Cell carriers becoming concerned about cell data to wifiadapters (fwd)

["David Farber" <dave () farber net>]

-----Original Message-----
From: "Marc"<marcaniballi () hotmail com>
Sent: 14/07/05 8:09:24 AM
To: "dave () farber net"<dave () farber net>
Subject: RE: [IP] Cell carriers becoming concerned about cell data to wifiadapters (fwd)

Hi Dave;

It appears that the telcos aren't learning from history. They are selling
connectivity to a network - the usage of that connectivity it purely at the
discretion of the customer! Several years ago, with the increasing ease of
implementing SOHO routers, there was a bit of a stink put up by the telcos
that customers should pay "per connected device" rather than per terminal
adapter. This did not last long, and we now enjoy the right to share our DSL
line, not only with our families or co-workers, but even with utter
strangers as part of a neighborhood community network! 

Why are mobile network connections any different? If I buy unlimited usage
from Verizon, there is no difference in provisioning requirements to Verizon
whether I download movies non-stop, or share my connection with a dozen
friends on a train ride from New York to L.A. - I paid for a service, and I
am using it. If the telcos decide to block this usage, another provider will
step in to service this market, because (IMHO) this IS the market. Sooner or
later, places like buses, trains (we already have the ability in some
aircraft), event installations (mobile amusement parks, concerts, etc.) and
any other mobile or temporary environment where people might want to
connect, will use this type of technology to provide easy access. The telcos
can either service the market or lose it. 

If they want to keep trying to get a mobile DSL service to work at a
consumer level, they will need to drop the price and increase the bandwidth
to compete with traditional DSL - there is still a market for personal
mobile internet, but until it offers a viable alternative to the much
cheaper, if more restrictive, fixed solutions, it will still be no more than
a toy for certain niches. (gadget geeks, mobile sales forces for high ticket
items, etc.)

Marc

-----Original Message-----
From: owner-ip () v2 listbox com [mailto:owner-ip () v2 listbox com] On Behalf Of
David J. Farber
Sent: Thursday, July 14, 2005 7:09 AM
To: ip ip
Subject: [IP] Cell carriers becoming concerned about cell data to wifi
adapters (fwd)


http://www.nytimes.com/2005/07/14/technology/circuits/14share.html?8hpib


 
July 14, 2005
For Surfers, a Roving Hot Spot That Shares

By JOHANNA JAINCHILL
When the Sunningdale Country Club in Scarsdale, N.Y., opened its gates last
week to a location shoot 
for "The Sopranos," a new fixture was on display in the mobile dressing
rooms - a roving Wi-Fi hot 
spot.

With a device called the Junxion Box, the production company can set up a
mobile multiuser Internet 
connection anywhere it gets cellphone service. The box, about the size of a
shoebox cover, uses a 
cellular modem card from a wireless phone carrier to create a Wi-Fi hot spot
that lets dozens of people 
connect to the Internet.

The staff members of "The Sopranos," squeezed into two trailer dressing
rooms, needed only the 
Junxion Box and their laptops to exchange messages and documents with the
production offices at 
Silvercup Studios in Queens.

"We used to fax everything," said Henry J. Bronchtein, the show's
co-executive producer. "The paper 
would jam; it was messy. This is much more reliable."

Junxion Boxes have also been spotted on Google's commuter buses for
employees and along Willie 
Nelson's latest tour. But what may be a boon for wandering Web surfers could
quickly become a threat 
to wireless providers.

"The premise is one person buys an air card and one person uses the service,
not an entire 
neighborhood," said Jeffrey Nelson, executive director for corporate
communications at Verizon 
Wireless. "Giving things away for free doesn't work anymore. It never did."

Unlimited service on cellular modem cards for PC's costs about $80 a month.
The carriers are clearly 
worried about a technology that could destroy that business, but they have
not formed a united front 
against Junxion.

The makers of the Junxion Box, based in Seattle, seem eager to head off any
battle by forming 
partnerships with the wireless companies.

"We're not trying to build a radar detector," said John Daly, 42, co-founder
of Junxion Inc. and vice 
president for business development. "We believe we're creating an
opportunity for the carriers. It may 
not be entirely comfortable for them right now, but we hope we can get to a
point where we can 
collaborate with them."

The Junxion Box was created by Mr. Daly and two partners, David Hsiao, 38,
the company's president, 
and Peter Polson, 31, vice president for product development. The commercial
version of the box retails 
for $699. They plan a less expensive consumer version next year.

John Kampfe, director of media and industry analyst relations for Cingular
Wireless, said the Junxion 
Box was being evaluated and certified by Cingular and could eventually be
sold in conjunction with 
Cingular's wireless service for wide-area networks.

"There is a whole pricing model that has to take place with the Junxion
Box," Mr. Kampfe said.

So far Junxion has about 200 customers, many of whom are testing the
product. The company went 
around the wireless companies by making Trio Teknologies, a wireless
services reseller, its exclusive 
distributor.

Peter Schneider, a partner at Gotham Sound, the communications equipment
company in New York that 
supplied Junxion Boxes to the sets of both "The Sopranos" and the rapper 50
Cent's upcoming movie, 
"Get Rich or Die Tryin'," said his customers would not be interested in
wireless modem cards were it not 
for the possibility to share the connection through the Junxion Box.

"That's the exact appeal of it" for his customers, he said. "That you can
rent it to a group. As word gets 
out, it will become part of the communication equipment they rent."

But for carriers like Verizon Wireless, which spent $1 billion on its
broadband network, it is difficult to 
let users piggyback on that service. "We're not surprised that people are
building services like this and 
trying to attach them to our network," Mr. Nelson of Verizon said. "It
verifies how cool and how 
important our network is. We're going to protect that investment."

That may prove to be an uphill battle as new technologies like Junxion alter
the wireless carriers' 
control over the use of their networks.

"That's just something they have got to live with because that's the
technology now," said David 
Anderson, Willie Nelson's tour manager of 31 years. "Most people wouldn't or
couldn't afford to have 
that many cards. They weren't going to get 22 customers, but now they got
6."

There are two Junxion Boxes in each of the two tour buses and each has three
wireless modem cards so 
they can switch to the cellular provider network with the best local
coverage. It allows Mr. Nelson, 
whom Mr. Anderson describes as a computer geek, to check his e-mail and surf
the Web while on the 
road.

"The Junxion Box is good for going down the highway," Mr. Anderson said from
Hillsboro, Tex., where 
Mr. Nelson was performing earlier this month. "It was frustrating in the
older days. It's finally the way it 
should be."

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