I keep getting emails from people having problems with their Treos, and -- trust me -- I feel your pain. My little 650 restarts for unknown reasons about once every couple days or so, just to keep my life interesting. I have 11 months left on my contract and then I'm done with this thing for good. I'm counting down the days.

So a few months back I added my name to a class action lawuit against Palm. I've never been part of a lawsuit before but I felt this one was worth it. The product was rushed to market and Palm has done an absolutely awful job of supporting it. If I had a dollar for every time this thing had reset itself for no apparent reason, I could have bought a dozen Treos (not that I would have).

And, judging but the emails I've received over the past year, I'm far from alone in the frustrated Treo-user department.

So, now for the update:
A few weeks ago I got a call from the law firm, I forget the name. They told me that the many pending lawsuits are being rolled into some super-lawsuit. I answered a few questions and that was all I heard.

If you want to add your name to the list, you can go to this site. I'm not sure if they're still taking names or the progress of the litigation. But when I learn more I'll share it.

I'm not surprised to see a class action suit filed against Palm for their Treo 600 and 650 devices.

I bought a 650 earlier this year and as I documented here my initial experiences were anything but pleasant. Things did settle down since then, for the most part. Still, every few weeks the device will randomly restart on me. Call quality is generally poor. And, last week, I had to pop out the battery to restart the device because it completely died for some unknown reason.

I've already made up my mind to ditch Palm when my contract expires. By then I hope to see more devices supporting email access, which is really all I bought the Palm for anyway.

It's a real shame. I really did and still do want to love this device. It has such potential. I know Palm rushed these devices to market without testing them fully and we all have paid for their haste to make good quarterly numbers. But these sorts of things have a way of catching up with you and, even if the class action suit doesn't hurt Palm, the thousands of unhappy Palm users like me, out there spreading the word, certainly will.

According to CNET News, Apple will be announcing a migration to Intel chips on Monday.

And it looks like they'll be starting with the low-end computers first, gradually working their way up to the high-end Macs.

So it looks like this move was all about the chips and not about WiMAX, as I speculated. Now that doesn't mean that we won't see Intel's wireless strategy change over the next few years. For instance, will Centrino be used in the Mac Minis? If so, where does this leave Apple's Airport gear?

As for WiMAX, I guess we'll see how this IntelApple marriage progresses. I still think something is going to happen along these lines.

PS: Here is the Reuters article.

At first I thought it was a mistake. I was at Kansai International Airport (KIX) in Osaka, Japan waiting for my flight earlier this week when I opened up my laptop to check for Wi-Fi. Normally, what I want to know is how much they're going to squeeze me for per hour. Is it $7.95 or $9.95 or do they skip the hourly rate entirely and just hit me up for a 12-hour block?

But then something very strange happened -- I got free Wi-Fi. And it wasn't a mistake. This was free, airport-sponsored Wi-Fi. I checked email, woke my poor wife using Skype -- I just had myself a little party.

Kansai offers free Wi-Fi: Power outlets, however, are scarce.

It appears that for the past two years KIX has been giving away free Wi-Fi. I've heard of a number of small regional airports offering free Wi-Fi as an incentive to lure traffic, but never an airport of this size.

So, is Kansai the world's largest airport to offer free Wi-Fi? Any users out there know of a larger airport offering free Wi-Fi?

About a week ago I wrote a blog about the possibility of Apple embracing WiMAX. That blog was followed soon after by a MacObserver story.

Needless to say, I've gotten an earful from readers -- some good, some bad, and some a little bit ugly. I should have known that any article that combined lightning-rod topics like Apple and WiMAX would attract attention.

So I wanted to summarize the comments received and make a few corrections. Here goes...

Comment: Apple launched Airport in 1999, not 1997. Apple launched it at the Boston Macworld show, alongside Apple's launching of the iBook.
-> I stand corrected. For a handy Apple timeline check out this site.

Comment: It should be noted that Apple does use Intel chips in its xRAID product.
-> This was one of several comments I received that noted that Apple is already using Intel chips. Some folks also stressed that porting the Mac OS over to Intel would not be a major production, while others said the exact opposite. I'd love to get more input on this as I am no expert.

