Wi-Fi Connections

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Aer Lingus Plans For WiFi Connections On Flights

CIARA O’BRIEN Passengers on Aer Lingus’s European flights will soon be able to log on while airborne, as the company prepares to roll out in-cabin wireless internet access. The service, which is being provided by JetBlue Airways subsidiary LiveTV, will be available from mid-way through next year. Customers will be able to to connect their [...]

Now Trending: Wi-Fi Small Cell Wireless will Be Key to Successful Mobile Deployment

December 10, 2012 By Tony Rizzo, TMCnet Senior Editor Cisco (News - Alert), an important vendor in the rapidly growing small cell market segment, has recently uncovered a number of trends (or at least has quantified a number of trends that we already intuitively know about) that strongly suggest there will be significant uptake in the small cell market [...]

Marketing Opportunities With Wi-Fi Connections’- Technology Domain’s

Wireless LAN companies now have an exciting alternative to marketing their company products and services. Thanks to Wi-FiConnections.com, who have accumulated 50 exact match keyword domains, wireless companies now can attract customers with lazer like focus. The domains are all technology related with the focus being on the Wi-Fi industry. They are being offered as [...]

Remember, Not All VPNs are Created Equal- Protecting Your Wi-Fi Connections

Posted on Monday, October 8th, 2012 by Kent Lawson Most of us probably assume that if we are using a virtual private network (VPN) either at home or at the office, we are completely safe from hackers. After all, who can hack a supposedly encrypted network? Well, it turns out that not all VPNs use the [...]

Is It Possible Huawei Is Stealing More Than Data?

Huawei and ZTE equipment and service deemed dangerous by the state department. Last Sunday I watched with interest the piece on 60 Minutes concerning Huawei working in the States. I have a few thoughts. Propaganda does not only originate from outside and against the US. Some of it actually starts here in the states. Propaganda [...]

Report: Skype makes up one-third of all international phone traffic

February 18th, 2013

Dale Buckey

Microsoft's (NASDAQ:MSFT) Skype unit grew its international traffic by 44 percent in 2012, more than twice the volume growth achieved by all the phone companies in the world combined, according to a report from TeleGeography. The report found that global Skype usage is now equivalent to over one-third of all international phone traffic, Skype's highest level ever.

The report, which looks at trends in the international long distance market, highlights the growth of Skype and other over-the-top communication service providers. TeleGeography found that that "international telephone traffic grew 5 percent in 2012, to 490 billion minutes," while at the same time "cross-border Skype-to-Skype voice and video traffic grew 44 percent in 2012, to 167 billion minutes. This increase of nearly 51 billion minutes is more than twice that achieved by all international carriers in the world, combined." That means Skype traffic represented 34 percent of all international phone traffic last year, the firm said.

skype big Report: Skype makes up one third of all international phone traffic
The above shows international call volumes and growth rates, 1992-2012, according to TeleGeography. The firm said data for 2012 are projections based on preliminary data. VoIP traffic reflects international traffic transported as VoIP by carriers, and excludes PC-to-PC traffic.

"The pressure on carriers will continue to mount in the coming years," TeleGeography analyst Stephan Beckert said in a statement. "While Skype is the best-known voice application, it's far from the only challenger to the PSTN. Google (Talk and Voice), WeChat (Weixin), Viber, Nimbuzz, Line, and KakaoTalk have also become popular. And, perhaps most ominously for telcos, Facebook recently added a free voice calling feature to its Messenger application."

However, TeleGeography noted that not all of Skype's traffic represents a loss for traditional carriers, since over 40 percent of Skype's traffic is now video, "and it's likely that a meaningful share of this is 'new' traffic, rather than a direct replacement for a telephone call. However, given their enormous traffic volume, it's difficult not to conclude that at least some of Skype's growth is coming at the expense of traditional carriers."

TeleGeography found that if all of Skype's on-net traffic had been routed via traditional telcos, global international telephone traffic would have increased 14 percent in 2011 and 13 percent in 2012, rather than the 5 percent the market experienced in 2012.

