Friday, May 29, 2009
The world cheered when a new, supposedly revolutionary piece of wireless broadband hardware was released in Barcelona this February at the GSMA Mobile World Congress. The new hardware, a PC-Only wireless modem, was introduced by Telstra and promised 21 Mbps peak connection speeds. So, why doesn't every retail store, c-store, and hospitality center in the world have one by now?

Probably because there simply isn't enough bandwidth served through the GSM to actually keep up with the modem's capability. If 21 Mbps were attainable for every wireless broadband user, even just for the business users, then we would have likely heard a lot more about this over the past 5 months, and probably seen competitors clamoring to compete. But that hasn't been the case.

Instead, focus has been on beefing up the infrastructure to meet the existing demands of an ever increasing user base of fixed wireless broadband. We recently reported on one such effort by Verizon who upped it's wireless broadband capacity in one suburban area, foregoing new terrestrial network construction.

When ZDNet tested Telstra's hardware in Australia (the only market it's available in at present), they experienced peak performance at 6 Mbps, and averages at only half that. One can't help but notice the word "theoretical" pasted all throughout their review, and a direct quote from Telstra's own material stating, "customers will experience typical user download speeds of 550Kbps – 8Mbps." That's quite a range. Why the gap between the peak experienced and the peak theorized? Simple. Network capacity. Joseph Hanlon stated it like this: "Theoretically the network is capable of delivering 21Mbps but only if you parked yourself immediately next to a base station, and accessed an uncongested network."

So, where does the wireless broadband industry need to turn next? New client-side hardware? No. We look forward to seeing major providers continue building and enhancing their infrastructure to meet increasing demands--both rural and urban. That is the only first step toward a wireless world.

Labels: Broadband, Fixed Wireless Broadband, Rural Broadband Access

posted by Unknown at 7:16 AM Link to this Article  0 Comments

Tuesday, May 26, 2009
According to a survey conducted by Convenience Store News, first quarter numbers were surprisingly positive for c-stores around the nation. The Economic Pulse Survey asked stores to provide information regarding their sales over the same period in the previous year. A similar survey was conducted in December of 2008 to collect data from Q3, and yielded some depressing statistics. Nonetheless, the past two quarters (Q4-2008 and Q1-2009) were markedly positive.

CS News attributed the swing in gas prices to the successes and disappointments in c-store business. As prices plummeted in Q4-2008, stores recouped most of their expected profits for the year. Q1 of this year, then, started off on a very positive note. As the recession seems to be affecting nearly ever other industry, convenience stores are so far proving immune to the symptoms.

Stores remain optimistic for Q2, as well, but there's is no doubt that there is much trepidation surrounding the imminent rise of gas prices over the summer travel season. Still, an economist from Purdue predicts that gas won't come close to $4.00/gal. that we saw last summer. If this holds true, we may see an overall strong year in store for c-stores.

Labels: Convenience Stores, Economy

posted by Unknown at 5:21 AM Link to this Article

Tuesday, May 19, 2009
As AT&T recently commented in their press release yesterday, people's lives are becoming increasingly fast-paced and their need for connectivity is growing. We couldn't agree more. In fact, neither can the people behind the Internet for Everyone initiative, the Wireless Communication Association, or even the government's own NTIA for that matter.

We learned yesterday that for several rural communities in Missouri, AT&T is answering the call. In what appears to be a part of their earlier announced plan to invest $11 Billion in wireless and wireline broadband, AT&T announced yesterday that they will be introducing 55 new cell sites to the state of Missouri that will enable 3G wireless broadband for travelers (and c-stores) along US 67 (view press release here).

3G wireless speeds along rural highways means much more than just connectivity for travelers. It's convenient IT for the convenience stores that dot the exit ramps, too. Fixed Wireless Broadband over the 3G GSM network is the fastest-to-deploy and lowest TCO option for most locations such as highway interchanges where wireline connections are either impossible to find or impossibly slow and unreliable.

To learn more about fixed wireless broadband for c-stores and other retail, check Accel Network's primary network solutions.

Labels: Broadband, Fixed Wireless Broadband, NTIA, Rural Broadband, WCAI

posted by Unknown at 9:14 AM Link to this Article  0 Comments

Thursday, May 14, 2009
According to Tim Greene at Computer World, Verizon has unloaded much of its terrestrial broadband network lines. As for the reasons why, they should come as no surprise: Verizon is all about Wireless Broadband.

Greene commented that Verizon's decision to unload such a large amount of infrastructure--$8.6 Billion worth to be precise--is simple: these assets "don't align with its core businesses." In fact, the more notable news to me was learning that Verizon ever owned over $8 Billion in copper cable and fiber optics.

The buyer, Frontier Communications, sees value in the assets as part of their mission to bring broadband access to rural areas. Most of the network being sold serves rural areas across the U.S. While we applaud Frontier for their dedication to that service, I still have to shake my head wondering, "isn't wireless broadband a better way to serve rural areas?"