Regardless, I still cannot help but think that the wireless folks within Apple aren't at least a little intrigued by the business potential of WiMAX. Intel bet big on Wi-Fi a few years back and certainly did well as a result; any potential partner and OEM is taking Intel's WiMAX gamble very seriously.

Comment: WiMax would not be affordable for an everyday technology. Heck, Alvarion, one of the largest players in the game does not hardly sell anything less than $1000, with the exception of their low-end access units.
-> Alvarion has been selling proprietary fixed wireless gear in low quantities, hence the relatively high costs. WiMAX gear, produced in large quantities by multiple vendors, will be affordable. And Intel isn't going to be the only player making WiMAX silicon. Everyone currently producing Wi-Fi components is either already investing in WiMAX or keeping a very close eye on it. Wi-Fi wasn't particularly cheap in 1999 either.

Comment: Just because WiMAX is a "new" technology, does not mean Apple will adopt it, especially if it is the wrong tool for the job.
-> Agreed. But my point here is that there are new "jobs" that wireless technology will be expected to perform in the years ahead and WiMAX might be a very good fit for those jobs. Not all jobs. I don't believe Wi-Fi is threatened in the least by WiMAX.

Finally, a number of people made it clear that WiMAX is a "last mile" technology and not a "last hundred feet" technology. While I agree that this is how WiMAX is being positioned, it is by no means the only way that WiMAX may ultimately be used. Wi-Fi certainly wasn't originally envisioned as a technology for unwiring city blocks via a mix of mesh and MIMO technologies. I think we're going to see all kinds of unintended applications emerge from WiMAX.

Anyway, that's it for me. Keep those comments coming...

So I have a few thoughts on why Apple is talking to Intel. First, let me quote this Reuters article to provide context:

"To port to an x86 platform would be a massive undertaking and I'm highly suspicious of that," said Tim Bajarin, an analyst at Creative Strategies, referring to Intel chips.

Apple always has a lot of projects in the works and could be evaluating Intel chips for use in future products, Bajarin said, adding that when Apple co-founder and chief executive Steve Jobs was asked Sunday night at a Wall Street Journal technology conference whether Apple would use Intel chips, "Jobs basically said no."

So I'm going to assume that porting the Mac OS is not a high priority at Apple these days. What I think is a high priority is wireless. Apple launched its Wi-Fi-power Airport way back in 1997. Here we are eight years later and Wi-Fi is everywhere, particularly in the home.

There have been lots of speculation about Apple launching an A/V equivalent of iTunes. Now, connecting the cable or DSL modem to the TV is a hurdle we're seeing lots of companies tackle, with limited success.

I've spoken to a number of techs who see WiMAX as the next-generation home wireless technology. That's because only WiMAX can stream multiple streams of HDTV content in difficult RF environments to all ends of the home.

Apple is also rumored to be getting into the smart phone business. I'd certainly love to see how they could simplify my Palm Treo 650. But what wireless technology are they going to support if and when they do get into this business? I wouldn't bet on EV-DO and I don't think they want to bother with EDGE or HSDPA either. Apple likes to lead with wireless technology, not follow.

I think Apple sees a lot of opportunities with WiMAX. And I think Intel sees a lot of opportunity in getting Apple to support WiMAX. Because the applications that WiMAX will support don't really exist yet. Sure, we're going to see wireless last-mile proliferate using WiMAX, but that's the easy part.

Perhaps all that Apple and Intel are talking about right now is processors. But I have to believe that there are people on both sides of the room thinking WiMAX.

Qualcomm is the Microsoft of the telecoms industry, for better and for worse. People in the telecoms industry typically either love the company or hate the company.

I lean toward the latter, so please keep that in mind as you read this brief review of The Qualcomm Equation by Dave Mock.

In this book, published earlier this year, Dave does an excellent and meticulous job of documenting Qualcomm's against-all-odds rise to the top of the telecoms industry. I did not realize the degree to which Qualcomm relied on government business in the early days and also did not realize just how close the company came to missing the cellular boat completely. Back when Europe set in place one standard and many in the US wanted to follow suit, Qualcomm stuck to its guns.

And I think that the US is better off for it.

