MiFi – Making your Home a Hotspot
If you are a Verizon broadband subscriber, you can enhance your WiFi experience by getting a personal WiFi hotspotting device that will allow up to five of your friends to access the internet from their netbooks of mobile phones in your home. The Verizon MiFi basically makes your home a hotspot. But because it’s portable, anywhere you go becomes a hotspot. This device is ideal to any subscriber who has to trek into remote locations with weak or absent WiFi hotspots but has to go online most of the time. It’s also great for anyone wanting to give access to the internet at home without having to spend on all those cables and routers.
How It Works
The MiFi Intelligent Mobile Hotspot from Verizon is a petite battery-run EVDO cellular modem device the size of 8 credit cards stacked over each other. Wherever you bring the MiFi with you, once turned on, it detects a Verizon Wireless 3G network near you and enables a more reliable broadband WiFi connection to your laptop, netbook or mobile phone. It even lets your iPod Touch connect to your laptop.
The MiFi’s lithium-ion battery can give for 40 hours on standby mode just like any mobile phone. Turning it on with the flick of a miniature side switch gives you 5 hours continuously enveloping you with a 30 foot WiFi radio bubble so you can get your emails or surf on the internet wirelessly. At home you can just tether the device to its charger for indefinite use.
Admittedly you really can’t go unlimited surfing as you’d be limited by the amount of data downloaded specified for a billing period. So depending on the plan you take out, you can go as low as 250Mb up to 5 GB. With a low plan, you might not be able to extend this to your friends or neighbours within a 30ft radius. But if you’re the generous type, why not?
Wireless Router – Every Home Should have One
A wireless router functions twofold, it first acts as wireless access point that established sessions with your device such as a desktop PC or portable devices like Laptop, netbooks and mobile phones. Second, it acts as a network router that determines the first available network to which your session’s packet information can be sent and conversely received and delivered to your device.
How They Work
Wireless routers follow certain transmission protocols like the IEEE WiFi 802.11x family of standards. Once connected to a wired local area network, the router starts to broadcast a certain frequency with this your portable device with suitable wireless capability can detect so that a session can be established, such as an internet access. Most laptops and netbooks as well as mobile phones already have built-in wireless capability, usually a WiFi compatible antenna. Otherwise, there are USB dongles that allows wireless connection when connected to the Universal Serial Bus port of your portable device.
Advantages
If you have a broadband LAN connections at home or the office, a wireless router can allow multiple users to access your LAN without further investments in hardware to wire your device to the LAN. In addition, as a router, it has firewall features that provide better protection of your PC or laptops against hackers because individual PC or laptop IP address are not directly showing on the internet. As integral to its router function, unless you need something more robust and powerful, you won’t need the usual firewall software that consumes computing resources on a server.
Wireless routers have gone a long way since it first appeared as a consumer product where before it was an industrial-grade computing hardware. The costs has significantly dropped and it offers more bandwidth courtesy of the WiFi 802.11g standard most of them comply with.
What are MAC Codes
MAC code stands for Migration Authorisation Code which in the UK is a 17-19 character identifier uniquely used by customers of broadband services whenever they elect to switch between internet service providers or ISPs. MACs are useful for 30 days once issued after a request made by the customer to his incumbent ISP. This should be sufficient time for the customer to get a new ISP as it takes only 6-10 business days for accounts to be processed in the transfer from ISP to another.
MACs usually start with “BBDS”, “BBIP”, “FTIP”, or “BBDP”, and have 4 letters, 7 to 9 digits, a slash, 2 letters, 2 digits and ending with 1 letter, or something like BBIP87654321/AB12C
It was introduced by BT as a sound consumer practice that’s optional but in 2007, it became mandatory as part of the General Conditions 22 governing Service Management stipulated in the operating licenses of broadband network operators. ISPs are mandated to comply with a customer request free of charge within the stipulated timeframe. The rules came into force as a means to facilitate customer migration from one ISP to another.
