Boingo, the global market leader in WiFi has collaborated with TATA Communications in India which will provide the existing Boingo users accessibility to over 500 TATA hotspots in India. TATA Communications has the biggest WiFi footprint in India and it provides broadband services in over 40 cities and dial up services in over 300 towns.

Boingo is a well-known name in this niche and it provides global Wi-Fi roaming, without the roaming fees to over 1,00,000 hotspots across the world.

D-Link is now going to be releasing their Green home network Wi-Fi routers which are now capable of saving up to 40 percent of power usage. D-Link is expanding its Green Initiative by including this eco-friendly aspect to its award-winning Xtreme N line of Wi-Fi Internet routers to decrease energy costs by reducing power consumption without sacrificing performance.

The Wi-Fi routers integrate D-Link Green Ethernet(TM) technology, an innovative energy-saving technology that automatically detects link status and network cable length, then adjusts power accordingly.

The D-Link routers also feature Wi-Fi scheduling that allows customers to easily program when the Wi-Fi radio signals are turned on and off to further save energy consumption. The products that are now available for shipping with Green technology are the D-Link Xtreme N Gigabit Router (DIR-655), D-Link Xtreme N Duo(TM) Media Router (DIR-855), and the D-Link Xtreme N Gaming Router (DGL-4500).

Along with this Green upgrade, these D-Link routers now support Internet Protocol version 6 (IPv6), a much larger address space that allows greater flexibility in allocating addresses and routing traffic, offering benefits such as hierarchical addressing structure, additional security and greater mobility.

Wow, this is a cool news for you coffee buffs.. Starbucks Stores starting from June 3rd, will be giving two hours of free Wi-Fi access per day to any Starbucks Card owner who uses the card for other store purchases at least once a month. This is not a promotional gimmick that just is limited to allow PC data cards or Apple’s iTunes-only usage like the one initiated last time, very unlike to that, this free Wi- Fi link will be available to any 802.11 device.

This is primarily being done to promote the new AT&Ts iPhone-specific plan that would give virtually unlimited access to Starbucks hotspots by identifying oneself as an AT&T iPhone customer cool stuff huh!

AT&T with the onset of 3G must be looking at eventually expand its subscriber base with Wi-Fi cellphones and data plans. AT&T and Starbucks have mutual benefit in driving customers to use the Wi-Fi points.

Samsung SGH-i550 looks remarkably like Sony Ericsson type, the Samsung i550 measures 115 x 53 x 13mm and has a large 1200 mAh battery.  The Samsung SGH-i550 was announced at the Symbian Smartphone Show in London, it is the  first GPS navigator-equipped smartphone from Samsung.

Samsung SGH-i550 will run on Symbian OS v9.2 and S60 3rd Edition with Feature Pack 1, which will give allow users to run plenty of S60 applications while providing quick and easy access to their favorites courtesy of dedicated hot keys.GPS navigation is voice activated and provides turn after turn guidance to drivers.

Samsung SGH-i550 sports HSDPA 3.6Mbps, 128MB RAM, a 2.6″ LCD display, a 3.2 megapixel camera along with video recording. This comes with 150MB of internal memory, and an integrated FM radio.

This cell phone is bound to be a success, Samsung i550 the Symbian S60 OS v9.2 smartphone with HSDPA high-speed data and GPS capabilities is one of the best launched cell phone today in the market.

Large 2.6″ 240 x 320 pixel display on the front, a 3.2 megapixel autofocus camera on the back and microSD expandable memory to complement the 150MB installed it is geared up for best performance.

Samsung  SGH-i550 has an advanced web browser and one-click access to multimedia functions. It has an email client, web browser and RSS news reader and you can expect a pretty good multimedia player too. For FM radio, the i550 supports a standard 3.5mm headphone plug.

Fring is a mobile application that provides free VoIP calling & instant messenger on cell phones. The recent release of fring is now available for Windows Mobile 5.0 and 6.0 series devices. This preview release truly brings VoIP experience to Windows based Smart phones and Pocket PCs allowing you to make calls over any 3G, GPRS or Wi-Fi Internet connection.

Fring has came a long way since our previous coverage and has continued to expand its offerings. It supports a wide range of mobile devices powered by Symbian or Windows mobile platform. It is also an instant messenger which supports multiple IM service providers and protocols including MSN, Skype, Gtalk, Twitter & SIP.

It supports chat and voice conversation with your friends on MSN, Skype, GTalk or fring’s network. You can make calls long distance PSTN or Mobile calls with SkypeOut or use a SIP provider like GizmoProject, SIPNET, VoipCheap, VoipStunt or FWD.

I use fring + VoipStunt on my Nokia and HTC Wizard phone over GPRS to make long distance VoIP Calls. It works flawlessly, the sound quality is good (if not best) and it does not consumes too much of phone’s resources or battery.

Give it a try… it’s fringing free!

Time Warner Cable Inc. will let its home broadband customers turn their connections into public wireless hotspots, a practice shunned by most U.S. Internet service providers.

For Fon, which has forged similar agreements with ISPs across Europe, the deal will boost its credibility with U.S. consumers.

For Time Warner Cable, which has 6.6 million broadband subscribers, the move could help protect the company from an exodus as free or cheap municipal wireless becomes more readily available.

Fon was founded in Spain in 1995 on the premise that people shouldn’t have to pay twice once at home, then again in a coffee shop — for Internet access. At first, the company offered software that let members, called Foneros, turn Wi-Fi routers into shared access points, but it took hours to get up and running.