By and large, the mixed-standards "mess" that we have in the US has turned out to be a pretty good thing. Because of competing standards, we have EV-DO, which is a much-faster technology than single-standard Europe has to offer. Competing technologies keeps everyone on their toes, and Qualcomm has certainly kept the GPRS vendors on their toes. Dave Mock documents this drama and makes sense of the very complex technical standards and jargon.

Mock is perhaps too kind to Qualcomm, particularly in the latter years, as the vendor transforms from David to Goliath. For example, the company has been in an all-out war with Wi-Fi and WiMAX over the past three years, and it is only recently that we now see the company starting to co-opt some of the same technology underlying WiMAX. Qualcomm recently ditched its much-hyped EVDV technology when it became apparent that carriers want IP and big pipes, something WiMAX was designed to address from the ground up.

I find Qualcomm to be a little lost these days, as if it is searching for another big bully to take on again; the trouble is, Qualcomm is now the big bully and it's taking on the types of innovators that it once was.

That said, anyone in the telecoms industry who wants to know how Qualcomm got to be Qualcomm should read this book.

I find it amazing how quickly a person can adopt a technology and, after having adopted it, grow impatient with it when it isn’t used to maximum effect. Take email for instance. In the early days of email I felt the urge to reply to nearly every email I received to let the sender know that I had received it. Today, replies are by necessity only. We are assaulted with emails so we don’t want our fellow emailers to waste our time.

Which brings me to blogs. Now that I have more than 100 blogs that I scan daily, I find it necessary to prune a few blogs from time to time. I have no formula for how I decide which blogs to keep and which blogs to delete from my RSS reader, but there are some traits common to those blogs that I have parted ways with.

After all, because time is a finite resource, there are only so many blogs a person can follow on a daily basis. Which means that every blog I add tends to come at the expense of a blog that I delete. Which means that I expect the bloggers that remain to not waste my time. There may be a billion blogs out there, but from the reader’s perspective, it’s a zero-sum game.

I’m really only referring to those blogs that purport to be about something, like VoIP or travel or Web usability. I subscribe to these blogs to learn more about these topics or issues and I tend to get annoyed when the authors spend more time writing about their personal lives than the actual topics. Occasional off-topic postings are just fine (like this one, for instance) but too much off-topicness and I will consider pruning that particular feed. A year ago, I was much more tolerant than I am today. Either I’m getting more cranky or I’m becoming a more demanding blog reader.

So here is my advice to bloggers who want to avoid being pruned…

Have Something To Add
If all you do is point to other news stories you have to ask yourself – are you adding value or are you just aggregating? Aggregation is fine on occasion (I’ve certainly done my share), but eventually you’ll be made redundant by someone who both aggregates and adds value.

Some Things Are Better Left Unsaid
I love bloggers precisely because they don’t have editors. I like the unfiltered thoughts, ideas and predictions. When I want an edited piece of work I read the paper. However, sometimes I wish bloggers would do a little bit more self-editing. For example…

Don’t blog to tell the world:
1. you are not feeling well today
2. you are tired today
3. you are tired of all the blogging you’ve been doing lately
4. you are going out of town for a few days
5. you just got back from having been out of town for a few days
6. you will be offline for the next two hours
7. your server went down and that’s why we haven’t heard from you for the past two hours

You get the idea. A writing teacher of mine used the term furniture moving to refer to wasted prose. These types of posts strike me as furniture moving.

Anyway, I’ll step down from my soapbox, prune a few blogs and get back to work. I’ve got lots to do as I’m getting ready to go out of town for a few days!

Just kidding.

So it has been about a week since my Cingular Treo 650 gave me a horrible case of buyer's remorse.

As I wrote here a few days back, about a week after I bought the device I realized that the voicemail number would change randomly, and rarely into a number that actually dialed voicemail. Much worse, I found that whenever I tried to dial a phone number the device reset itself. My Treo had effectively downgraded itself into a Zire.

So I went to Cingular, swapped the Gemplus SIM card for the Axalto SIM card and still suffered problems. Some of the folks I've spoken with who had similar problems found that once they exchanged SIM cards their Treos worked just fine.

I was not so fortunate.

