Right now, today, the home networks that Precise Networking installs, both
wired and wireless, allow multiple PCs to share a single high speed broadband
Internet connection, to print on a single common printer, to share files, and
even to share a modem (yeah, for backup).
(Yes, well we know that home or small office networking can be puzzling for
the uninitiated... hardware for networking ranks near the top of stuff returned
to electronics and office supply stores.)
And what about HDTV? Trust us, you'll need to understand HDTV (High
Definition Television) in order to understand your home's future networking. But you
bought a Panasonic flat screen plasma TV the day after Thanksgiving, and you think
you understand HDTV just fine. BZZZT... according to the Leichtman Research group,
HALF of the homes with HDTV's don't watch HDTV, because they don't have the
necessary hardware... and WORSE... one-half of these (about six million) don't
even realize that they're NOT watching HDTV. SO... we strongly recommend that you
click here and
learn what we think you need to know about HDTV.
As of April 2005, we have new networking products being announced virtually
every day. What if you could play all the songs you've downloaded to your PC on
your stereo system in the family room, on the other side of the house, without
having to run any wires? A zillion electronics manufacturers are working non-stop
to develop ways for you to wirelessly stream music and video from your PC
all about your home, wirelessly. And effortlessly.
[October 2004] Home? What about your cars? Cars, cars, cars. Wouldn't it be very
cool if we could connect your laptop PC to your car's entertainment system without
wires? Like if you just laid your laptop on the seat next to you... what if we made
the whole inside of your car an Internet "Hot Spot" and we slipped a card into your
laptop to permit WiFi technology? Well, then you could connect movies and MP3's (music)
to your car's entertainment system from your laptop, yes? And Ford just recently
demonstrated a WiFi SUV that allows you to effortlessly stream movies and MP3's to
the car's entertainment system (driver distraction notwithstanding).
[October 2004] THINKING OUTSIDE THE FERRET CAGE→ Why not network cars with
WiFi so that they could communicate with one another about roadside info, traffic,
weather... and why not have the manufacturer transmit information to you via the Net
about, say, your fuel injectors, so you can get them repaired before they break down?
(Do fuel injectors break down? Dunno, cars are not our specialty; if they were, we would
not have failed emissions testing three times this year.)
And as we moved into 2004, Sony already was concocting a device called "RoomLink."
Sony Roomlink allows broadcasting video from your PC's hard drive, wirelessly,
to your television, WHILE transmitting music from your PC to your A/V receiver.
(Maybe we all should just spend more time reading old-fashioned un-networked
books?)
But different protocols make it hard for the multiple brands of devices in
your home (and the multiple types of cell phones and cell networks) to
interconnect; and there is still the "bugaboo" of unreliable hardware that many
folks purchase unknowingly; and there's the bugaboo of buggy software too. Yet
ten million homes are currently networked; and it's estimated that by 2008, 30
million will be networked. (Yeah, "Networking" is our middle name.) Millions of
networked homes is a huge impetus to standardization.
What about digital cameras? Sure, they should be part of our "Total Home
Network" pie also, yes? And handheld games. And portable music storage devices.
And your non-musical, non-video appliances. Everything in your house that is
"electrical" and needs some controlling... even your utilities... on out to all
of your family's cell phones and cars. I mean, this is the 21st century,
yes?
The trick is to be able to exchange data between different brands of "things"
with some uniform protocol... the same way folks figured out thirty years ago
how to connect lots of different little networks and came up with the Internet...
how do we exchange data between our PC and our hot water heater and our
microwave?
Sure, if every appliance in our house is a Salton, it can communicate with a
hub via the electrical wiring in our home; and the hub can then communicate with
our PC (and thus with the Internet) via WiFi. But people want to be free to
choose brand X microwave and brand Y clock radio and brand Z TV, and so on. (I
think... but if folks are willing to buy nothing but Salton clock radios and
Salton microwaves and whatever... time to call my broker.)
Ok, so things in our homes need to adhere to a standard, just as little
networks on the Internet adhere to the TCP/IP standard when talking to each
other. Because if we can standardize the connections, then every product
in our home that is standardized would need just one connection into our Total
Home Network.
You plug your flugplutz into the network, turn it on, and Voila... our
flugflutz is networked, sending and receiving huge amounts of data... or even
better, maybe our flugplutz is a wireless device... and all you do is turn it
on... turn on your digital camera and show off your latest batch of photos on
your 30" plasma HDTV... no wires to connect... well, why not?
Virtually every new home today is wired for cable TV... there is hardly a new
home that is not prewired with co-axial cable... hey, this sounds like a really
good start for "Total Home Networking"... the cable company's cables can carry
enourmous amounts of data. What if any device in your house... PCs, cameras,
stereos, TVs, lights, the furnace... what if all of these could plug into the
SAME co-axial cable? Hmmm... maybe just add a tiny chip to each device so that
it can interface with the cable, ay? And then it could immediately begin
sending and receiving data and movies and pictures and music.
