This is the year of wireless connections to the Internet. Wi-fi and wimax are no longer two incipient technologies; they’ve become real alternatives to cable and ADSL. The generalisation of the use of VoIP also makes them cheaper than mobile phones when it comes to offering phone services.
The North American company Skyhook Wireless has developed a new software that allows to geolocalise a PC bearing in mind the wi-fi hotspots surrounding it. The programme, Loki, works in the functions bar of the navigator and offers a wide range of commercial services depending on the location of the laptop at certain moment.
The Basque company S21Sec has developed a rifle-shaped device to detect unsafe wireless networks. The novelty, which works connected to a laptop, includes a wi-fi aerial and software to analyse the vulnerabilities of each hotspot.
The North American company GigaBeam has patented the ‘WiFibre’, a wireless technology that reaches speeds of 1Gbps. It will allow to transmit videos of 90 minutes in less than 6 seconds; its power is already building dreams about all kind of applications.
The Spanish paper El País has published today an interesting article by Sandro Pozzi about municipal wi-fis, which are a phenomenon that, at the moment, is only spread around the USA. According to the author, city councils promoting this type of infrastructure consider that this system will help to fill the digital gap and attract companies.
Linksys (Cisco’s property) has entered the Spanish market. After the success of its agreement with Fon to invade the market with ADSL routers, the company has sealed two agreements with Voz Telecom and PeopleCall so that they sell their VoIP terminals. The thing is that Synergy consultants estimates that by 2009 there will only be 59 users of this kind of phone services in the whole world.
The Comisión del Mercado de las Telecomunicaciones, the Spanish Commission for the Telecommunications Market, has given Fon permission to create a “wireless community” where members can share their broadband. The document, that is available at Varsavsky’s blog, is very important since it legalises an Internet access “that is really equipped with a third ISP”, something that, according to certain sources, was ilegal. But the permission only allows Fon to offer Internet access, excluding voice or similar services.
Many mayors have in mind offering wi-fi access in their cities, especially in North America. What’s more, in some places, private companies have taken over city councils from this task.
The French railway company, SNCF, has tendered a project to install wi-fi in all high-speed trains, either Thalys or TGV. The connection is based on a satellite that uploads and downloads data and sends it to each coach via wi-fi.
The interest towards wi-fi, as a means to give Internet access to any kind of service is growing. Digital cameras, TVs and mobile phones are starting to be equipped with wireless connections. But the best is still to come. Some of the most interested professionals are console makers; they see in wi-fi their solution to put their games’ users in contact.