It turns out that when I restored all the old files and settings onto my Treo, I also restored a file or setting that caused the same general conflict. So even though I had the new SIM card I had the old problems.

If you're in the same boat, be sure to completely uninstall your old desktop Palm software and then reinstall. And you'll need to do a hard reset of your Treo.

Since I use a Mac I was faced with the daunting prospect of reinstalling both the Palm desktop software and the Missing Sync software. As a workaround, I simply located the actual user backup files on my desktop, deleted them, and then the problem went away.

Fingers crossed. I have not had any random resets since wiping out the old backup files, so I will assume my problem is solved.

But before I put this affair behind me, here are a few anecdotes, rumors and lessons that I picked up along the way:

1. Treo and Cingular cleared rushed the Treo out to market too quickly. And it just didn't hurt customers like myself; dealers were also burned because when this problem first surfaced they simply assumed the devices were broken and exchanged them for new devices resulting in lost sales of those new devices (which are in hot demand). Which leads me to...
2. Do the folks at Palm or Cingular ever take a moment to read the Treo message boards like TreoCentral or Howard Forums. Had they done so, they would have spotted this problem early on and saved me and potentially thousands of others a great deal of frustration and wasted time.
3. And why aren't the dealers reading the same message boards? Some of them don't even read the email they get from Cingular because at least two of them had to be educated by their customers. One customer actually brought in a printout of a message board posting to prove that there was a SIM card issue. When the customers know more about the product than the dealers, something is wrong with Cingular's chain of communication.
4. The Palm and Cingular support Web sites could not be less supportive if they tried. Now, if I have a problem with my Treo, I don't even bother going to their Web sites; I just go to the message boards.
5. I've read a rumor that Palm has a software patch in the works for the the Cingular Treo 650.
6. If you've got a Treo that is beyond SIM repair, you might find that dealer is "all out" of replacement Treos. But they may be lying. Yes, there is a rush on these things but dealers are also reluctant to use Treos as replacements because they want to sell them. One customer resorted to calling Cingular dealers as a prospective new customer; once he located a dealer who had a Treo 650, he told them to hold it and when he arrived to replace his Treo, they couldn't give him the old "sorry, we're all out" routine (which they actually tried).
7. I think if Apple does get into the cellular business, it will do well. It has a distribution network of highly trained employees who really understand computers (as opposed to cellular dealers who typically know less about Treos than their customers). And it builds computers that don't crash. PalmSource hasn't figured that one out yet. I did read that PalmSource is looking at Linux as a future OS; this would be a big step forward in creating an operating system that doesn't crash when a software conflict rears its ugly head.
8. Finally, despite all the trouble, despite all the time spent on hold, I do like Treo 650 a lot and Cingular coverage in Escondido is pretty darn good. Fingers crossed.

Thanks for the all comments and emails.

Dave Mock has published what I believe is the first authoritative book on Qualcomm and how it got to be the success that it is today. The book is titled The Qualcomm Equation and I hope to have a review shortly.

If you've purchased a Treo recently from Cingular and are having problems, read this post...

Two weeks ago I took the plunge and purchased the Treo 650 from Cingular. I don't have to repeat the many glowing reviews this device has received. What did it for me was knowing that there would be a Wi-Fi plug-in available later this year. Here's one that's on the way.

The first week with the Treo was mostly positive. Syncing is a challenge with any device, particularly if you are a Mac user. PalmSource gave up supporting Macs last year, so I had to go to a third party to get software to sync my calendar and contacts. As a Mac user, I'm accustomed to these little exercises.

After about a week the troubles began. I would go to dial a number and the phone would reset on me. Just like that. The screen goes black and then it boots up again. For a moment there I had a flashback to my Windows Me days.

To make matters worse, the voicemail phone number would change on me randomly, displaying everything from international numbers to a string of zeros.

So I went to the Cingular and PalmOne Web sites and found nothing of help. There was clearly a software glitch - perhaps a conflict between the SIM card and the Palm OS. This is in many ways the worst possible problem, because it falls in between the cracks of the device manufacturer and the carrier. In fact, when I finally did get ahold of Cingular, they initially told me that I had a faulty device and that I should return it.