But with all this stuff racing along, we'll need faster networks. won't we?
Yeah. If you read about CAT-5 wiring in our Internet
Encyclopedia, you already know that CAT-5 wiring is very fast. (CAT-5 is
our favorite for home wiring at Precise Networking Solutions.) CAT-5 cable can
carry data and pictures and whatever at 100 million bits per second.
But unless you're building a new home, you'll have to run your cabling through
the walls... like laparoscopic surgery... unless you're set up for wireless
networking. (We also talked a lot about "WiFi" (synonymous with 802.11) in our
Internet Encyclopedia.
So wireless networking (often referred to as 802.11 technology) is one of the
keys to the Totally Networked Home of 2006 and after.
802.11... WHAT'S IT ALL ABOUT?
Let's pause for a minute here and talk about the incredibly
complicated 802.11 aka "WiFi" (Wireless Fidelity). Nah, just
joking, nothing complexicated here.
All we need to do here is to tie together several interesting
concepts relating to wireless networking. Our first concept... as we
enter April of 2006... WiFi is HOT... everybody, it seems, wants
to get their PCs and Laptops connected together by WiFi... and they
want to be able to carry their laptops to every part of their home
and lawn and still be able access the Net at the speed of light.
WiFi accounts for an ever-increasing share of the networks that
Precise Networking Solutions designs and installs.
WiFi is a topology for a network. If we connect two or more
computers by wires (like CAT-5 cables or coax) OR by radio waves (like
the wireless phones in our home)... and if we connect them so that
they can exchange data... then voila, we have created a newtwork. Tada.
Ok, so just what is a topology? A topology is the shape of a network.
For example, if we connect computer A to computer B; and we connect B to
C; and we connect C to A... we have created a network with a circular or
"ring" topology. Simple stuff here.
WiFi is a "wireless topology." WiFi uses radio waves to connect two or
more computers so that they can exchange data with each other. Another name
for WiFi is 802.11; and another name for 802.11 is WiFi... they are synonymous.
But there is more than one type of 802.11. Hold that thought.
IMPRESS YOUR INLAWS→ Say WHAT about 802 what? Well, back in the late
1970s when local computer networks (LANs (Local Area Networks)... two or more
computers in a small area connected together so they could exchange data, like
in one office building) began to proliferate, it became obvious that there
should be some LAN standards... like when all the train tracks in the US are
the same size, then any train can go anywhere. And so, a group of electrical
engineers (the IEEE... The Institute of Electrical and Electronic Engineers,
Inc.) launched a project to come up with standards for LANs.
The project was launched in February of 1980; and so the project became
known as 802. (See how the engineering mentality works?) The standards adopted
by the IEEE fell into 12 categories... and guess what CATEGORY 11 was? Telepathic
Area Networks (TAN)? Nah. Category 11 was WIRELESS NETWORKS. Hence, your wireless
network, if it follows standards, should adhere to... 802.11. (It also helps if
you follow 802.11, because almost all wireless hardware follows 802.11.)
WiFi permits accessing the Internet from a PC, usually a laptop, up to about
300 feet from a "Network Access Point" (a data transmitter) without using wires.
(There are tricks that can extend this range beyond 300 feet.) And the area around
this network access point, where you can access the Internet on your laptop (or
desktop), is called a "Hot Spot" (as are many of the clubs by the ocean that Dawn
has been known to frequent).
Now... in order to access the Internet WiFi style, your roving, distant PCs
need a hardware thing called a "Network Adapter;" and they need some additional
software; some laptops come already equipped for 802.11 (like the Dell laptops
with the Centrino chip).
Other PCs require YOU to install the Network Adapter card (costing about
$50 for 802.11b), along with the additional software that's required.
There are sites on the Web that list your local public Hot Spots. (A Google
search will reveal these Web sites.) Some Hot Spots are free, others in places
like Starbucks (coffee) and Borders (books) charge you for use. (Dog Wolf
Prediction→ As Hot Spots become more and more popular, they'll ALL be free.)
[June 2005] "Wi-Fi" is spreading the Internet through "Hot Spots" at Starbucks
and airports. Now, Wi-Fi is enabling cities to turn entire neighborhoods into
wireless access zones... without the need for laying broadband cables or for DSL.
The Net is now becoming just another utility, like water or electricity. Cities
like Philadelphia are going full speed ahead to provide Wi-Fi over huge areas.
Businesses and consumers around the country have long complained about the lack
of broadband service (or exhorbitant pricing for such service) in their locales;
now municipalities are responding with cheap (or even free) Wi-Fi service.
In Scottsburg, Indiana, commercial broadband providers decided the city of
6,000 was too small for broadband service to be profitable. And so the city built
its own wireless broadband system, with arrays of Wi-Fi antennas that eliminate the
need for laying expensive fiber-optic cable or for DSL on phone lines.
