News on Wi-Fi updated from major sources around the net
17 city buses in Eau Claire now have free Wi-Fi, meeting the needs of the changing face of mass transit riders. The city hopes to have all 22 buses equipped with Wi-Fi by the end of September so that no matter where people go on the buses, they stay connected.
Eau Claire Transit manager Mike Branco said commuters on-the-go can now check their emails, catch up on the news or even check social media through their mobile devices while riding the bus.
“Any mobile device, computer, you can work on your way to work which is kind of neat. It’s basically instant access,” said Branco who had been working on getting Wi-Fi to the city for the last couple of years.
He said it costs around $300 to equip each of the 22 buses with Wi-Fi. It comes out to a nearly $7000 flat fee which he said fit right into the Eau Claire Transit budget.
As 802.11ac devices and access points begin storming the market, it’s important to understand the technology differences in the new standard, as well as the network design considerations that will have to be made to enable the throughput gains promised. In this webinar, we’ll take a deep dive into how to design your network to support 802.11ac with tips on: architecture, the wired network, deployment, AP placement and RF design.
The 802.11ac standard includes complex technology that will eventually allow multi-Gigabit data transfer, but not all aspects of the specification will be available on day one. Similar to 802.11n, which began with two spatial stream devices capable of 300 Mbps and eventually saw maturation to three spatial streams capable of 450 Mbps, 802.11ac will see an initial first wave of products that are capable of 1.3 Gbps with future maturation possibly up to 6.9 Gbps. Whether or not we will actually see 802.11ac products capable of 6.9 Gbps is dependent on hardware enhancements on both the access point and client that are not certain.
First generation 802.11ac products will achieve 1.3 Gbps through the use of three spatial streams, 80 MHz wide channels (double the largest 40 MHz channel width with 802.11n), and use of better hardware components that allow higher levels of modulation and encoding (256-QAM). The 802.11ac amendment also simplifies implementation of standards-based beamforming for manufacturers by focusing on a single form of explicit beamforming, and eliminating the complex number of beamforming methods detailed in 802.11n. This should allow AP and client manufacturers to align on a single interoperable method.
Future releases of 802.11ac will enable even higher bandwidth by allowing up to eight spatial streams, 160 MHz wide channels, and simultaneous transmission to multiple clients by an access point, called Multi-User MIMO (MU-MIMO). In a few years, the realistic benefits for enterprises will likely be four and five spatial stream products with network designs still primarily based around 20 MHz and 40 MHz wide channels. MU-MIMO deserves special attention because it will mark a significant milestone in wireless technology that will allow greater performance through the use of parallel transmissions to two different receivers from the same transmitter. For example, an AP that is capable of 3 spatial streams (3X3:3) could transmit 1 spatial stream to three different clients that are only capable of 1 spatial stream each, concurrently. This will allow enterprises to better-serve large client populations in high-density environments.
During the first session of Wireless Field Day 5, Fluke Networksannounced a slew of upgrades to the AirMagnet Survey software package. They geared the updates towards the coming torrent of 802.11ac devices and are touting the ability to measure real world experience from an end user’s view point.They started off with a quick intro but wasted no time diving into the problems we face now and stand to face in the near future with the 802.11ac push that’s bearing down on us. To solve these issues Fluke’s AirMagnet team has made some key updates to their site survey software. The newest release will fully support 802.11ac. In order to add this capability they’ve updated and applied their lifecycle approach to wireless network planning, preparation, deployment, and optimization/troubleshooting.
One of the largest concerns with the coming changes is the media and marketing around 802.11ac. The promises of blazing fast networks with speeds exceeding 1Gbps and cell size increases are driving consumers (and in turn, executives) to buy in without a real understanding. With 80 and even 160MHz channels on their way, proper planning is that much more crucial. The predictability of wireless networks is likely going to be noticably impacted due to varied environments, channel mis-allocations, coverage over performance deployments, improper cell sizing, and in the distant future wired network capacity could become a real issue. To ease the transition, whether it’s a slow transition, a forklift replacement, or waiting for a normal refresh cycle, Fluke’s new features take into account these new challenges and give you the information needed to move forward.
The Michigan Department of Transportation is spending about $1 million to install Wi-Fi on the state's Amtrak trains by January. Improving Internet access should increase ridership and produce higher revenues that more than offset the cost, department spokesman Nick Schirripa told MLive.com (http://bit.ly/1dQjCxu ).
Amtrak gets state and federal subsidies and has three routes in Michigan. The Blue Water runs from Port Huron to Chicago, the Pere Marquette from Grand Rapids to Chicago and the Wolverine from Pontiac to Chicago.
17 city buses in Eau Claire now have free Wi-Fi, meeting the needs of the changing face of mass transit riders. The city hopes to have all 22 buses equipped with Wi-Fi by the end of September so that no matter where people go on the buses, they stay connected.
Eau Claire Transit manager Mike Branco said commuters on-the-go can now check their emails, catch up on the news or even check social media through their mobile devices while riding the bus.
“Any mobile device, computer, you can work on your way to work which is kind of neat. It’s basically instant access,” said Branco who had been working on getting Wi-Fi to the city for the last couple of years.
He said it costs around $300 to equip each of the 22 buses with Wi-Fi. It comes out to a nearly $7000 flat fee which he said fit right into the Eau Claire Transit budget.