Then I discovered Treo forums here and here. And I quickly realized that I wasn't alone. Between the forums I estimate that I have found close to a hundred people who have buggy Treo 650s. Granted, it's very hard to tell what's a legitimate bug or software conflict or naive user, but based on reading these countless postings, I can't help but think that Palm and Cingular rushed out this handset a bit too quickly.

One user goes to Cingular the other day and finds that corporate has sent an email to all dealers telling them that the SIM card is causing problems. The dealers have been sent a stack of Axalto SIM cards to exchange with the existing Gemplus SIM cards.

So once I heard this I went over to my local dealer and was met with a blank stare, until I found the manager who just happened to have read the same email that morning. They swapped the cards and the problem went away, sorta.

I had to go home and do a hard reset, that is, erase all the settings and software I had set up, and the phone worked again. Needless to say, I was relieved, until I ran a sync operation and all the old files and settings were pushed back onto the Treo. Suddenly, the same old problems came back to life. Once user on the forum said I need to reinstall my backup software as well (which for me meant reinstalling two applications all over again). Instead, I tried to remove just the backup files and this seemed to do the trick.

It has been three days and I've only had on random reset.

I've been in touch with PalmOne PR and hope to have more information soon. What I want to know is this:

1. How severe is this problem? How many people need to be changing SIM cards?
2. Why didn't PalmOne and Cingular notify everyone the minute they discovered this problem? How many people right now are waiting on hold with Cingular cursing their Treos?
3. Did Cingular pull the Treo off its Web site yesterday because of this problem or because of supply shortages? They'll probably say it's because of shortages, but I can't help but wonder.

Anyway, I hope this isn't a big problem, though it certainly has been a big one for me. And I'm still wondering if I should just return the thing the get on with my life (I've wasted a good 10 hours on hold, at the dealer, and futzing with the device). But, most of all, I hope other frustrated Treo users out there read this post and get to their dealer if they're having problems.

David Isenberg gave us the the Rise of the Stupid Network. Ambient Devices is giving rise to the stupid device.

While wireless phones get smarter, other wireless devices are getting dumber.
The Ambient Orb represents what I believe will be a growing segement of wireless devices -- those that do a great deal less, but do it really well.

Ambient Devices is in many ways a mobile virtual network operator (MVNO). It owns no network; instead, it leases network access from another carrier (MetroCall's paging network).

The orb literally needs no instruction manual because it ships programmed to do just one thing, such monitor the stock market or the weather. You just plug it in and it does the rest. Now, if you want to the orb to represent different data streams, such as the pollen count or a specific stock, you need to set up an online account with Ambient.

I would like to see Ambient extend this functionality to home wireless networks and consumer devices. For example, I would like to have some orb by the back door that glows if I've left any appliance or light on in the house - so I don't end up leaving that house and then coming back twenty minutes later. I would also like smoke detectors that change color based on how much battery life is left.

I'm sure they're working on it...

I've been putting the new Canary Wireless Wi-Fi detector through its paces and it is clearly a big improvement over other Wi-Fi detectors. Still, I think it's just a bit too bulky to find its way into my pocket on a regular basis.

It's quite a bit bigger than it appears here:

A close-Up of the LCD screen:

It does provides a great deal more information than any other detector, like signal strength and SSID. And the device does a nice job of turning itself off to conserve power.

But the size is a sticking point with me. And the LCD screen desperately needs a backlight; and because the LCD is recessed you'll need direct overhead lighting to read the display properly.

Waiting for cellphones to offer Wi-Fi detection
The HP iPAQ provided the first glimpse of a handset that could function as a decent Wi-Fi detector. But we need more handsets to begin supporting Wi-Fi, despite carrier reservations. I was disappointed at CES to find that Blackberry still has no projected date for a Wi-Fi-enabled device. And although the Treo will have an "official" Wi-Fi plug-in later this year, I'm not hearing much enthusiasm from the Palm people regarding embedding the technology. Benq demoed a device at CES, but it wasn't ready for prime time.

So I'll keep waiting and, until then, will occasionally carry along my Canary Wireless.

Another hotel chain has announced that it would offer free Wi-Fi. Microtel Inn & Suites said it will offer free Wi-Fi in all hotel rooms, along with free domestic local/long distance across all 275 locations. Despite what the hotel's press release says, this is not a "first" in the hotel industry. Far from it, this is a global industry trend that continues to gain momentum.