The most ambitious Wi-Fi project at this time is in Philadelphia. By the summer
of 2006, that city expects to be providing free Wi-Fi in low income areas, as well
as in parks and other public places.
[October 2005] Google is proposing to provide free
Wi-Fi access in the city of San Francisco. If this proposal becomes reality, users
could access the Net without the need for cable or phone lines. (As we have chatted
about previously, Wi-Fi permits accessing the Internet at high speeds by using radio
waves to "spray" the end of a wired Net connection for several hundred feet.) In
effect, the Wi-Fi that Google is proposing would bypass the so-called "last mile,"
the trek from the street to a PC in the home.
Wi-Fi broadband... coming soon to an area near you.
You can do "The WiFi" in your home by purchasing your own "Network Access
Point" (the router with the data transmitter) for about $120 (or less). When
your laptop is set up (properly) for WiFi, it will automatically detect when
it is in a hot spot, just as your cell phone detects when it is in a cell.
(WARNING→ If your laptop is not set up properly, you will encounter
strange and exotic Wi-Fi problems, such as phase distortion.)
And yes... in reponse to a question that you (plural) have e-mailed to us
many times... yes, you can, if you know what you're doing, connect your laptop
to your cell phone and access the Net that way.
However, while this is kind of similar to dial-up access, it is *NOT*
WiFi, and it is not broadband (fast). (It is actually similar to using a 56k
dial-up on a wired phone, but without the wires.) But it works (we did it,
finally); especially if you have unlimited cell phone minutes and are out on
the beach (and there's no Hot Spot nearby.) But, as I learned in Ocean City,
MD, last June... better to leave the laptop in your condo and concentrate on
your tan.
But had the beach been in a free Hot Spot area with a strong "signal" from a
nearby network access point, things would have run MUCH faster (and much
cheaper).
[April 2004] We have just chatted about 1.) Hot Spots, where your laptop
communicates with a wireless router using radio waves, and 2.) connecting your
laptop to your cell phone if there is no hotspot. But... what if you could turn
your whole laptop into a cell phone, a special cell phone that could communicate
with the Net at 500,000 to 700,000 bits/second?
[April 2004] Verizon and Sprint have come up with the technology to do this, a
technology called EV-DO. EV-DO. EV-DO is the fastest cell phone DATA technology available
in the US. It is available only on networks with "CDMA" (phew, alphabet soup) technology,
which means that it is available only with Verizon and Sprint, the two CDMA-ers. (Code
Division Multiple Access, if you really have to know... it's the most popular cell phone
digital technology in the US.)
[April 2004] You simply slip an EV-DO "modem" card ($250) into your laptop (or wait
until 2006 when Dell and others will include EV-DO circuitry in their laptops), swing
the little antenna up, and you're on Verizon's (or Sprint's) special network that connects
you to the Internet. And it works. It's now being tested in Washington, D.C., and
San Diego. And by 2006, Verizon promises that EV-DO will be available
in many major US cities.
[April 2004] The positives? No more hunting around for hot spots, and no more monthly
fees to use Hot Spots (which can really add up fast). The negatives? Verizon's
EV-DO card and service are expensive. And if you're using your laptop at home with Verizon's
"modem" card, you won't be able to print on other home PCs, etc; EV-DO connects your laptop
directly to Verizon's cellular network. Sprint is trying to catch up with Verizon, using
the EV-DO technology, or possibly a slightly different system called EV-DV (WHOLE lotta
alphabet soup going on). But for now, Sprint only has its 1xRTT technology, which runs at
about 1/10th Verizon's speed (only 70,000 bits/sec). But stay tuned here; this stuff is the
gateway to the future and "mobile Internet Access" IS the future.
[September 2005] Time marches on. Now Verizon is offering "Broadband Access" in 65 large cities
about the US, using the EV-DO technology (for "Evolution-Data Only"). EV-DO has become popular
with those who travel for business, because they can use an EV-DO card on their laptop and get
Broadband Access to the Internet even when they're nowhere near a "Wi-Fi" hot spot.
[September 2005] Your laptop magically connects to the Net, without the need for "Hot Spots."
But don't change the route on our road to the future; competition is coming (in a paragraph or
two). But for now, Verizon is providing Broadband Access in the most cities (65), although they
won't say exactly how many customers they've signed up. (Verizon, at $60-$80/ month, is also the
least expensive.)
[September 2005] Remember→ Right now, ED-VO covers more US cities than any other "moving"
data technology. Verizon is running it in 65 cities. And it is by far the fastest moving (e.g.,
you're in a car) technology by which one can access the Internet.
[September 2005] What happens when you move out of a Broadband Service area? Answer→ You
won't lose your Internet connection, you'll remain connected, but at slower speeds (like, at
dial-up speeds... because your laptop or notebook PC is actually sending on the voice network
(from what we can tell)... just as Dawn did with her cell phone at the ocean way back in 2003).