Refusing to Give the MAC
Once a customer MAC request is received, the incumbent ISP should provide the MAC in five business days. There are some valid reasons for refusing a customer’s request. They include the following:
- The identity of the account holder cannot be confirmed with standard checks.
- The service contract for broadband services has been terminated before the request is made.
- The ISP has already been issued to the customer from an earlier request.
- A cease request for the broadband service has been submitted by the ISP.
The ISP could not send a MAC because the underlying broadband network provider is unable to generate a MAC. In the UK, British Telecom is usually the underlying network provider.
Fiber-Optics – making Broadband Possible
Fiber Optic or optical fiber cables are pervasively deployed by telecommunications companies to comprise their main backbone network infrastructure. These cables are often laid out in underground conduits as well as on ocean floors over long transoceanic distances to carry high-density high-bandwidth transmission capacities from which telecoms service providers and ISPs can tap into for their networking requirements.
Fiber Optic cables are most suited for main telecoms backbone as they carry the most signals compared with the traditional copper cables that are subject to corrosion and throughput diminution over time. In fact, most network providers have started replacing their old copper cables with more resilient high bandwidth fiber optics in many countries undergoing telco infrastructure improvements.
Advantages
- Electrical signals when converted to light suffer lesser interference and attenuation over fiber optic cables than they would through regular metal cables.
- This low attenuation is ideal for carrying signals over long distance communication.
- Data throughput is very high typically reaching the Gigabyte range as each fiber in a fiber optic bundle can carry many channels independently using various light wavelengths in a propagation method called wavelength division multiplex.
- Light is immune to electrical interference so signal integrity can be conserved from point of origin to destination over long distances with the cable going through high interference density location.
Disadvantage
- Fiber Optic cable installation require training as its successful installation hinges on compliance with cabling and termination standards not strictly required in regular copper cables
It’s expensive to install but is cost effective when high bandwidths are needed as the cost per megabit can be lower. Fiber Optics is strongly recommended in cabling tall buildings or premises where many users are expected to tap into the premise network so that cost can be equitably spread among users.
Voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP)
What is VOIP
If you are using Skype to call anyone on their VOIP PCs anywhere in the world, then you have come across the term and most likely familiar with it. It’s Voice over Internet Protocol or VoIP that is short for internet protocol telephony (IP telephony), referring to the set of transmission technologies that deliver voice grade communication over the IP networks such as the popular internet or other packet-switched telecoms net works.
VoIP provides a more cost effective alternative to regular PSTN phone calls especially when involving expensive overseas calls. Many homes and offices have realized substantial savings when going into VoIP when making overseas calls.
How It Works
VoIP technology starts with a headset designed for the purpose. Either this or your PC can be equipped with an audio card with a headset and microphone to accept your voice. Your voice get converted into digital signals and “packetized” for internet transmissions using the IP standards. The process is just reversed at the other end with a VoIP equipped appliance or a service provider delivering the service to your PC, like Skype.
Broadband internet makes this very viable as digitized voice can be bandwidth hugging. And it was not until broadband became pervasively cheap that companies started implementing VoIP across offices that reduced substantially its overall telephone bills. Traditional PSTN companies initially resisted VoIP incursions but eventually rode on the bandwagon, offering VoIP services to their existing client base.
Disadvantage
A lot has been said about the significant savings from VoIP implementation. But as in any internet application, there are problems and the major quality of service remains a major consideration. If you want crystal clear voice calls that you can understand without dropout, you’re still better off with standards PSTN voice calls.
As it is just another packet data streaming into the internet, latency and dropouts can make voice calls unintelligible unless some dedicated VoIP bandwidth is allocated to it.
MBps
Taking the Confusion out of MBps (mega bytes per second)
Networking technology is often measured in terms of bandwidth or data rates expressed in bits per second. Virtually all of them, from phone line cables, wireless networks whether commercial or public, notably the internet, are specified and promoted capitalizing on their data transfer rates expressed in kbps and mbps, kilobits per second and megabits per second respectively. The newer network technologies offer broadband or high speed rates typically starting at 1.5 Mbps.
