Blog: Wireless

The D.C. goverment is asking companies to bid on building a wireless system in the city. The major difference between this plan and ones in other cities like Philadelphia is that it won't be citywide. Instead, low income residents will be given preference.

This is an interesting twist on a way to help ease the digital divide, while keeping internet service providers happy. People who would get access to wireless hot spots would have a slower connection rate than people who paid for wireless service.

Today I came across metrofreefi.com and found a bunch of cafes and restaurants in Washington, DC, that have free wi-fi. The website lets you search by region and city to find the places near you that offer free wi-fi. This isn't a comprehensive list - DC only had 26 listed - but it asks for submissions. I added the new coffee shop in my neighborhood and sent it in about 2 minutes...

I received some fun photos and answers to some questions I had about satellite feeds and telecenters today from our friends Roselie Vasquez-Yetter and Lynne Riedesel over at I-Linx.

I just uploaded four pictures from the demonstration, all of me updating this blog! This was I-Linx's first demonstration of the technology in North America (don’t know how many other Inmarsat service providers have conducted demonstrations as well, if any, over the past month). But Roselie confirmed that this was the first demo targeting the international development community.

I am interested in portable broadband satellite IP modems and the work that I-Linx is doing because it has obvious benefits for the development community on the ground and as the technology continues to evolve the price will diminish to a point where it could maybe be used by remote telecenters!!!

According my email conversation with Roselie, the RBGAN is used in many contexts including:

Yesterday I attended the SID-W event, “Communications in Overseas Operations - Wireless ICT Solutions, Benefits and Challenges” at Chemonics International, 2nd Floor Auditorium, 1133 20th St.
N.W.

Panelists included: Eri Rusten dot-ORG Deputy Director with Academy for Educational Development, John Chromy, Vice President, CHF International, Joel Schroeder , Vice President ICT Solutions, I-LINX, LLC and Rosalie Vasquez-Yetter, Vice President Development Solutions I-LINX LLC. The panel discussed some of the latest advances in communications technology for both private and public sector development groups.

After the panel presentation I had the opportunity to talk with Dr. Eric Rusten and Rosalie Vasquez-Yetter about the implications of this improved accessibility for telecenters. Then we went up on the roof to conduct a demonstration of the satellite feed, which is when I posted that rather random entry “Posting from a Satellite in Washington DC.”

Home and Small Office Networking

A few questions first: Why is a Wireless Access Point more expensive than a Wireless Access Point w/ Router and 4 port switch? And why don't they commonly sell a wireless access point with just a 4 or more port switch built-in, and not a router? The sales person at Bestbuy was baffled too, and told me, "well, after the mail-in rebate, the access point itself is really only $10 dollars more expensive than the whole package..." Hmm.

Now how do we appraoch this: Person has regular 4 port router already, and wants to get a wireless access point, but wants the additional ports a switch would offer you.