Once you get back in range of Broadband Access, your connection should shoot back up to Broadband
Access speeds... almost as fast as land-wired DSL, about 0.5 to 0.7 million bits per second
(or one-tenth the speed of wired Comcast Cable).
[September 2005] BUT NOTE... you can download stuff, like a spreadsheet, at a brisk speed. But if
you want to upload (like send the spreadsheet to someone else), it will upload at dial-up modem
speeds (0.06 million bits per second, or one-tenth the speed of downloads). Verizon promises to
have a new technology in place by 2007 that will allow speedier uploads. So... in some ways, it's
still better to use WiFi from a Hot Spot (like the coffee shop in the Verizon commercial, where
people spill stuff on you and snoop, etc.) Just depends on what you're doing; if you need to be
mobile (e.g., you're in a moving car), Hot Spots won't cut it.
[September 2005] There is another "mobile Internet" technology that's faster than the "3G" that
we have been discussing→ "WiMAX." But WiMAX is still in development. Some say that the
ultimate mobile Internet will be a merge between the current 3G and the yet-to-come WiMAX.
Stay tuned, the mobile Internet is still evolving... and it's very cool to be able to access the
Net when you're traveling by train between DC and Boston and back. (Verizon also throws in some
news and entertainment programming, just in case you get tired of being productive.)
[September 2005] SONY→ Cingular is providing "WiFi" beyond the "Hot Spots" (at last).
You can use a Sony VAIO T-300 Series Notebook (with integrated Wide Area Network (WAN) technology),
to go online virtually anywhere... like out on a boat... anywhere that the Cingular Wireless national
EDGE network is available.
[September 2005] EDGE is another improvement in data speeds for cellular systems using "GSM"
networks and phones (mainly Verizon and Sprint). EDGE runs at about 0.1 million bits per second...
twice as fast as a dial-up modem, but far slower than Verizon's 0.5-0.7 million bits per second
Broadband Access.
[September 2005] DELL→ For a couple of years now, Dell has included the Centrino Chip on
some of its notebook computers, a chip made by Intel. With this chip, a notebook PC can access "Wi-Fi"
without additional hardware. Beginning in 2006... Dell is adding to some of its "Latitude" notebook
computers the chip technology to access Verizon's "Broadband Access," without the need for an
additional $250 card.
[September 2005] Again, "Wi-Fi" is faster than Broadband Access, but "Wi-Fi" requires your
laptop/ notebook to be within a few hundred feet of a "Hot Spot"... within a few hundred feet of an
access point. But Verizon will be competing with a new generation of "Wi-Fi" that will allow an entire
city to become, in effect, a Hot Spot. AND SO... Verizon is hoping that adding the required hardware
for Broadband Access directly to a notebook PC will spur subscriptions to its Broadband Access... just
as adding the Centrino chip to the internals of a portable PC helped spread Hot Spots here, there, and
everywhere.
[September 2005] And actually, it wasn't until Wi-Fi (Centrino) technology was embedded directly
into laptops that its popularity exploded. EV-DO, the technology that makes Verizon's Broadband Access
tick, was devised by Qualcomm. And selling Wi-Fi chips is the centerpiece of Intel's marketing
strategy. (Nothing quite spurs technology like competition.) Continue to stay tuned; all the puzzle
pieces are coming together faster and faster.
IMPRESS YOUR FERRET→ In general, the stronger the radio signal from the
Network Access Point (or Points... there can be many, to create a BEEEG hot spot),
the faster you'll be able to access the Net. And as some Precise Networking
Solutions customers discovered before calling us... you cannot service an
unlimited number of laptops from one network access point. Maybe 32, maybe 64...
the exact number is left as an exercise for the reader... but if I'm the
(n+1)th customer in your establishment with a laptop, and you can only service
n customers... BZZZT.
Now let's dip our toes in the cool water, get used to it... The thing that
confuses most folks about Wi-Fi networking is that there is MORE than one
802.11. First came 802.11b ("B"); now there are 802.11a ("A") and 802.11g ("G")
to choose from.
So... there are many flavors of 802.11... not like M&M's where every candy
is now white for some weird promotion. The most common flavor for carrying data
about our houses today is the 802.11b. (That's a "B.") 802.11b can move data at
up to 11 Mbps (11 million bits per second, or about 1.1 million bytes per
second). 802.11b technology can cover an area 75-150 feet from a data
transmitter (called a "network access point"), and this will cover most homes
(and there are tricks that will extend 802.11b's range quite a bit).
802.11b can run at full speed up to about 30 feet from the network access point;
and it has enough radio bandwidth for three separate channels.
Hmmm... most broadband Internet connections (like cable modems) usually run
slower than 3 Mbps... and 802.11b does support WEP ("wireless encryption
protection" or "wireless equivalent privacy" depending on whom you talk to)...
