Public transport Wi-Fi Broadband to be made a reality
Free wireless broadband could possibly be installed in public transport present in Scotland, revelations say.
As part of this plan, buses and trains in the whole of Scotland will have WiFi installed as a means of encouraging more people to make use of public transport. If this venture is successful, it is hoped that the carbon footprint of the country will reduce due to less people using their own vehicles to go places.
A spokesperson on behalf of the Scottish government said that though the provision of wireless internet access on Scotland busses is a decision to be taken by the operators of that particular bus, the Scottish Government, via Transport Scotland, is in the process of making a business case for providing wireless internet on ScotRail services as a part of this agreement, which shall be presented in the near future.
The spokesperson continued by saying that they themselves were familiar with commuting to places daily and that they would be delighted to be able to do a bit of work or watch some TV in order to make the journey more pleasant. However, when looking at the very poor state of a large number of rail services, the spokesperson said, they would be more than grateful if the trains arrived at the particular stations punctually.
Dedicated BT Broadband Outlets to be opened soon
All people who are looking for very fast broadband connections will be able to walk in to a BT shop and shown a demo on the range of services available before they make up their mind on which service to avail of.
2 new stores will be opened exclusively for customers to visit so that they will be able to view demos of the newest broadband services that are on the BT products list. This was revealed in some plans that had been released by BT recently.
The main aim of this service is to give the public an idea of the very – fast broadband services that BT has to offer as well as to give them a chance to ask them about the advantages of the services, thereby enabling them to clear any doubts that they may have.
Whitchurch, near to Cardiff, will see the opening of the first such outlet. Muswell Hill, Hampshire, will be host to the second outlet. This information was obtained from the consumer electronics news and reviews website, T3.
The inspiration behind the opening of these two outlets is to give a good idea to potential customers of the benefits of BT broadband services and also to improve the relationship between BT and potential customers, according to Matthew Dearden, BT Retail’s marketing director.
Mr Dearden continued by saying that the showcase will reveal the people in the area all about super – fast broadband and that they would be able to see how the variety of home as well as business applications will enhance their standard of living.
The opening of future outlets will depend on the success of these 2 outlets. BT also announced plans to bring the total number of Wi-Fi hotspots to 1 million after they revealed the presence of 500,000 hotspots.
BT to increase number of Wi-Fi hotspots to 1 million
BT plans to increase the number of WiFi hotspots two – fold that it has in the UK to about 1 million within the next 6 months as it looks to tap into the increase in demand for mobile internet.
BT has already gone past the 500,000 number, which is a landmark which took BT nearly 7 years to get past. However, with the number of customers wanting to access fast internet from their mobile phones increasing, the telcos is seeking to increase the stakes when creating new WiFi networks.
The actual revolution is the mobile phone, according to the wireless broadband director of BT Retail, Dave Hughes. People are OK with using their mobile phones to update their status on social networks or to check their emails, which isn’t the actual case with laptops.
He added that while 3G networks will have proper coverage for most users, there is an increasing demand for high speed broadband.
BT expects the massive increase in the size of their coverage to speed up the usage of their network. The extremely profitable WiFi division of Vodafone has doubled their traffic by a minimum of two – fold every year, Hughes added, and he also said that the network has the potential to further grow.
BT has hotspots in a number of public places by way of the Openzone network as well as in 12 city centres like the Westminister part of London which have public WiFi networks installed. The company has recently got a contract provide WiFi hotspots in all Starbucks coffee shops despite the competition from T-Mobile, which had clinched the contract previously.
They also operate a community – based WiFi services by way of the FON network and it is this segment of their business that most of the growth is set to occur. WiFi is functioning as a very integral retention tool for customers for their BT broadband business as the access to Openzone networks is also part of bundled minutes. Casual WiFi users can access their networks for 15 pence per minute.
Source - Times Online
Vodafone’s Mobile WiFi router signals entry into the MiFi market
Vodafone has recently announced that they will be launching a new mobile broadband device that will allow users to share their own connection with a maximum of 5 Wi-Fi enabled gadgets.
The network operator, Vodafone, has also announced a ‘Vodafone Mobile Broadband Hotspot’ gadget, which is also known as the MiFi 2352, which enables users to connect to a number of gadgets wirelessly from any gadgets within a radius of 10 m in the broadband network of the company.
The device, which is just a size of a credit – card, has been produced by Novatel, will enable users to connect to a number of Wi-Fi enabled gadgets, which include laptops, digital cameras and gaming consoles.
It also has a one – touch power switch as well as an internal battery which provides a maximum of 4 hours of uninterrupted usage with a single charge.
The device is capable of providing download speeds of upto 7.2 Mbps and upload speeds of upto 5.2 Mbps and it depends on the coverage of the network within a particular area. In addition to that, it also provides a large amount of storage space, which is due to the memory card slot which enables you to use a 16 GB microSD card as well, thereby turning it into a flash drive as well.
Some of the readers of itproportal.com have told them that the 3G router isn’t exactly much of a big thing as any 3G phone which is WiFi enabled could potentially be made to function as a router. This does make a lot of sense and it would have been quite useful if users are able to change their phones into a fully – fledged router without a hitch.
Source - itproportal.com
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.
