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kapil
The Kapil
join:2000-04-26
Chicago, IL
| the removal of distinctions between fixed and wireless
There might be something to this. For example, Covad acquired a company called NextWeb a while ago and is now selling a "Wireless T1" product in certain markets.
Nevermind that a true "T1" can never be wireless by definition, it's a marketing thing backed up by tech. specs of the wireless product - same SLA as the wireline equivalent, same if not better latency, same guaranteed repair response etc.
The ILECs have all but guaranteed the demise of a wired world, since they won't share their toys and the free market thugs in power won't make them. The new providers have nowhere to go but wireless....and there are a LOT of equipment vendors willing to help them along.
No to mention, a lot of data and voice traffic has been wireless for a very long time....but that was mostly in the background, used by carriers for backhauling traffic...it's about time the technology came to a consumer-level. | |
calvoiper
join:2003-03-31
Belvedere Tiburon, CA
| It's not just lack of distinction, it's seamless switching
While I generally agree with The Kapil's comments (a true rarity, but worthwhile when it happens) I would note that the original article also focuses on "seamless" access, a possibility that is in reality much easier in the packet-switched world than in the circuit-switched world.
While a circuit-switched communication requires a great deal of central tracking and processing to "hand-off" from wireless "base" (think cellsite) to base, a packet-switched connection does not (think AP to AP.) Indeed, you can today easily load a webpage from one connection and then switch connections (say, from your cable modem to freeloading on your neighbor's DSL powered WiFi) and hit a link which loads through the new connection. Of course, this is not currently universal--such a switch may break a VPN "tunnel", or may not work within a website which uses IP addresses for tracking or security purposes.
Nevertheless, this easy switching between networks scares the H311 out of the circuit-based monopolists. As The Kapil correctly points out, this stance dooms them as effectively as those makers of automobile wheels that refused to make wheels that were airtight enough to work with tubeless tires.
calvoiper
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VoIP--the death knell of remaining voice monopolies! | |
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