128-bit encryption... to prevent nosy folks outside your home from seeing what
you're transmitting about on your WiFi network... and so, "B" has usually worked
for us. Up until now.
But transmitting video about a home takes a MUCH bigger bandwidth than
802.11b can handle. A much bigger bandwidth than 11 Mbps. Exit the "B."
Because if we're transmitting more than one stream of video (i.e., we want
one TV display in the living room, a different program in the bedroom, etc.),
then we'll need 50 to 100 Mbps. Plus WEP is a weak castle wall, a weak
encryption technique, fairly susceptible to the hacking of your TurboTax forms
online.
And 802.11b transmits in the mysterious and unregulated and noisy 2.4 GHz
radio band, just like lots of home wireless telephones; and the home telephone
next door. A single 2.4 GHz wireless phone can kill an 802.11b data transmission.
But 802.11b has an even greater problem when we look at our Totally Networked
Home of the future. When we send data packets from computer A to computer B in our
home, we can send them in any order... the TCP/IP protocol on our PCs (hiding in
our winsock programs) tears our e-mail into hundreds of "packets"... and the
wondrous TCP/IP puts them back in the proper order at the receiving end.
BUT... not so with streaming video. Because video has to be sent in the
proper sequence to make sense to the viewer at the screen end. And 802.11b
does not maintain order. BZZZT.
To overcome all of the problems that "B" presents for our networked home
of tomorrow, 802.11a ("A") and 802.11g ("G") are now up and working. (Yes,
Precise Networking Solutions already today installs these newer technologies,
where speed and freedom from interference and video transmission and greater
privacy are needed.)
802.11g ("G") is expected to be the next step up for most people considering
Wi-Fi products. So naturally, we'll look at "A" next. (No, don't ask why "B"
was implemented before "A"... your dog Wolf does not know.)
802.11a ("A") can transmit data at up to 54 Mbps, and it operates in the
5 GHz radio frequency range. Because it's running at 5 GHz, and "B" runs at
2.5 GHz (as does "G", as we'll see shortly), "A" is not compatible with either
"B" or "G". AND... because it runs at 5 GHz, "A" has only about 1/2 the range
of "B" or "G". 802.11a ("A") can run at full speed only up to about 10 feet
from the network access point; but it has enough radio bandwidth for eight
separate channels.
At 54 Mbps, we can broadcast video just as well as data about the house.
(The 5 GHz frequency band, like the 2.4 GHz, is also unlicensed, but there is
a LOT less stuff running in that part of the radio frequency spectrum.) And
Atheros Communications has been shipping its "Super AG Technology" chipsets
to D-Link and Netgear since June 2003, a hardware enhancement which increases
the data rate of "A" to 108 Mbps (with an actual throughput of about 90 Mbps).
The times, they are a-changin'... rapidly.
802.11a's enhanced encryption mode is what is going to turn most people
onto it. Its 256-bit AES or "Advanced Encryption Security" is touted as the
highest level of encryption available today. 802.11a even features an advanced
152-bit version of the WEP encryption method. But the use of the 5 GHz radio
frequency is both a plus and a minus for 802.11a. On one hand, it is a much
cleaner bandwidth than 2.4 GHz; it won't interfere with your 2.4 GHz wireless
phone or microwave oven.
But on the other hand, the range for "A" is just abysmal... no more than
10 feet from the network access point for full throughput, which sucks.
And as you might expect from the rhythm that dog Wolf has struck, 802.11a
("A") has other problems too. As we have already mentioned, "A" is incompatible
with "B"; and lots of B stuff has already been installed. "A" doesn't want to
hear about it. You just bought some wondrous new laptop with the equally
wonderful Centrino chip? POOF. That's 802.11b ("B"). A few access points
(receivers) do have an A/B switch, making them compatible with both "A" and "B"...
but not many. And as we mentioned, the higher 5 GHz transmitting frequencies
used by "A" limit its effective range. What to do, what to do?
Enter 802.11g ("G"). "G" combines the speed of "A" with the longer range of
"B". Hence "G" is capable of 54 Mbps transfer rates, and because it runs on the
same 2.4 GHz frequency as 802.11b, it offers the same 3 discrete channels as 802.11b.
In fact, "G" is fully backwards compatible with "B"; it is the perfect upgrade for
most folks with established "B" Wi-Fi networks. Security works the same on "G" as
on 802.11b... with 128-bit WEP encryption.
802.11g can run at full speed up to about 20 feet from the network access point;
and it has enough radio bandwidth for three separate channels.
So then... is "G" the future? Is "G" to become the basis for our Total Home
Networking? Well... unfortunately "G" transmits on the older 2.4 GHz frequencies,
where it can compete with all kinds of stuff, like out home wireless phone and our
dentist's drill. (This is beginning to sound like some Chinese puzzle.)