Taking Care of The Confusion.
A kilobit is 1,000 Bits or 1 Kb. A megabit is 1,000,000 bits, one million bits or 1 Mb. In reality though, they are not exactly in those numbers as they are merely rounded off. 1 Kb in electronic parlance is exactly 1,048 bits. While 1 Mb is 1,048,576 bits to be exact. But let’s not quibble over those excess numbers. The important thing to remember is their significant digits. Now, adding ps after Mb or Kb just means per second, so that you have an idea on how bits travel through the wire for every second. 1 Mbps means that 1million bits of data travel through the wire every second. And so on.
Another area of confusion is distinguishing between megabits (Mb) and megabytes (MB) kilobits (Kb) and kilobytes (KB) . The main contention is between bits (b) and bytes (B). You may already be getting the knack of it by looking at which letter is capitalized and what is not. A bit is the minimum single digit whether 0 or 1 in a digital stream. In contrast, a byte is a word length that contains 8 bits per byte. In short, a byte is 8 times that of a bit. Hence, 1 MB equals 8 times 1 Mb, or 8 million bits. It is therefore important to use a capital B when you are referring to bytes, and just use small case b when referring to plain bits.
To recap, which one is faster then, a 1 Mbps network or a 1 MBps network? The latter. It actually passes 8 Mbps.
USB Dongle
The Many Uses of a USB Dongle
The ubiquitous Universal Serial Bus or USB dongle is the phrase used to refer to a small hardware device that can be connected to the USB port of a bigger hardware, usually a desktop PC or laptop, to enable some peripheral functions the PC can be configured to perform. It is similar in appearance to a USB flash drive. It is both a software and hardware solution as you may need to install related software into the PC to recognize the USB dongle and make it work.
The term “dongle” is more often used these days to refer to any small device that dangles on the PC. People used the word “key” or “token” before to refer to such devices. They generally have the following functions:
Bluetooth Connection
A USB dongle can be a Bluetooth device that is plugged into the USB port of a desktop or laptop PC to enable it to receive and send data with another device with Bluetooth capability. The transmission is done wirelessly over a distance typically within a radius of a few meters. With handheld devices like PDAs (Personal Digital Assistants) and mobile phone handsets with Bluetooth capability, you can synchronize the data on your PC with these mobile devices through a Bluetooth USB dongle, apart from sharing files between them.
Internet Access
A USB dongle is also used to tap into a wireless internet access which is usually a wireless local area network (LAN) that with internet access and allows this access to be wirelessly used. Often referred as “Hotspots,” you can access the internet with the proper communications USB dongle connected to your PC.
Data Encryption or Protection
The USB dongle had its first application as a software or data protection device that allows users to access certain application or file if the PC detects the presence of a USB dongle which can do some decryption as well.
Wi-Fi
Surfing on the Road with Wi-Fi
Local wireless internet access has become synonymous with the term WiFi. If you want to go browsing online with your laptop, netbook or mobile handset suitably equipped with WiFi, you go to the mall or café that is said to be “hotspot.” That means it’s has a local area network with a broadband connection to any Internet Service provider and an access device that broadcasts a radio frequency spectrum allowed for WiFi operation.
If your mobile handset detects this, it can tune into it an get into a handshake protocol to initiate an internet session provided the access is not restricted. Otherwise, your handset or laptop will prompt your for a password.
Some people may have mistakenly understood WiFi to mean “Wireless fidelity” from the more familiar term HiFi which meant High Fidelity in stereo systems. It doesn’t really stand for any specific phrase. Wi-Fi is just a trademarked term to stand for the IEEE 802.11x. wireless networking standard.
A Technical Definition
WiFi has come to stand for the slew of wireless LAN standards defined by the WiFi Alliance, the organization that has the trademark rights to the term which is technical defined as any "wireless local area network (WLAN) products that are based on the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers' (IEEE) 802.11 standards." In its early days, WiFi referred only to the 802.11b standard using 2.4Ghz spectrum.
