in early 4Q-2008, with Atlanta, Las Vegas and Grand Rapids, Michigan, to follow. A report from Muniwireless.com, which quotes a conversation with Clearwire CEO Ben Wolff, says the telco is currently beta testing its Portland network. The Sprint-Clearwire partnership, which will operate under the Clearwire name, is not expected to achieve anything like nationwide WiMAX coverage until 2010 or 2011. (Telegeography)

We we hear more, we’ll add. C’mon guys, get to DFW, I’m dying to give AT&T DSL the boot!

For all you Texas cappo drinkers out there, and websuckers too, here is the list of StarBucks closing in Texas. Looks like almost half in the Arlington area are going down.

Texas
south arlington 1201 w arbrook arlington tx
cooper & green oaks 5435 s cooper arlington tx
collins & green oaks 2733 n collins arlington tx
matlock & bardin 4645 matlock arlington tx
s congress and academy 1007 s congress austin tx
mopac & slaughter 5000 w slaughter austin tx
hwy 83 & boca chica 100 expressway 83 brownsville tx
us 377 & us 67 300 w commerce brownwood tx
spid & weber 3920 s padre island dr corpus christi tx
staples & doddridge 3738 staples corpus christi tx
greenville & matalee 3715 greenville ave dallas tx
preston & beltline 14891 preston rd dallas tx
lovers lane & greenville ave 5500 greenville ave dallas tx
camp wisdom rd & hwy 67 3431 camp wisdom rd dallas tx
skillman and audelia 9090 skillman st dallas tx
northpark mall ii 8687 n central exp dallas tx
lbj & montfort 5631 lbj fwy dallas tx
illinois & westmoreland 3403 w illinois ave dallas tx
coit & 635 7995 lbj dallas tx
pleasant run & hampton rd 900 n hampton rd desoto tx
cedar ridge & wheatland rd 107 s cedar ridge dr duncanville tx
montana & mcrae 9615 montana rd el paso tx
spring valley & midway 13901 midway rd farmers branch tx
camp bowie & hulen 4603 camp bowie fort worth tx
hulen mall 4800 s hulen st fort worth tx
mccart & altamesa 6221 mccart ave fort worth tx
fm 423 lebanon 5605 fm 423 frisco tx
warren & dallas pkwy 6801 warren pkwy frisco tx
firewheel town center 470 coneflower dr garland tx
shepherd & farnham 3821 shephard houston tx
i-45 & red ripple 6001 n fwy houston tx
hwy 249 & antoine 12503 tomball pkwy houston tx
main & dallas 914 dallas st houston tx
fannin & preston 1018 preston houston tx
westheimer & briargreen 14333 wheimer rd houston tx
bellaire & wilcrest 10611 bellaire blvd houston tx
fannin & macgregor 6400 fannin st houston tx
deerbrook mall 20131 hwy 59 humble tx
hwy 77 & general cavazos 1401 e general cavazos kingsville tx
zapata hwy & chestnut 2201 chestnut laredo tx
town east mall 2228 town e blvd mesquite tx
hwy 271 & white street 901 s jefferson ave mt pleasant tx
lamar & loop 286 3855 ne loop 286 paris tx
i-27 & hwy 70 1301 i-27 north plainview tx
preston & hwy 121 8600 preston plano tx
coit and hwy 190 340 coit rd plano tx
collin creek mall 811 n central exwy plano tx
hwy 75 & park blvd 1881 central exwy plano tx
i-35 & red oak 502 n i-35 red oak tx
cherry & business 35 1205 hwy 35 n rockport tx
hwy 59 & hwy 36 27943 sw fwy rosenberg tx
59 & hwy 762 24406 sw fwy rosenburg tx
san pedro/bitters 13429 san pedro ave san antonio tx
rio grande & laurent 1310 e rio grande victoria tx
valley mills & waco dr 4300 w waco dr waco tx
green oaks & hwy 183 500 b hwy 183 w white settlement tx
us 287 & maurine 2009 maurine st wichita falls tx

The full list is here, compliments of Consumerist. When you run a business that is an extravagance beyond a .50c cup of coffee at IHOP during a downturn; you expect this kind of thing.

Word of caution for you elder techies out there. Those in the tech business who have no idea what an LP record is also have no recollection of living through a recession. They don’t remember gas lines, flat pay or half the cubicles being empty. The GenX/Yer’s are going to be a little jumpy. They won’t understand the change of landscape. Be kind and give them the guidance to get them through it.

Now why would a site that covers the broadband scene care about this? Speed. Cheaper development.

The latest kernel 2.2.26 has three items going for it —

1) Improvements in the KVM module. It now supports the base line for paravirtualization.

2) The native chipset speed in a virtual environment.

3) Preliminary support for 802.11s wireless mesh networking.

That means the boys in the labs are going to start looking at multicore multidrop routers not bound by single cpu threads. It also means that some other engineers will be working on a multicore multiband mesh wireless system in linux. Enough to test the bandwidth processor capabilities.

More at InfoQ.