To solve this puzzle, there are now on the drawing boards "E" and "I"
technologies; but don't look for them before early 2006. (Sorry.) But even at
the present (February 2004), Atheros Communications is about to make available
its "eXtended Range technology" which can double the range of "A" and "G" networks
by adding its special chipsets to both ends of a link (wireless router and
laptop). This increase in range could be critical to covering an entire house,
business, or "Hot Spot"... to eliminating "Dead Zones."
AND... some manufacturers now offer "enhanced" versions of 802.11b ("B").
For example, D-Link has a line up that they call "AirPlus" 802.11b products.
The plus effectively doubles the ("B") bandwidth to 22 Mbps, and it
also doubles the WEP encryption algorithm to 256-bit. As we said, WiFi is
very hot, and hot = $$$.
THE FUTURE OF WIFI
So... As of April 2005, just where are wireless ("WiFi") and related technologies?
We've already talked about "WiFi" and "Hot Spots." What's coming next? The next
step seems to be making the whole universe a giant "Hot Spot." In other words, you
might access the Internet on your laptop from anywhere. How do we do this?
First method. Verizon is currently rolling out its "Broadband Access" service across
the US. For about $80/month, you can subscribe to this beefed-up version of Verizon's
cell phone network. (Other cell phone companies are expected to offer similar service...
eventually.) Verizon's Broadband Access runs at about 400 kb/s, which is slower than
DSL or cable, but a LOT faster than a dialup modem (usually 56 kb/s). Like voice
service, Verizon's data service will eventually be available everywhere in the US.
(Note that ALL of the cell phone methods depend on a Qualcomm-owned technology called
"CDMA.")
Ok, method two. Intel is fiercely promoting "WiMax." The good- WiMax will run a lot faster
than the Verizon approach. The not so good- Wimax will 1.) require more dedicated cellular
towers (yeah, more towers); and 2.) WiMax is still a few years away (as of late 2004).
(Yeah... there's a third method called "Flash-OFDM", but it's still too soon to determine if
it's even marketable... so we'll leave it at that for just now.) So it's basically Qualcomm vs
Intel.
BUT... here in October 2004, the REAL question is... Is there really a market for either
Qualcomm or Intel to win?
Will Web surfers pay money to be able to go online anywhere at anytime? Well, "WiFi" has
been a HUGE hit... mainly in homes and offices, where WiFi has been mainly a network cable
replacement... like connecting your laptop out on the deck to the cable modem in the front of
the house, for example.
But will people pay $50/month or so just to be able to access the Internet from anywhere?
It may turn out that outside of homes and offices, outside of airports and hotel rooms,
there may not be a market for high-speed universal Internet connectivity. Will people want to
watch movies from their laptops in their cars? Or will folks be content to watch movies sent
over the Net in their homes? Stay tuned.
802.11g PART II
[February 2004 Update] Time marches on, and "G" everyday in every way is getting
better and better and better. We have already mentioned that "G" combines the large
area that "B" can cover with the speed of "A". But even more is coming. In fact, during
the last six months, 802.11g has really improved.
802.11g WiFi has gotten faster in the home and in the small office. "G" has
doubled its speed by broadcasting on two channels at once ("channel bonding");
and then, 802.11g has doubled its speed yet again by using techniques like compression
and "fast frame transmission." These techniques, and others such as "dynamic
packet bursting" also have reduced the effects of the radio frequency interference
at 2.4 GHz.
As a result. "G" is becoming close in speed to CAT-5 (the 100 Mbps cables in the
walls), but without the need for wires in the walls and ceiling; and with the freedom
to roam WiFi style. Now... be advised in advance... not ALL 802.11g hardware is able to
wring out speeds close to 100 Mbps; but some can. (Yeah, reminds us of the old dial-up
modems that started at 300 Bps and pretty much finished at 56,000 Bps.)
To take but one example, let's look at the Netgear WGT624 wireless router, selling for
about $100. Its maximum theorectical throughput is now up to 108 Mbps AND 152-bit
WEP (wireless equivalent privacy) together with WPA (WiFi Protected Access)
makes it quite a challenge for a hacker to tune into your WiFi "broadcasts."
[August 2006] Today, most WiFi uses "G"
technology, also known as "802.11g", which transmits and receives data about your home or
office at 54 million bits per second.
But the Engineers (IEEE) are working on an even newer technology called "802.11N", which
they think will blast data to and from your laptop at hundreds of million of bits per second.
But, like any group, politics within IEEE is causing certification of "N" to take forever.
And so, right now, we have "Draft-N"; I'm using Draft-N as I type this, running at 108.0
megabits per second between this PC and my "802.11 Draft-N" router way upstairs.
