Author: Eliza Villarino

At the IEEE Globecom 2006 Expo in San Francisco, Intel announced plans to integrate a pre-802.11n technology in its Centrino chips next year. The 802.11n standard, which promises better performance than the current WiFi technology, is not likely to be ratified until the first half of 2008. Gartner analyst Ken Dulaney expressed concerns regarding decisions...

A new Veriwave test debunked notions that wireless standards -- 802.11a, 802.11b and 802.11g -- have zero error in data transmission. It found an "unavoidable packet loss" due to the fundamental transmission protocol used in wireless networks. The 802.11 standards supposedly have "foolproof" mechanisms that allow for detection of corrupt data and retransmission. The test...

Vodacom is buying a 26 percent stake in G-Mobile Holdings, a company that owns WiFi and broadband provider WirelessG. In a statement, the leading cellphone operator in South Africa said it considers "WiFi as an ideal complement to its 3G HSDPA mobile broadband services as it provides an alternative means of connectivity." It did not...

The WiMax World event has one message: both fixed and mobile WiMax are real and companies are ready to supply the market with products using the technology. Mobile WiMax, in particular, is expected to become a hit in 2007 and seen as a major rival to cellular technologies such as EV-DO Revisions B and C...

A group of security researchers discovered a flaw in Broadcom's BCMWL5.SYS wireless driver that could make a Wi-Fi enabled laptop prone to security risks. The said buffer overflow error could enable hackers to stage kernel-mode code and take advantage of the security opening through the Metasploit Module. The Zeroday Emergency Response Team or ZERT believes...

Several vendors have unveiled various dual-mode solutions that allow for call handovers between WiFi and cellular networks. WakeMed Health & Hospitals looks to acquire software from Aruba Wireless Networks, which can support dual-mode phones. To date, the medical center has provided 650 SpectraLink voice handsets and 500 cell phones to its nurses. The ability to...

Samsung Electronics disclosed that it has already sold mobile WiMax equipment to a client in China and will provide similar equipment to another. Hwan Woo Chung, a vice president at Samsung's Mobile WiMax Group, declined to state the clients' names and just told delegates to a conference in Singapore to "see early next year what...

IraqTel chose Redline Communications' RedMAX products for a proposed WiMax network in Iraq. The country will initially deploy the network, the first of its kind in the war-torn country, in Basrah. Recently, Redline announced its partnership with I-Systems to provide wireless broadband service in Lake Llanquihue, Chile. The service uses Redline's AN-50e, part of the...

Google wants access to as many as 1,500 city light poles in San Francisco for its own test network and exclusive from the citywide WiFi network that it proposed to the city. Google's project partner, EarthLink, voiced the search giant's request to city officials, which it said is a condition for Google's participation in the...

The Wireless Silicon Valley task force is looking into plans by Bangalore to become "the second city in the world to be fully WiMax enabled." Taiwan earlier claimed to be the first city providing its residents wireless connection anywhere, anytime. The subject of Wireless Silicon Valley's discussion ensued from an article in Hindustan Times written...

Brasil Telecom Participações (BrT) looks to offer mobile WiMax to residents in the southern Brazilian cities of Porto Alegre and Curitiba. Dante Nardelli, who heads BrT's technology and technical planning division, said the two cities are home to 200,500 broadband customers, which the company sees as potential WiMax users. BrT's WiMax unit Vant already obtained...

Reports of ill effects on health have forced some schools in the U.K. to switch off their wireless networks. One such school is Carmarthenshire comprehensive Ysgol Pantycelyn. Headteacher Hywel Pugh said that, though the county council and central government gave assurances that wireless networks are safe, the school decided to take down WiFi due to...

A ruling by a federal judge in Tyler, Texas upheld the validity of a 1996 patent obtained by the Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organization (CSIRO) on a technology used in implementing wireless standards developed by the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE). The said patent owned by Australia's national science agency involves a...

LG Wireless is acquiring Alvarion's Cellular Mobile business for $15 million. Alvarion believes the unit is not only a good fit for LG but also serves the best interest of shareholders. The deal, according to Alvarion President and CEO Tzvika Friedman, will also enable the company to devote all its resources to WiMax. The said...

Bezeq hopes to launch WiFi phones in the fourth quarter of next year. According to Ran Goron, Bezeq's deputy marketing CEO, Israel's national communications provider seeks to become a major player in the VoIP sector but is unsure if the communications ministry will authorize the firm to join that field. The company, meanwhile, unveiled a...