Hotel GMs know that people are making hotel choices based on Internet access in general and Wi-Fi in particular. And GMs are learning that it is easier to bundle "free" access into the room rate than try to nickel and dime the guests. I can attest to that; I recently stayed at two business hotels in Japan, both of which offered free in-room Internet access and free Wi-Fi in the lobbies.

The higher-end hotel chains (Four Seasons, Fairmont, Ritz) continue to hold their ground on paid Internet access, but I don't believe even this will last.

I see that the WiMAX backlash is in full effect. I agree with much of the criticism and I certainly have my share of issues with the folks at the WiMAX Forum, but I think we are now witnessing a backlash bubble of sorts.

Yes, interoperability testing is behind schedule and, yes, PR hacks and reporters continue to over-promise the near-term benefits of WiMAX. But I also find that much of the criticism of WiMAX is based on a developed-market view of telecommunications. The US has a plethora of wired and wireless options and, with DSL prices continuing to fall, it is not surprising that a profitable WiMAX business model is tough to imagine in many markets.

But when you look at markets without a fixed line infrastructure, the picture changes dramatically. In these markets, cost per bit isn't near where it needs to be to drive deployments of 3G or proprietary fixed wireless networks. Wi-Fi can fill some of these gaps, but it's not carrier-ready, particularly regarding VoIP. WiMAX is technically sound and an excellent carrier technlogy for supporting VoIP. The issues behind the WiMAX Forum delays right now have to do with bickering over spectrum, scope, control, marketing -- all important stuff, but not insurmountable.

Steve Stroh writes that emerging markets need cheap wireless broadband. I believe that WiMAX will be one of the technologies that serves that need.

And back to developed markets. I also have every reason to believe that our wireless consumption will continue to escalate at a rate that will compel all carriers to look at WiMAX to share the load. But this will take time. While it is tempting to say WiMAX will fail because it's behind schedule, many people said (and continue to say) the very same thing about 3G.

As reported in the WSJ last week, a group of California Verizon Wireless customers are suing their carrier for selling them a "disabled" Motorola V710 handset.

So let me get this right, the first "Bluetooth-enabled" handset that Verizon Wireless brought to market was disabled?

That's right.

The lawsuit rightfully contends that when a carrier advertises Bluetooth support that is must support the degree of Bluetooth that consumers come to expect. In other words, just leave the technology alone and let it work as it was intended.

Verizon wants customers to use Bluetooth only for wireless handset capabilities, not for syncing their handsets with their computers or, worse, downloading ring tones and other "premium" content from outside Verizon's walled garden. As one customer said, "It's like buying an SUV that can't go in the mud."

This is a timely lawsuit and should serve notice to all service providers who believe that consumers will passively consume what wireless features they are fed. Thanks to Wi-Fi and other wireless devices, consumers are growing both savvy and demanding about wireless technology. They know what Bluetooth is capable of and they're going to be pretty upset if anyone stands in the way of that functionality. The same goes for Wi-Fi, which is gradually making its way into carrier portfolios.

Cellular carriers want to think of themselves as cable operators, who charge a monthly fee for "basic" connectivity plus make a bunch more money from "premium content." But the walled garden only works when there are walls, and thanks to a new wave of fixed wireless upstarts and newly motivated incumbents, like SBC and BellSouth, no carrier (wired or wireless) will win by walling in their customers.

The carriers of the future will tear down the walls between wired and wireless, TV and computer, home and work. The carriers of the future will function as personal systems integrators, selling services and not pipes. Verizon Wireless and Vodafone kid themselves in thinking they can control the handset manufacturers and, as a result, the consumers; it is a stopgap measure at best. Every disabled device represents a disabled business model. The walls will fall down.

Dave Mock writes in support of municipal wireless. I'm also glad to see Intel throwing its weight in support of cities that want to take control of their airspace. I'm not saying all cities should get into the ISP business; I'm just saying that they should have the freedom to hire whatever service providers they want to deploy and manage their wireless networks. The incumbents had their chance to be innovative and aggressive and they blew it. And, frankly, they simply can't move quickly enough to support all the applications that cities want to support over these networks.