In other Skype news, the company has started testing video messaging for iOS, Android, and Mac devices. The new video feature lets Skype users send up to three minutes of video to each other.

A Skype spokesperson said that the company's video messaging "is in early release for testing in several markets for Android, iOS, and Mac with functionality to send and receive video messages. Users in these markets across all Windows desktop and mobile platforms can receive messages, too. We will have send capability in Windows by end of April. In the meantime, we continue to test this new feature in its early release."

For more:
- see this TeleGeography report (PDF)
- see this Ars Technica article
- see this CNET article
- see this AllThingsD article
- see this The Verge article

Article updated Feb. 15 with a comment from a Skype spokesperson on Skype's video messaging.

FierceWireless

Analysts question Cisco’s mobile data traffic revisions

February 16th, 2013

Dale Buckey

Cisco Systems' mobile data traffic numbers from its Visual Networking Index are widely reported and touted by the industry, but a growing number of analysts and research firms are questioning the numbers and Cisco's methodology after the company made multiple backward revisions to its data in its latest report. TMF Associates analyst Tim Farrar raised questions about the data earlier this month, and noted, for instance, that Cisco had made "dramatic changes in assumptions about offloading, without much explanation or any retrospective view of whether the prior estimates were remotely accurate."

Now, research firm Analysys Mason is taking issue with Cisco's report too, arguing that the data shows "a substantial downward revision of traffic volumes for 2012 for Western Europe, and lesser, but significant downward revisions for most other regions. Moreover, projected growth rates to 2017 have been revised downwards. Despite these downward revisions, the volumes for 2012 in Western Europe and North America still look much too high to us, and imply growth rates of around 100 percent for 2012 over what we already know about 2011. This contradicts all the evidence we have seen for actual rates of growth last year in these regions."

Analysys Mason acknowledged that "forecasting data traffic is riddled with uncertainties, and, when the explicit or implicit warnings in forecasts are taken seriously, involves feedback loops that will contradict the trend forecasted." Still, Analysys Mason said that while there is nothing wrong with backward revisions, "trying to get it right by assessing the available evidence is important."

In response, Cisco spokesman Jim Brady said that Cisco's methodology "includes a combination of direct data collection from more than 1.3 million users and nearly two dozen service providers around the globe, in-house estimates and forecasts, and third-party analyst projections from organizations such as Informa Telecoms and Media, Strategy Analytics, Infonetics, Ovum, Gartner, IDC, Dell'Oro, Synergy, ACG Research, Nielsen, comScore, Arbitron Mobile, Maravedis and the International Telecommunications Union (ITU)."

Brady said that "Cisco has consistently revised VNI predictions publicly to reflect new data and trends. For example, in February 2010 we did not have a tablet breakout. By 2011, after the iPad was introduced the previous spring, we updated the forecast to include this new device which would dramatically change the mobile landscape. As reported in the published in the Mobile VNI Whitepaper, the recent mobile traffic growth forecast was adjusted for several reasons, including the fact that mobile laptop traffic growth is slowing, particularly in Western Europe. As people replace mobile laptops, which consume more bandwidth than most other devices, we will see variances in growth."

"In addition, Service Provider Wi-Fi has increased far faster over the past year than our forecast in 2011. It is a 'top of mind' issue for mobile service providers worldwide, many of which are actively deploying Wi-Fi solutions or looking to do so soon," Brady said. "While complementary to the macro-radio based Mobile Internet, we account for Wi-Fi in our fixed traffic forecast, which will be released in June. If we were to include offloaded traffic with mobile traffic, the difference between last year's forecast and this year's is much narrower. Also, people are using Wi-Fi small cells more often, shifting more data from mobile networks."

"We have consistently used what we believe to be the most accurate currently available data to support our methodology in updating the forecast each year, rather than artificially imposing consistency with previous estimates," Brady concluded.

