Category: Commentary

The issue of network neutrality is now a hot topic in view of the upcoming spectrum auction by the Federal Communications Commission. The FCC is required to sell airwaves vacated by broadcasters as a result of the digital television transition, mainly to wireless broadband carriers, by the end of 2007. It is due to announce...

A new WiFi alternative may be on the horizon. Local governments are looking at companies that can provide wireless throughout their entire city or county with the use of wireless transmitters in the public right away. Some customers will be able to use their existing wireless receivers but people who are more than 100 feet...

A French regulation could impede the adoption of 802.11 Draft N standard in Europe. France was the first country to demand compliance with the latest version of the dynamic frequency selection - a mechanism enabling a WiFi system to move away from a channel once radar is detected - that European regulator ETSI released in...

Technology has now made gaps in cell phone coverage a thing of the past, that is if there is a Wi-Fi Hotspot nearby. Smart phones, complete with Wi-Fi capabilities are hitting the market, albeit slowly, and allow you to make VoIP phone calls, check email, read the latest news and other activities via the internet....

You can actually be setting yourself up for identity theft. A recent report entitled Internet Safety: The State of the Nation found that one in five, or 21%, of British households that use wireless broadband connections do not have password protection. These open portals leave users open to fraud, identity theft or worse. To combat...

The U.S. leads countries in Wi-Fi usage, accounting for 59 percent of the global total, according to the latest research by iPass. Ahead of Germany, Japan and Singapore, is the U.K., which took the second spot with 11 percent. London emerged in front of Singapore, New York and San Francisco as the city with the...

According to David Maynor, chief technology officer at Errata Security, computers are "leaking all kinds of information that an attacker can use" once they connect to a Wi-Fi network, particularly in public areas such as airports. Existing tools can obtain important details like usernames and passwords for e-mail accounts and instant messengers. To address this...

According to John C. Dvorak, cellular service companies are out to kill Wi-Fi, being their largest threat in the long term. The technology's popularity, as indicated by a Pew Internet & American Life Project survey, has grown significantly over the last two years: about 34 percent of Internet users secure online access via Wi-Fi connections,...

Research firm Ovum expects the uptake of dual-mode phones to be minimal - only about 2 percent or 5.5 million people in the U.S. As such, it is urging equipment vendors and carriers to concentrate more on other opportunities for fixed-mobile convergence such as identity convergence and remote access. Identity convergence enables customers to keep...

Kirk Kirksey, author of Computer Factoids: Tales From the High-Tech Underbelly, called NetStumbler as "one of the greatest freebies of all time." The downloadable program is a tool that sniffs WiFi signals and informs users if their wireless network is properly configured. But prior to downloading, users need to check if their wireless cards are...

Jake McGoldrick, a supervisor for San Francisco's First District, raised concerns over the city's deal with EarthLink and Google to build a citywide Wi-Fi network. He cited a report by a Budget Analyst for the Board of Supervisors recommending that the city explore several business models. This move, the report said, "would encourage creativity and...

Meraki Networks is testing a WiFi network that aims to provide affordable wireless Internet connection. In several neighborhoods, the Mountain View, California-based start-up has installed $49 boxes, which is equipped with a Wi-Fi router-on-a-chip and software that supports a "mesh network". This network redirects signals when boxes are removed or added and when network performance...

There are several ways to make calls online. Vonage allows unlimited calls from anywhere in the U.S. to Canada, France, Ireland, Italy, Spain and Britain for a monthly fee of $25. But a user needs to plug an existing home telephone handset into a little adapter box -- worth $60 after rebate -- and plug...

People who find using Skype to contact landline or mobile phones expensive can use other methods to save on call fees. Both parties can call for free if they have instant messaging applications such as MSN Messenger downloaded on their computers, plus a headset with microphone. Jajah.com, meanwhile, allows anyone from North America, Australasia and...

With the release of the Next-Gen Wireless-N component for Centrino laptops, Intel became the latest company to unveil a product supporting IEEE 802.11n. Other vendors like Asus, Belkin, Buffalo, D-Link and Netgear have also shipped 802.11n hardware, which would require a firmware upgrade to be fully consistent with the specification when it is ratified. A...