Litigation may impede innovation, but it won't stop it. Cities and states watch one another and they will quickly learn that those that are not restricted by Pennsylvania-like legislation are improving their tax base by attracting citizens lured by low-cost or free wireless, are improving city services by saving money on municipal employee communications, providing broadband to their police and emergency services people at a fraction of the cost of 3G networks, and improving security, asset tracking, and, well, the list goes on.

This is a revolution and, like most revolutions, it is encountering fierce resistance. But the incumbents are too late to ban muni-wireless in every state. Wi-Fi created a monster: a more savvy wireless consumer. Once people install Wi-Fi in their homes they realize that wireless isn't quite so complicated after they. These people go to work and they demand Wi-Fi there as well. It is only natural for cities to fall in love with home networking.

Savvy wireless consumers are a fact of life and those service providers who learn to speak up to consumers rather than talk down to consumers will be the providers who succeed in the years ahead.

Chinese telecoms vendor ZTE has announced that it will begin cranking out WiMAX gear using Intel chips.

I'm glad to see ZTE gearing up for commercial WiMAX gear. I think that this company in particular will play a large role in helping WiMAX live up to its hype. That's because ZTE has built a nice global business on undercutting the Nortels of the world with less-expensive gear. If WiMAX is going to succeed big, it needs to be disruptively inexpensive and ZTE is just the company to get it there.

I also believe that ZTE's larger goal for WiMAX is to leverage the technology to help it gain handset market share. WiMAX, as I've said before, is the "poor carrier's 3G." Many carriers want to offer 3G-like services but simply can't justify the 3G equipment prices. WiMAX might fill that gap quite nicely.

For instance, a "limited mobility" technology known as PHS has been successful in China because it allows carriers to offer consumers a cellular service at low cost with a low geographic range. ZTE just happens to be the market leader with PHS in China. WiMAX could very well be viewed by ZTE as the next-generation PHS.

WiMAX has often been viewed as competitive to 3G or DSL networks. But I've always asked the question: Why can't a service provider use both?

Well, it looks like Lucent has been asking that same question. They just announced a partnership with Alvarion to begin merging WiMAX with their existing 3G and wireline portfolio. This is great news for Alvarion.

Here's the full release:

Lucent Technologies to Integrate Alvarion's WiMAX-Ready Platform into Its Converged Networking Portfolio

Lucent and Alvarion Partner to Deliver Converged Networking Solution That Enables Service Providers to Complement Existing 3G Mobile and Wireline Networks with WiMAX   

MURRAY HILL, N.J -- Jan. 11, 2005--Lucent Technologies (NYSE: LU) today announced its plans to integrate WiMAX technology, based on the IEEE's 802.16 standard, through Alvarion's (NASDAQ:ALVR) BreezeMAX(TM) product line -- into its Accelerate(TM) Next Generation Communications Solutions portfolio, which includes Lucent's industry-leading IP Multimedia Subsystem (IMS) solution. Lucent's IMS-based convergence solution, which will include support for WiMAX, can help service providers deliver seamless communications services across a variety of wireless and wireline networks and enables the introduction of new converged "lifestyle" service bundles that can increase customer satisfaction and reduce customer churn.

Lucent will team with Alvarion, a market leader in wireless broadband networks, to deliver a converged networking solution to service providers that includes the seamless interoperability of WiMAX, third-generation (3G) mobile (CDMA2000(R) and W-CDMA/UMTS), WiFi and wireline networks. Additionally, as part of this initiative, Lucent Worldwide Services (LWS) will provide a comprehensive suite of deployment, maintenance, and professional services to support WiMAX infrastructure and applications, further extending LWS' multi-vendor services capabilities in important growth markets.

"WiMAX clearly complements existing and emerging 3G mobile and wireline networks, and can play a significant role in helping our customers deliver converged service offerings that can be accessed using a broad range of devices on a wide variety of networks," said John Marinho, vice president of strategic marketing for Lucent Technologies. "Our Bell Labs expertise, industry-leading IMS portfolio, best-in-class 3G mobile and broadband wireline solutions, and end-to-end services capabilities place Lucent in the best position to implement WiMAX technology as part of a converged networking solution. We're very excited to work with Alvarion because they are the front-runners and thought leaders in the WiMAX arena and this relationship will enhance our product portfolio."