For more:
- see this release

FierceWireless

Hotspot 2.0 guru talks Wi-Fi roaming, new job at Ruckus

February 15th, 2013

Dale Buckey

Dave Stephenson is at the center of one of the most important efforts in mobile networking, the move to shepherd smartphones and other devices among Wi-Fi hotspots safely and automatically.
Netflash

T-Mobile aims to grow B2B share with customized plans, more options

February 13th, 2013

Dale Buckey

T-Mobile USA may be a small player in the wireless B2B market, but the company wants to grow its market share significantly this year by focusing on plans that do not gouge enterprise customers on pricing, according to Frank Sickinger, the carrier's senior vice president of B2B. The carrier also plans to offer enterprise customers new products and services.

To that end, T-Mobile just announced that it is adding new hosted and on-premise MobileIron mobile device management (MDM) services to its portfolio. T-Mobile also said that for business customers that want around-the-clock managed service and mobile helpdesk support, they can turn to its new partner, Mission Critical Wireless, a wholly-owned subsidiary of Digital Management.

The addition of MobileIron as a new MDM service producer is indicative of T-Mobile's efforts to give enterprise customers more options, Sickinger said in a recent interview with FierceWireless. T-Mobile works with around a half-dozen MDM companies, he noted, including Good Technology, AirWatch and Soti.

Sickinger estimated that T-Mobile currently has 5 or 6 percent of the wireless B2B market and that the company expects to grow that figure this year thanks to the investments it has made in B2B, including increased staffing and new products. However, he said that while the growth will be "meaningful" this year, the carrier is unlikely to crack 10 percent market share by the end of 2013.

Sickinger said the company spent a good portion of the second half of 2012 upgrading its business platform capabilities, including adding support for pooled data plans. "If a company wants to sign up for 500 GB of data across 500 users, each of those users can be signed up on 1 GB plan but we would not charge any overage until the common pool is used up," he said. Sickinger said the goal is to reduce bill shock for CIOs and add more predictability to billing.

Sickinger said larger U.S. carriers "are trying to capitalize on the growth in data usage in order to take a lot more revenue in the form of overages." He said T-Mobile is working with enterprise customers to make sure that they are offered the best plans to suit their needs so they do not get "gouged."

T-Mobile is also running a promotion in the first quarter that offers enterprise subscribers up to $ 200 in credits per line to switch their service over to T-Mobile. Sickinger said the amount of the credit will be determined by how many business services customers buy through T-Mobile; the more services, the higher the credit.

Sickinger said the carrier's impending launch of LTE will be a boon for its B2B business. "On the LTE side, I think we have an LTE story that is pretty much unrivaled," he said. T-Mobile plans to deploy LTE to 100 million POPs by mid-year and 200 million by year-end. In many markets, the company expects that it will be able to launch LTE on 2×20 MHz channels.

Not only will T-Mobile continue to run its HSPA+ network, which now covers 220 million people, but the carrier now has HSPA+ on its refarmed 1900 MHz spectrum covering 126 million POPs, he noted.

Additionally, Sickinger said that T-Mobile's coming launch of Apple's (NASDAQ:AAPL) iPhone will be a "significant contributor" to growth in the B2B business since there is so much pent-up demand for it on T-Mobile's network.

For more:
- see this release

FierceWireless

Rebtel CEO says mobile VoIP firm could IPO in 2-3 years

February 9th, 2013

Dale Buckey

Rebtel, a leading mobile VoIP service provider and Skype competitor, has indicated it may launch an initial public offering in the next two to three years if it achieves its growth targets, its CEO told Reuters.

The company, which is the second largest VoIP provider after Skype, but is accessed by a mobile phone app, has around 20 million users compared with Skype's 145 million.

Rebtel CEO Andreas Bernstrom told Reuters that revenues could rise to more than $ 100 million (€75 million) this year from $ 80 million in 2012, and to between $ 150 million and $ 200 million (€112 million to €150 million) in three years. He also said believes that by this time its customer base should will grow to 50 million.