All in all, I'm convinced this is an excellent move for Verizon, increasing capital that can be applied to the more pertinent task of building their fixed wireless infrastructure. As for the rural access, we shall wait and see what Frontier makes of their new growth.

Labels: Broadband, Fixed Wireless Broadband, Rural Broadband, Rural Broadband Access, Verizon

posted by Unknown at 5:12 AM Link to this Article  0 Comments

Tuesday, May 12, 2009
How often do you find headlines that read like this: "Sidewalks Destroyed and Sod Ripped Up as Miles of Fiberoptics are Laid to Increase Broadband Capacity." Not very often. When major tcom companies like Verizon need to increase broadband capacity to meet demand, more and more often they're turning to fixed wireless broadband solutions.

That was the case with this morning's announcement that Verizon Wireless Increases Wireless Broadband Capacity in Watertown Area. According to their press release, this wasn't just for your average teenager downloading videos and music. Verizon has a serious interest in "the company's high-speed wireless broadband network geared toward mobile professionals and business customers."

What is most notable to me, however, is the speed at which the upscaling can occur on wireless broadband networks. As I parodied the downsides to beefing up wireline networks--major construction that entails destruction in its path--there is a serious side to the benefits of leveraging a growing GSM network. Think about the costs and time-to-market that would be required for copper cable and fiberoptics to deliver the same bandwidth capacity that Verizon's 10 new cell sites will offer. Wireless Broadband is, without a doubt, the answer to expanding broadband coverage.

Labels: Broadband, Coverage, Fixed Wireless Broadband, Rural Broadband Access, Verizon

posted by Unknown at 5:56 AM Link to this Article  0 Comments

Thursday, May 7, 2009
My grandmother was recently introduced to email. She uses a simple software on her desktop called Juno that doesn't even require her to get online. So, her monthly bandwidth consumption is probably less than the average mobile phone in 1995. And yet, she pays the same amount for internet as the neighbor across the street running her home based ebay business.

Now, I can certainly understand the economic reasons that this is so based on the cost to deliver service to each household. But, some people these days aren't so sure. And, it may surprise you that many discussions over this issue aren't geared towards saving money for the little-old-lady, it's about charging more for the internet moguls.

This fall, Time Warner is reportedly going to begin rolling out a metered pricing plan based on bandwidth consumption. This has obviously been met with mixed reviews. But, it's a pricing model not uncommon in the telecom industry. Mobile phones, for starters, began with pay per usage and only recently evolved into offering unlimited plans.

Which brings one important question to mind: if the companies on the GSM network billed per usage until their network grew to the capacity it is now, why would one of the largest providers on the age-old cable networks just now be switching to a per usage model? It seems counter-intuitive.

Labels: Broadband, Cost Reduction, Network Providers, Time Warner

posted by Unknown at 9:59 AM Link to this Article  0 Comments

Tuesday, May 5, 2009
I can remember the widespread panic a few years back when major metropolitan areas around the U.S. began to experience brownouts during peak load times. Mainly, the media focused on California cities where they simply couldn't build power plants fast enough to keep up with demand. There was panic in the streets. Could such a staple of life be so fickle? So unreliable? Then, just as quickly as it came, the problem was solved and most forgot about it.

Well, the fear hasn't gone away, it's just shifted focus. Today, analysts and so-called experts are postulating as to when the global backbone of the Internet will meet it's match in bandwidth demand. Researchers at Nemertes Research actually presented a theory (in 2007) that bandwidth demand would outgrow network capacity by 2010. Well, it's 2009 and I don't believe anyone is truly nervous about that prospect.

In fact, in a much more recent article from TMC.net, the issue raised is not global network backbone, it's actually local network access. DSL, cable, frame relays, and a slew of T1's are bringing more and more people online at an alarming rate, but can the local networks handle it? Gary Kim believes the wildcard that could save us all may turn out to be wireless broadband.

"wired broadband supply increases linearly, obviously posing some risk if access demand grows non-linearly."

But if local broadband access meets a crunch time,

"New broadband wireless capacity can be turned up much more quickly than wired broadband can."

I couldn't have said it better myself. In fact, the only thing I think the author, Gary Kim, has overlooked is the fact that this is already happening all over America. Anytime a c-store goes up on a highway in the middle of nowhere, the access demand for that specific location has indeed grown beyond the ability for wireline providers. Sure, it doesn't make headline news because it's not a community of millions in a high-profile California city. The proof is, nonetheless, in the pudding.

Enter Accel Networks. Fixed Wireless Broadband from Accel is used every day to ramp up broadband access in an otherwise "under-served" area (i.e. unable to connect via anything wired). With no copper cable laid at all, Accel has stores online in as little as a week, including layer 2 security. Wildcard, Mr. Kim? I do beleive you're onto something.

Labels: Broadband, Coverage, Fixed Wireless Broadband

posted by Unknown at 10:37 AM Link to this Article  0 Comments