BreezeMAX is Alvarion's 3G OFDM (orthogonal frequency division multiplexing) platform with advanced Non-Line-of-Sight (NLOS) functionality and a leading WiMAX-ready platform.

"Alvarion is pleased to be selected by Lucent for our outstanding WiMAX-ready product portfolio leveraged by our 10 plus years of experience in the wireless field," said Zvi Slonimsky, CEO of Alvarion. "No doubt this relationship will be a vehicle in the evolution of the fixed broadband wireless market to widespread availability of mobile broadband and reflects our commitment to the future of WiMAX."

The underlying foundation of Lucent's converged networking portfolio is the Lucent IMS solution, a service delivery platform that enables service providers to simply and cost-effectively introduce new voice over IP (VoIP) and multimedia services. Lucent's IMS solution enables operators to deliver services that blend voice and data capabilities, simplifying the creation of converged "lifestyle" service bundles. It also helps reduce the introduction costs and time-to-market for new services by leveraging a common applications infrastructure to deliver services with a common "look and feel" across 3G mobile, WiFi, WiMAX, and wireline networks.
 
Both companies are members of the WiMAX Forum(TM), an industry-led organization that facilitates the compatibility and certification of broadband wireless access equipment, with Alvarion holding several prominent positions on the board. The WiMAX Forum is expected to certify products as WiMAX Forum Certified(TM) later this year. By working with Alvarion and the WiMAX Forum, Lucent will ensure that WiMAX is compatible with 3G mobile and wireline networks, and that it meets service provider requirements for quality, reliability and performance.

The thing that always bugged me about the McDonald's Wi-Fi rollout was the lack of decent coffee. Well, that's about to change; according to USA Today premium coffee is on its way to 13,000 locations over the next 18 months.

Add premium coffee to Wi-Fi, along with plenty of seating, and McDonald's has a nice case for attracting road warriors. The ultimate key to success will be how the Wi-Fi is offered and for how much money. But based on SBC's early actions, I'm betting it's going to be a lot less expensive than what T-Mobile charges in Starbucks locations.

This from the folks at Hotel Online:

"Wireless HSIA continued its meteoric adoption rate, with ever more hotel chains adopting it as a brand standard, usually on a free-to-guest basis. It's not clear how much longer the hold-outs can still charge for the service, especially as they don't seem to provide any significantly better quality, speed or reliability in the connection."

I agree. The "hold-outs" will charge for Wi-Fi for at least another year or two. In doing so, they will slowly lose their loyal customers to upstart hotels who embrace free Wi-Fi as a competitive amenity. When the hold-outs awaken, they will have lost market share in exchange for minimal revenues.

Tech pundit Bob Cringley's annual predictions are always a good read. Here are his wireless predictions:

->WiMax will be a huge story by summer, but widespread adoption of the wireless networking technology will take at least another two years. In the meantime, though, nobody will make money on WiFi, but it will become ubiquitous anyway, especially with the arrival of 802.11n.
( I'm not sure WiMAX can be much more of a "huge" story than it is already. I would add that Wi-Fi will become known more for the applications it supports [see below] than for simply providing Internet access.)

-> VoIP will continue to shatter the telephone industry with the arrival of WiFi phones, which might finally be the killer app for hotspots. Eventually, all the backbone suppliers will figure out that VoIP is their salvation and will either start their own VoIP companies or ally with big VoIP players.
(I agree. Wi-Fi phones [standalone or embedded within PDAs and cellular handsets] are going to give carriers a reason to invest in hotspots; they're a lot cheaper than base stations and can often be partially supported by the venue.)

-> Two thousand five will NOT be the year for UltraWide Band (UWB) networking or Power Line Networking, but both will do really well in 2006.
(After spending time at CES, it's safe to say we'll see commercial UWB products, primarily for wireless USB. However, we will also see a blending of power line and UWB technology for pretty nifty hi-def home networking. But much of this will take until 2006 I'm afraid.)

You can read Bob's full list of predictions here.