"Listing is certainly an option," Bernstrom said. "My view is that in a couple of years, if the market allows it, that might be an interesting option." He said Rebtel will follow three major strategies to boost growth.

The first is the launch of a calling feature for apps allowing online poker players to chat for free during games and Internet daters to share more than emails and pictures. Money transfers is the second strategy, where the company intends to compete with heavyweight rivals Western Union and Moneygram in what Bernstrom said was a $ 480 billion-a-year market.

Thirdly, Rebtel intends to expand and develop its products into stand-alone apps, including one that will enable travellers to avoid roaming charges, he said.

"If the business is earning $ 150 to $ 200 million with a 15 per cent EBITDA margin, then the business is worth a lot of money," Bernstrom said.

For more:
- see this Reuters article
- see this Trutower article

Report: Mobile VoIP users to reach 1 billion by 2017:
TeliaSonera does U-turn on mobile VoIP charges
Mobile VoIP gaining headway, despite operator reluctance
Report: Swedish operators may block mobile VoIP calls
Skype increases pressure on UK operators that block VoIP calls
Telefónica's O2 hits back with free Wi-Fi calls

FierceWireless

T-Mobile offers businesses up to $200 in credit to switch over

February 7th, 2013

Dale Buckey

T-Mobile USA is offering enterprise subscribers up to $ 200 in credits per line to switch their service over to T-Mobile, part of a wider company effort to strengthen T-Mobile's foothold in the B2B market.

The carrier confirmed to FierceWireless that will run the promotion during the first quarter. The credit is a revival of a similar promotion the carrier ran in mid-2011.

"With a lightning fast network, disruptive rate plans, and an expanding suite of business solutions that address customer desires for choice and flexibility, we are confident that business customers will be happy with a switch to T-Mobile," the company said in a statement to FierceWireless. "To that end, in Q1, we are offering special port-in credit promotions for eligible mid-market and enterprise voice and MBB [mobile broadband] lines that are activated during the period. Promotion will range based on types of plans with credits as high as $ 200 on voice plans and $ 200 on MBB plans."

Details of the promotion are not clear. A T-Mobile spokesman declined to provide more details beyond the company's statement.

Credits to lure customers are, of course, nothing new. Sprint Nextel (NYSE:S) is currently offering a $ 400 credit for families who switch to Sprint from another carrier and sign up for its Simply Everything Family or Everything Data Family plans. Similarly, U.S. Cellular (NYSE:USM) recently began offering a $ 300 prepaid debit card to customers who switch two lines of service from their current carrier to U.S. Cellular and activate a smartphone.

For T-Mobile though, the credits for enterprise customers are part of a larger strategy to expand its presence in the B2B market this year. Along these lines, in January the carrier launched a new unified communications suite, called "Office Connect," for enterprises, as well as a device financing program.

FierceWireless

A giant radio telescope, a small school and a Wi-Fi problem

February 7th, 2013

Dale Buckey

Students at a tiny Appalachian public school can’t use Wi-Fi because any such network can throw the radio equivalent of a monkey wrench into a gigantic super-sensitive radio telescope just up the road.
Netflash

MetroPCS says joyn launch proceeding smoothly despite DT’s troubles

February 1st, 2013

Dale Buckey

MetroPCS (NYSE:PCS) said its deployment of Rich Communication Services under the GSMA's joyn brand is humming along just fine. The comments are notable considering the technical difficulties Deutsche Telekom is experiencing in Germany that have forced the carrier to indefinitely delay launching joyn there.

MetroPCS, the only U.S. carrier so far to have launched joyn, said all of its LTE handsets–including the Samsung Galaxy S III, Galaxy Admire 4G, ZTE Avid and LG Spirit–now support joyn via a downloadable client available in Google's (NASDAQ:GOOG) Play storefront.

MetroPCS spokesman Drew Crowell told FierceWireless that the company's plans for joyn remain unchanged, and that the carrier hopes to sell phones with joyn built in by the middle of this year. "We are working with handset OEMs to build-in joyn as a fully integrated feature, without the need for a download," he said.