So... Precise Networking has my router connecting to this PC via radio waves at 108 million
bits per second... which is cool, except that Comcast Cable runs at 12 million bits per second
(downloading from NYC to here in northern Maryland), and 12 is a lot less than 108; but PNS said
"try it, you'll like it"... and I do. And of course folks using FiOS can download a
LOT faster than I can.
...And so WiFi is now ALMOST ready to start flying... almost ready to support TOTAL HOME
NETWORKING.
WEP? WPA? IMPRESS YOUR SATURDAY NIGHT DATE→ (Dawn actually has dated men who were
impressed by this stuff; yeeks.) Ok, simple... the folks here at Precise Networking
Solutions regard WEP ("Wired Equivalent Privacy) as obsolete, even though you still end
up getting WEP with many wireless access points today.
WEP appears to have to major problems... 1.) It uses an obsolete encryption scheme; and
2.) its integrity and authentication capabilities are limited, very limited. WEP is a
1997-era security.
More advanced is WiFi protected access (WPA); WPA foils hackers by rotating keys and
using a variety of encryption methods. The MORAL→ forget WEP and run WPA.
But always remember that the farther your laptop is from the network access point (the
transmitter), the slower your data transfer rate will be. Yet the Netgear WiFi router which
we discussed above transfers data at 20 Mbps even when your laptop is 100 feet away...
not totally shabby. Stay tuned folks, we've only just begun.
Airgo
[September 2005]
The future races towards us. A company named Airgo says that it has developed a chip that
can send data across WiFi networks at 240 MILLION BITS PER SECOND. That is well over twice
the speed of Ethernet cabling in your walls. And so, not only does this open the door to
super high speed WiFi for laptop computers, but it eliminates the need for running wires
through walls when speed is the major consideration.
The rub→ The Airgo chip doesn't follow any standard... you may need a new card
in your laptop as well as a new base station. But a new standard called "802.11n" may be
finalized as early as November, with comparable speeds.
MULTIPLE INPUT MULTIPLE OUTPUT
[January 2006] It's almost tomorrow... First, 802.11n has still
not been standardized. But there is a technology available called "pre-n" (aka MIMO... Multiple
Input Multiple Output).
[January 2006] Precise Networking has been installing MIMO in very
large homes and in large offices for a few months now. MIMO is very fast. AND... it can cover a
very large area.
We love it. And our customers love it.
Remember... a few years ago, much greater speed was needed to move high quality video
around your home. It looks like we've just about climbed that hurdle.
FiOS
[September 2005] WiFi and Internet access have suddenly become
much faster, courtesy of Verizon, the "phone company" for millions in the US.
The secret word is "FiOS," which stands for "Fiber-Optic Service" (and a little thought
will reveal why Verizon didn't name it "FOS"). In some parts of the US, Verizon's FiOS service
is providing 15 million bits per second Internet download speed (and 2 million bits per second
Internet upload speed), compared to 6 million bps and 0.384 million bps provided by large cable
companies like Comcast. And the cost for FiOS is just a hair more. (You can also get FiOS
at 5 mbps/ 2 mbps for a few dollars less, and 30 mbps/ 5 mbps for a lot more $.)
FiOS is currently available to about 3 million homes in the US. Says Verizon, "Verizon
FiOS is the latest in fiber-optic technology. It delivers laser-generated pulses of light,
riding on hair-thin strands of glass fiber, all the way to your front door. When FiOS meets
your computer, you can get broadband Internet at blazing-fast speeds."
Ok, so what? So this. Using FiOS, WiFi runs at about 8 (EIGHT) million bits per second,
compared to about 1 (ONE) million bps with typical cable. EIGHT TIMES FASTER. (And according
to Precise Networking Solutions, Verizon also will be using FiOS to bring all-digital
television into homes. I don't know... but the folks at PNS have usually been on the money.)
But cable companies like Comcast are promising their own higher speed solutions that will
match or exceed FiOS. Stay tuned... a lot of the things we've been dreaming about that were
impossible because of "slow" speeds are about to become realities very, very soon.
[July 2006] Ok, let's update FiOS, since it seems to be the key to sending
to and from our homes everything in the world that we'd ever want to network. (FiOS is strictly
a Verizon thing.)
In a nutshell, with FiOS stuff is not just carried to and from our homes (and offices) via
fiber. In the FiOS world, the fiber actually enters our homes (and offices)... and this is the
key to the speed of FiOS.
When you go with FiOS, you abandon cable, you abandon DSL. Aside from carrying very broadband
stuff like movies, FiOS is also very cool if you have to download (or send) files that are many
GIGABYTES. (Review→ DOWNLOAD... means you copy something from "out there" on the Net to your
PC (or some device in your home). And UPLOAD? Right... when you upload, you copy something from
your PC (or some device in your home) to some place "out there" on the Net.)
