Clovis, California issues RFP for municipal wireless broadband network

Clovis, a city in northern California near Fresno, is seeking a vendor to build and operate a citywide wireless broadband network. Clovis is a fast-growing city with 90,000 residents. It covers 22 square miles. The city already has a fiber optic network which the wireless vendor can use for backhaul.

SBA Snags SunCom Wireless Towers

BA, one of the largest radio tower operators in the country, has purchased 69 wireless radio towers from SunCom Wireless. The deal is valued at $18 million and covers towers in three U.S. states.

EarthLink turns dial-up lemons into muni Wi-Fi lemonade

Computerworld looks at EarthLink’s move into Wi-Fi. EarthLink thinks that it will bring competition into markets that will benefit consumers by cutting all costs while increasing access. EarthLink’s point person says that telcos are nervous because of other offerings, such as local-network VoIP, would cut into their cash cows. It costs cell operators 25 cents to deliver a megabyte of data versus half a cent for a city-wide Wi-Fi network.

Tropos responds to questions on Mountain View Wi-Fi network

Last week, Sascha Meinrath posted an article titled "Questions for Tropos: Does Google's Mountain View Network Fold Under Pressure?" -- a piece that generated a number of comments from readers. They answer with generalized results but didn't respond to specific complaints. The first commenter requests confirmation about about node densities. Someone reported Mountain View uses 45 per square mile.

Microsoft Takes Muni WiFi Plunge w/ MetroFi and SkyPilot

In its first foray into the municipal WiFi sector currently occupied by search-engine giant Google, Microsoft Corp. said today it will collaborate with MetroFi Inc. on the citywide network for Portland. MetroFi will build and operate the network, using WiFi equipment from provider SkyPilot Networks Inc. , and Microsoft's MSN will act as the anchor supplier of local and national content plus advertising through its adCenter technology.

In-Stat: WiMAX Poised For Rapid Growth Despite Major Challenges

WiMAX technology is entering a rapid growth phase, as service providers are now able to buy WiMAX Forum-certified equipment, reports In-Stat. Worldwide subscribers are estimated to reach 222,000 in 2006 and are forecasted to grow to 19.7 million by the end of 2010, the high-tech market research firm says. Most of those subscribers are in the Asia/Pacific region. The biggest challenge still comes from competing technologies and services. Recent research by In-Stat found the following:

* With Sprint being the exception, In-Stat does not believe most 3G carriers will deploy WiMAX in the near term.
* Alvarion had the largest share of WiMAX equipment revenue during the first half of 2006.
* In-Stat expects sales in 802.16e equipment to quickly overtake those in 802.16d.
* Regulatory uncertainty and spectrum availability continue to hamper the growth of WiMAX.

The price for In-Stat's report is $3,495.

NYC, Trump and MIMO

Trump’s broadband supplier piles on Wi-Fi: MST/NuVisions is broadcasting Wi-Fi across a great swath of Manhattan, the company says. They already run a gigabit-ring-in-the-air—a backbone unencumbered by ground connections—and they’re leveraging their position on buildings to beam across the southern part of Central Park and other areas of the city. They expanded an earlier network that was highly localized around the buildings in which they provide tenant services, including many Trump properties, for the New York City Marathon on Nov. 5. They told the New York Post that they’re using MIMO technology, a multiple-antenna approach that has been slow to enter the metro-scale market mostly because of its newness. A few metro-scale equipment vendors were founded this year to use MIMO approaches to provide greater coverage with fewer nodes. NuVisions charges $10 for 10 hours and $30 per month for access to users who aren’t in-building subscribers. Their map appears to show their previous coverage area.

IEEE Plenary in Dallas

The IEEE 802 Plenary Session runs all week in Dallas. Starting today, the IEEE Pleanary Session will bring the major 802 committees together to spur international standardization in a variety of 802 groups.

Democrats Promoting Universal Broadband in Five Years

Congresswoman Nancy Pelosi, the next Speaker of the House, states the Democrat's new agenda "guarantees every American will have affordable access to broadband within five years. Universal broadband will propel advanced Internet applications, such as distance learning, health IT, video-on-demand, and Voice over IP. Universal broadband -- whether it's delivered by Wi-Fi or WiMAX, or hard line -- will put all Americans, no matter where they live, no more than a keystroke or a mouse click away from the jobs and opportunity that broadband both creates and supports."

WiMax: The Real Deal?

Still more than a year away, WiMax will offer enterprises a powerful alternative, according to new Unstrung Insider report. "Mobile WiMax: Who's Doing What" looks at vendor and service provider timetables for the powerful new networking technology. The report also examines the top issues that IT pros must consider in developing a strategy not just for WiMax but for mobile broadband in general.

St. Louis Park city council OKs city-owned Wi-Fi network; bids posted

The city council of St. Louis Park, Minnesota approved the plan to fund and build a municipally owned wireless broadband network. The proposal/detailed study (PDF format) submitted to the city council by the St. Louis Park wireless project team is available from the city%u2019s website. The document contains the list of bidders, plans for solar Wi-Fi, business plan and pricing for Internet access, use of the network for municipal purposes, etc.

Ten Colorado cities form consortium to build large wireless network

Colorado Wireless Communities (CWC), a consortium of ten cities (Arvada, Boulder, Broomfield, Golden, Lakewood, Louisville, Northglenn, Superior, Thornton, and Wheat Ridge), formally announced its goal of enabling a comprehensive, low-cost wireless broadband network. The consortium plans to issue an RFP very soon.

America's Internet Disconnect

Michael Copps, FCC Commissioner, wrote an op-ed in the Washington Post about the broadband in the US: America’s record in expanding broadband communication is so poor that it should be viewed as an outrage by every consumer and businessperson in the country. "Too few of us have broadband connections, and those who do pay too much."

Questions for Tropos: Does Google's Mountain View Network Fold Under Pressure?

Some serious questions are raised concerning what's really happening on the Google/Tropos Mountain View Network when load levels increase. Second to comment on the weblog entry of MuniWireless is Marty Hahnfeld of SkyPilot. "Shaun" of MeshDynamics is third.