But over the years, the WiFi Alliance has used the term as an umbrella for all WLAN products using any of the IEEE 802.11 telecommunications standard that includes 802.11a dual band all the way to its variants. These days, you see WLAN specification on mobile handsets with the WiFi 802.11 b/g specified on it. This particular Wi-Fi variant enjoys popular support from various mobile device makers.
They include video game consoles, PDAs and mobile phones as well as netbooks and laptops. Any gadget with the “WiFi Certified” label indicates it has passed the WiFi Alliance certification and can access any similarly certified WiFi access point. The certification indicates what frequency it can recognize, usually 2.5Ghz for 802.11b,g,n and 5Ghz for 802.11a.
Hotspots
What are Hotspots
As understood in the internet jargon, a hotspot is any physical location that has WiFi access to the internet. Telecoms giants like Orange, BT and Vodafone have locations wired for WiFi which is just a wireless LAN that has an access gadget broadcasting the required WiFi radio frequency spectrum so that anyone with a laptop, netbook or mobile phone suitably equipped for WiFi can wirelessly sense or detect the access frequencies so you can initiate an internet session.
These hotspots can be in shopping malls, restaurants, cafes or coffee chops, hotels and hotel lobbies, airport lounges, gas stations, college and school campuses, train, bus and shipping terminals and just about any location where people mill around.
The wireless phenomenon can also be found in government offices. They are about everywhere in both developed and developing countries around the world. In the UK, hotspots are as ubiquitous as mobile phone sites that you can be online from anywhere in the country.
A Short History
WiFi Hotspots were first alluded to in 1993 by Brett Steward as he was attending the NetWorld conference in San Francisco. While the term wasn’t exactly used, his reference to a public LAN that anyone can access points to a direct definition of what a hotspot is. Steward would go on to found various companies starting with Plancom in 1994 which became MobileStar and T-Mobile’s Hotspot unit. The term itself may have been first used by Nokia a good five years after Steward’s concept.
By the end of 2000, many companies considered WiFi as the “payphone” equivalent for public internet access. Thus, eventually you got commercial hotspots that require one time or monthly subscription as well as hotspots that you get for free. The sputtering of commercial and free hotspots will continue to grow to make internet access available anywhere and soon, even in remote areas.
SMS
Messaging With SMS (text message)
SMS stands for Short Messaging Service or Silent Messaging Service. It is what is more commonly referred to as text messaging and is part of the GSM standard communication protocols that enables the exchange of short text messages between mobile phones.
Of all mobile phone applications, SMS is the most popular and widely used on the planet with over 2.4 billion active mobile phone users engaged in sending and receiving text messages at any given time worldwide. The simplicity of text messaging to effectively communicate with just about anyone with a mobile phone has made the protocol available not only confined in 2G GSM networks but in 3G as well.
There have been other messaging protocols like the RIM BlackBerry that used the SMTP format over TCP/IP, J-Phone’s Skymail and NTT Docomo’s Short Mail in Japan. But it wasn’t until the popularity of mobile phones became a reality that SMS caught on as the easiest and most accessible form of communication on the planet. This facility has sounded the death knell for the once popular pager services that promptly lost its appeal when mobile phones became more accessible.
SMS Today
SMS is not expected to lose its widespread appeal anytime soon. Even old folks and non computer-savvy people, as well as early grade schoolers can easily adopt to the texting facilities on even the crudest mobile handset. For most people, texting has replaced voice calls as it can be cheaper to text than to call on the mobile networks.
The SMS services came with the GSM standards for 2G. It is limited to 160 characters including spaces. Early handsets had to split long messages to send them in parts.
Business-wise, SMS is a real cash cow that underwrites mobile carrier operations. In 2008 alone, SMS generated about ₤50 billion in revenues globally with an average global price of just ₤0.06 per text message while costing carriers almost nothing as their GSM networks are already considered as sunk-cost that are there, whether you use them or not. Different mobile phone networks interconnect with other with just about ₤0.03 per text message interconnected.