Big files, online super-games with MANY simultaneous players, TV with even more interactive
features... FiOS can do it all. Verizon is offering "fiber in your house." AT&T and BellSouth
are not even offering fiber (yet); and when they do, the fiber will stop short of your home or
office. So yeah, it's up to Verizon. Verizon can now provide FiOS to about three million homes
in Florida, Texas, suburban DC, and various other "here's and there's" in the northeast US.
AND... Verizon says that FiOS will be available to another three million homes by the end of
this year (2006). Verizon predicts that after it does its tweaking, you'll have 100,000,000 bits
per second flowing in and out your home on fiber; and THAT IS FAST. It's three times the THEORETICAL
limit of cable. And it's fast enough to let you download entire movies to your home IN A FEW SECONDS.
For now, FiOS runs at 5-50 million bits per second. DSL usually runs at 1.5 million bits per second,
though AT&T's fastest DSL runs at home cable speed (6 million bits/sec for about $28/month). Precise
Networking likes to see stuff downloading via cable to our customers' homes from test servers in DC
or New York City at 6 million bits/ sec or better most of the day.
OK... Bottom line→ FiOS runs much faster than DSL or cable. FiOS is fast enough to bring
just about anything in or out of your home that you'll want for the Network of The Future. But read
on...
Problem #1 with FiOS→ It's expensive. Verizon charges $35/month for a FiOS speed of 5 million
bits/ sec (about the speed of Comcast cable). Want 50 million bits/second? Verizon charges
$160/month. (BUT... in areas like NY City where competition is ferocious, you can get FiOS running
at 50 million bits/second for as "little" as $90/month. Moral→ Even Rolex haggles.)
FiOS will make possible devices that don't even exist today... like... like... "Dual-network
Phones" that are a cell phone when you're away from home but connect to your home phone network
when you enter your home. (Saves those cell phone minutes.) Verizon is already offering the "Silver
Verizon One" home phone with the color touch screen that displays pictures and news and stocks...
and of course works best with FiOS.
Problem #2 with FiOS→ Verizon may have to dig up your lawn to get the fiber into your house; and
the installation isn't trivial; it can take a few hours.
But many folks are blown away with the speed of FiOS when downloading music (about 10 seconds for
a song to download) and videos... (just like we were blown away a few years ago with the speed of
cable). Using FiOS, doctors are able to view X-rays and videos of ultrasounds IN THEIR HOMES.
And of course, FiOS allows Verizon to deliver hundreds of channels of TV (including HD), just
like Comcast has been doing. (Yeah, FiOS IS FASTER than cable; "ON DEMAND" takes perhaps three seconds
to kick in with FiOS; cable takes a bit longer than that.) And the picture when using FiOS is clearer
and brighter and more consistent than cable, say folks who have tried FiOS for TV. (But some of these
also claim that FiOS TV is subject to occasional pixilation. (That's when the TV picture morphs into
digital blocks for 1-2 seconds... Remember when there were rabbit-ears and "snow?") Verizon says that
in the coming months you should watch for a digital video recorder (DVR) that shows stuff on ALL the
TVs in your home... not just the TV that the DVR box is sitting next to.
Fiber. Fiber. Fiber. Stay tuned. We've just about reached the future of networking.
Now you can see why Precise Networking Solutions cannot today network a home
or office with an "Everything" technology. We can do many, or even most... we
can even stretch one technology to perform beyong its limits. (E.g., we can run
802.11b beyond its 75-150 foot limit by judiciously adding a little extra
hardware.) But we want your Total Home Network to be a tad more secure. And more
successful. (How much more secure is a "tad?")
[Update August 2006→ Precise Networking Solutions has me on, I think, a
Linksys "draft-N" technology wireless system; there's a cable modem and a wireless
router way far away upstairs; and I am downstairs here in the den, sending and
receiving to the router way upstairs at 108.0 million bits/sec (well, that's what
it says when I move my cursor over the little Linksys icon in the Windows XP tray),
no range extenders needed.]
To completely drive the splinter into your mind (yeah, Matrix I was cool),
there is another wireless technology called "Ultra-wideband." It has no trouble
carrying TV pictures. But it does have trouble (what a surprise) carrying
anything more than about 30 feet.
But what if... what if we carried our TV signal and data and music about the
house using co-axial cable, not wireless; and what if we then used Ultra-wideband
to just splat it across the depths of space and time to our PC and TV or video
recorder or camera...
We're SO very close to touching the future of networking... the future as
your dog Wolf sees it... you can almost reach out and touch it... Total Home
Networking... the home (or small office) equivalent of creating the Internet.
Yeah, the Internet took a few years to solve its problems, but wasn't it
worth the wait?
...And that, my friends, is all that I think you need to know for now,
this incredibly hot and humid summer, way way back in the year 2006. We'll continue
to keep this Web page updated as more and more of my dreams for networking
tomorrow's homes become reality.
And in return for such currency, you'll have to excuse occasional typos
and such. (Yeah, right Wolf.) But we still love you anyway... and we LOVE
networking you.