What’s worse than a misguided new requirement that every cell tower have a backup generator? How about a judge who can’t decide how to rule on the appeal? Reacting in the “public interest” after hurricane Katrina, faceless FCC bureaucrats demanded that cell towers have backup generators. Never mind that if they had existed, the said generators would be under water in the areas that lost service during the hurricane, rendering them useless. The appeal to overrule the FCC should have been granted immediately.

A federal appeals court on Tuesday put off deciding on the wireless industry’s challenge to the regulations until the Federal Communications Commission gets preliminary clearance for the rules.

After a panel of experts appointed by the FCC pointed out that many cell towers along the Gulf Coast stopped working when they lost power during Hurricane Katrina, the agency proposed in May 2007 that all cell towers have a minimum of eight hours of backup power that would switch on in the event a tower lost its regular energy source.

The loss of power contributed to communication breakdowns that complicated rescue and recovery efforts during the 2005 disaster.

Wireless companies have said the regulations were illegally drafted and would present a huge economic and bureaucratic burden. In particular, they said, the thousands of generators or battery packs required would be expensive and local zoning rules or structural limitations could make installation impossible in some places.

The FCC agreed in October to exempt cell sites that a wireless carrier proved couldn’t meet the rules. The FCC would give companies six months to report on the feasibility of installing backup power and another six months either to bring sites into compliance or explain how they would provide backup service through other means, such as portable cellular transmitters. (Yahoo)

Well we covered it originally here. Well now there is a map of where some of the closing might be taking place complements of the Seattle Times. The map is here.

This is no means the complete list. The number is 600 total and this looks to be about 2 dozen locations. Check back, the Times will be updating.

Linky.

In the battle for broadband supremacy, at least how the duopoly define it, it very maybe that the majors are missing a large target market In a recent Pew Poll of broadband there were a few key points –

• 62% of dial-up users say they are not interested in giving up their current connectionfor broadband.

When asked specifically what it would take them to get them to switch to broadband:

• 35% of dial-up users say that the price of broadband service would have to fall.
• 19% of dial-up users said nothing would convince them to get broadband.
• 14% of dial-up users – and 24% of dial-up users in rural America – say that
  broadband service would have to become available where they live.

And of noninternet users….

When asked why they don’t use the internet:

• 33% of non-users say they are not interested.
• 12% say they don’t have access.
• 9% say it is too difficult or frustrating.
• 7% say it is too expensive.
• 7% say it is a waste of time.

Another words roughly 20% of the population that they could get to use broadband have not been provided with a compelling reason to swtich, even if it is available to them. When someone says that it is hard to use. Are they referring to the internet or possibly the website to figure out what the options are? When on says that the Internet is a waste of time. They could be right. Many is the day I have seen my daughter burn her life away on FaceBook. 7% say that broadband is too expensive, and they would be right it is.

What is most striking is that 24% of those dialup user polled said broadband would have to be available to them. That folks is the equivalent of the California Gold Rush. The firm that can tap into that market cheaply and at a profit will have a license to print money. The Majors are not going after that market. They are sticking with the urban/suburban markets.

Full report here.

The Inquirer has a dilly of a piece on the move by Nokia to take the Symbian handheld OS Open Source. Link here. As the lede intones, I think there are a few hurdles. –
 
 
 

Is this a good move? Well if the Foundation is open to all AND they move eventually to a GPL based licensing I would say yes. Is it a Android killer? Time will tell. Android has not hit the market yet in a physical manifestation. Till we see a head to head comparison in the marketplace all bets are off. But I would offer the following — if Android is even close to Symbian in capability, the advantage is to Google. They have a nest of free development providers and Google Widgets to support warp speed deployment cycles.

But there is one thing I agree with in the Inquirer article — MicroSoft’s Mobile Phone platform is in trouble. No developer is going to pay when they can use a competing tool for free.

Right now US auto sales are flagging with the high cost of fuel. Chrysler is not immune to the effect though they are probably not as impacted as Ford or GM as SUVs, even Jeep, is not a huge segment of their sales. Even so, Chrysler is offering UConnect in future cars.

The concept of UConnect is to provide a ‘wireless’ car which assumes WiFi and Bluetooth enabled assets in the cabin. There are auto uptrippers that do this today installing anything from car pcs to Wifi and 1000w amps.

Washington, June 23 : American automobile manufacturer Chrysler has plans to equip its cars with a system that will enable people to surf the Internet while driving.

The UConnect Web system is what the company says can bring wireless Internet access to cars’ dashboards.

Frank Klegon, the company’s vice-president, says that they wants to gain a reputation for high-tech cars.

“In today’s market, Chrysler’s mission is to bring innovation to market more quickly,” Wired News quoted Klegon as saying.

Here’s an assessment –

Boon

• If there was ever a reason to implement WiMax this is it. Wifi is ok but the ranges are too short in most cases. One ends up with a lot of dead spots or deploys hundreds of AP’s. WiMax with its longer reach reduces both problems.
• Real Time traffic reporting. Done right this could be a fuel saver. If the developers work with the Garmins and TomTom’s of the world alternate routing would help alleviate the effects of traffic. No it won’t eliminate it.
• Knee drivers disappear. You know this type, cell phone in one hand, cup of coffee in the other. Last I heard we haven’t sprouted a third hand so they have to be using their knees.
• This stuff will be cheap. Volume is the name of the game in electronics. A million units spreads R&D. Not only that but what a hacker dream. “Dear I am going to the electronics store…”, which just happens to be Bill’s Wrecker and Salvage.
• Death of “Are we there yet” disease. What better distraction for the kiddies than a live internet connection?
• The third party marketing opportunities I expect to be viewed as endless.