Deutsche Telekom said earlier this week is indefinitely delaying the commercial launch of joyn in Germany after admitting that implementing the technology is taking much longer than originally expected. Incorporating joyn software into DT's handset portfolio is a lengthy process that requires thorough testing, DT spokesman Dirk Turning told Wirtschafts Woche. "Our goal is, of course, to move as quickly as possible to bring joyn to market," he said.

MetroPCS first launched joyn in late October. "As with any new service or feature rollout, there were challenges that needed to be addressed but we are proud to have been the first LTE operator to successfully launch RCS v. 5.0," Crowell said.

Crowell declined to provide usage statistics on MetroPCS' joyn users. MetroPCS has said the technology will allow users with compatible handsets to:

See when other users are available;
Conduct threaded text conversations;
Share content via one click from an address book;
Share video, images and files while on a call;
And conduct voice and video calls over Wi-Fi networks.

MetroPCS has said it launched joyn to enhance its customers' mobile experience and not necessarily to protect against losing messaging or data revenues–MetroPCS is not charging extra for the service. However, many European carriers have embraced joyn in order to stem losses to over-the-top messaging services like WhatsApp, Apple's (NASDAQ:AAPL) iMessage and Facebook's (NASDAQ:FB) Messenger.

Late last year in Spain Telefónica's Movistar, Orange Spain and Vodafone Spain jointly launched joyn service.

As operators rally around joyn, over-the-top providers continue to expand. For example, Facebook (NASDAQ:FB) recently updated its Messenger app for iOS to support voice calling between Facebook users.

FierceWireless

T-Mobile launches unified communications service in B2B push

January 25th, 2013

Dale Buckey

T-Mobile USA is making a major push into the business-to-business market, offering a new unified communications suite for enterprises as well as a device financing program. The beefed up B2B offerings are part of the carrier's broader strategy to expand its presence in the B2B market and challenge Verizon Wireless (NYSE:VZ), AT&T Mobility (NYSE:T) and Sprint Nextel (NYSE:S).

T-Mobile's "Office Connect" unified communications solution allows businesses to integrate their office and mobile phone systems. The suite connects to T-Mobile's network and extends desk phone capabilities to mobile phones. Thus, employees can have only one phone number and a single voicemail box to manage. Office Connect also allows companies to route international calls using the least expensive option and have mobile long-distance calls billed at business rates. T-Mobile said the service will help businesses cut down on costs by minimizing the need for things like PBX upgrades and software licenses.

The Office Connect product is available nationwide and T-Mobile is offering it as a managed service for $ 9.95 per month per line, including hardware, software licenses and installation.

"Today, mobile devices are critical extensions of an organization's business infrastructure. Therefore, making and protecting strategic mobile investments are more pivotal than ever before," said Frank Sickinger, T-Mobile's senior vice president of B2B. "Our new unified communications and equipment financing solutions demonstrate T-Mobile's commitment, as the 'Un-Carrier,' to challenge the status quo for our B2B customers."

Another part of the B2B offerings is what T-Mobile is calling its Mobile Device Payment Solution. Companies will have the ability to finance the cost of devices over time and at no interest once they are approved for credit. Qualified enterprise customers can finance their upfront device costs through CFS, a third-party lender that specializes in commercial financing for mobile.

T-Mobile made expanding its B2B presence a major priority in 2012, and the strategy included hiring 1,000 more business sales representatives, increasing the company's distribution channels and beefing up its marketing and advertising. The carrier has been in the B2B and enterprise markets for more than a decade but has less than 10 percent market share.

For more:
- see this release
- see this T-Mobile site
- see this PhoneScoop article

FierceWireless

Q&A: What the FCC’s Wi-Fi expansion means for you

January 23rd, 2013

Dale Buckey

Mobile devices like the iPhone 5 are embracing the 5 GHz band, and that trend will expand as 802.11ac radios become prevalent even on smartphones starting in 2013.
Netflash