Bane

• Just what we need, another distraction for the driver.
• The automobile as living room experience I have never quite understood. I take a very euro view to driving. Its to get you there, not lull you to sleep.
• First introduction cost will probably be high. Not only that with high fuel costs can one get a full utilization out of the entertainment value of the system.

As usual this development is a two edged sword. With a little common sense applied it can be a great tool to improve fuel efficiency, improve driver performance in strange locations, etc. If it is going to be treated as a gimmick well, that’s a waste.

HT: Big News Network

It’s time to put on my curmudgeonly geek hat for a few minutes and take issue all of the disinformation that has become so mainstream in the zeitgeist this year. I’ll call it Seinfeld spinning after the popular TV show about “nothing”. It’s not just in tech. For example: we have successful political campaigns about nothing, climatic science panics about nothing, and “reality entertainment” that has nothing to do with reality holding the attention of the masses in our society. It’s been the same for the media calling for the death of a technology’s deployment before it’s birth. The big bad Seinfeld spin of Wimax is about nothing.

While fund managers and analysts have successfully spun Wimax as a failure, there is a long and growing list of successful deployments overseas. Most of theses deployments have been off the radar of fund managers and the big US wireless carrier / telco monopolies and the tech news media. The bigger equipment providers (with the notable exception of Motorola who is supporting both LTE and Wimax) have chosen sides favoring LTE over Wimax in a continued support for walled garden wireless business models. The FUD (fear, uncertainty and doubt) campaign waged against Wimax by the telcos and investment community has been relentless. Never the less, Clearwire is launching in Major cities this fall. In many cases the relatively slow download speeds offered will be competitive with fixed broadband in many locales.

The big deal about Wimax is three fold: 1) It’s open, 2) It’s a second or third broadband option, and 3) It offers mobility. If you use boradband or a wireless device, Wimax will change your world.

Industry insider Mari Silby offers some insightful observations about how world changing it could be:

What should matter to consumers:

• Per-use payment options - No requirement to pay a WiMAX monthly service fee if you’re only going to connect once or twice a month
• Handsets don’t have to be subsidized, meaning you’ll be able to buy anything WiMAX-certified at retail and automatically have Internet access
• The new Clearwire service will use mobile WiMAX instead of fixed WiMAX, which means you can literally stay connected while moving at high speed down a highway (Side note: Interestingly, I heard major pessimism around mobile WiMAX from one large industry analyst firm earlier this year. Premature reaction?)
• Nationwide network - before the new investors got on board, it wasn’t clear if WiMAX could scale beyond a few metro areas; now a nationwide build-out is assumed
• “[Some] observers see WiMAX silicon getting small and cheap enough to find its way into a wide range of consumer gear, such as digital cameras — which might also have their broadband connectivity built into the purchase price, like Amazon’s Kindle book reader.” -Sidecut Reports (Zatz Not Funny)

So, the next time you hear a talking head on CNBC running down Wimax, remember. It’s just another kind of Seinfeld episode, about nothing.

It what has to be a positive development the Philadelphia Muni WiFi effort has been rescued by a series of overlapping events.

Philadelphia, June 17, 2008 – Today, Mayor Michael A. Nutter and Wireless Philadelphia have reached an agreement with a local investor group to take over operations for Philadelphia’s Wireless Initiative. Under the terms of the deal, the local investor group is assuming operation of the existing EarthLink infrastructure and will enhance and expand the network as part of their plan to eventually bring free wireless to the City. Philadelphia is excited about this opportunity to become the first major city in America to provide wireless access to all of its citizens at no cost.

The deal to revive the Wireless Philadelphia Initiative came together quickly, thanks to the commitment and hard work of City Councilman Bill Green, EarthLink, the Mayor’s Office, the Law Department, MOIS and the Managing Director’s Office. The Mayor’s Office also contracted with a local, independent consultant to analyze the merits of the deal and ensure that it was structured correctly to meet the ultimate goal of digital inclusion.

“This network is a valuable asset to this City and I thank everyone involved for their hard work to preserve it,” said Mayor Nutter. “I am so pleased that my Office was able to partner with non-profit, for-profit and community groups to get this deal done. This is an important first step to reducing the digital divide.”

There is a transition period, during which the local investor group will assess the current state of the network and create a plan and timeline to bring the network up to specification. During this time, service will continue to current digital inclusion customers subject to interruptions for network upgrades. The local investor group will fund citywide free wireless by providing integrated wired/wireless telecommunications services for large customers such as hospitals, universities and wireless extensions as well as moving to an advertising based revenue model.

Will this change in ownership save the day? Has a better chance than the Earthlink deal as the focus is local. With Earthlink out of the picture the proper community involvement can occur.

Linky.
HT: RCR