In the fall of 2006, Fon, which counts Google Inc. and eBay Inc.’s Skype among its investors, started selling and sometimes giving away its own branded wireless router, called La Fonera. Since then, it has distributed about 370,000 of them worldwide.

La Fonera splits a Wi-Fi connection in two: an encrypted channel for the Fonero and a public one for neighbors or passers-by. Foneros can decide how much of their bandwidth to share with the public and can log on to any Fon router without charge. “Aliens,” as Fon calls nonmembers, can register on a Web page and pay a modest $2 or $3 for 24 hours of access.

In the U.S., where it costs $10 for a day pass to use a T-Mobile HotSpot at a Starbucks, Fon’s economics seem particularly appealing.

Starbucks Corp. and T-Mobile USA Inc. representatives responded that they provide a premium service, and that customers see value in paying for speed, security and reliability.Fon has about 60,000 Foneros in the U.S. In February, the company launched “Fonbucks,” a one-month router giveaway aimed at people who live above or next-door to a Starbucks. It was an amusing way to get more La Foneras into high-density areas, and it worked to the tune of 6,800 free routers.

But until now, ISPs in the U.S. have resisted the Fon model. Most big companies’ end-user license agreements prohibit subscribers from sharing their connection outside the home or business. Verizon Communications Inc., for example, can terminate contracts if it finds an ad-hoc hotspot.

Those policies are antiquated and don’t mesh with the reality of untold thousands of people using their neighbors’ unsecured Wi-Fi connections, Rees argues.

“It’s a dirty secret how much leeching” goes on, Rees said. She said ISPs should embrace Fon because the routers, which require that “aliens” enter a valid credit card number before getting online, put a sharp stop to the leeching. And getting free access to the worldwide network of La Fonera routers encourages people to get or keep a broadband connection at home.

In the Time Warner deal expected to be announced Monday, Fon and the cable company will split what “aliens” pay to use the hotspots. Rees said the two companies are still working out details on how the partnership will be marketed. Time Warner Cable spokeswoman Maureen Huff confirmed the broad outlines of the deal but declined to discuss any details.

Time Warner may be looking ahead to the not-so-distant future when some of the 300 or so municipal wireless projects — featuring free or at least inexpensive broadband — being considered today become reality.

Source: AP

Fujitsu Microelectronics America has begun shipping the first commercially available WiMax baseband system-on-chip (SoC) component.

Equipment manufacturers including solutions provider Texas Instruments, WiMax systems provider Orza Networks and WiMax customer premises maker Sun Create Electronics have ordered the chips, according to Fujitsu.

The 5.8GHz WiMax SoC from Fujitsu is based on the WiMax Forum’s worldwide system profile. The chip can support full base station designs as well as subscriber unit implementations.

Fujitsu said that its SoC, which supports frequencies ranging from 2GHz to 11GHz in both licensed and unlicensed bands, is now being used in the industry’s first commercially available fixed WiMax CPE supporting the 5.8GHz band.

A new company called AutoNet announced to release a Mobile In-Car Router, which is claimedto be the first Wi-Fi router designed to provide uninterrupted Internet access in cars.

Rather than use the often short range of traditional Wi-Fi hotspots, AutoNet’s network switch connects to 3G cellular data network towers and automatically bridges between towers and networks.

The technology can provide downstream speeds as quick as 1Mbps and reaches enough cellular towers to cover 95% of the entire country reaching even rural areas well away from major cities, AutoNet says.

The router will be available in March for $399 and will require a $50 per month plan for constant service; Avis Rent A Car, however, will also begin renting cars in March equipped with AutoNet’s service for an additional $11 per day.

WiMAX Forum Certified products from Aperto Networks Inc, a provider of WiMAX base stations and subscriber units, are being deployed by BSNL, a telecomms service provider in India.

The PacketMAX base stations and subscriber units are being deployed across four rural areas and six cities in India following Aperto’s successful bid in a BSNL tender issued in 2004.

The WiMAX equipment is initially being supplied to Ahmedabad (in Gujarat), Bangalore (in Karnataka), Chennai (in Tamil Nadu), Hyderabad (in Andhra Pradesh), Kolkata (in West Bengal) and Pune (in Maharastra). The deployment is due to be completed in January 2007 and will also incorporate four rural districts in the State of Haryana.

Aperto’s PacketMAX 5000 high-density, high-capacity, high-performance base stations will be deployed along with its PM 300 subscriber units and WaveCenter EMS Pro element management system.

BSNL will use the WiMAX network to provide value-added, high-bandwidth data communications services including MPLS, VPN, Internet access and leased line, along with VoIP, e-commerce, e-education, e-governance and telemedicine.

Samsung P9000 is not a cellphone, but it can show what all one can do when WiMAX hits the mainstream in handsets. The P9000 is a mini PC with an interesting triple-fold design. it has Windows XP Home Edition as operating system, it also has a 5″ 65k color 800×480 pixel resolution display, and a 30GB hard drive. A 1.3 megapixel camera is also featured, as is Bluetooth and a mini-USB port.

The Samsung P9000 also includes CDMA2000 1xEV-DO wireless connectivity over the 1900MHz frequency band to complement the high-speed data WiMAX provides with voice communication capabilities for users. An I/O Pack is also available that adds ports like the VGA monitor connector shown in the photos on the following page.

WiMAX is the name of the certification label that covers the IEEE 802.16 standard. The Mobile WiMAX standard, known as 802.16e, improves upon the original standard that was designed for fixed applications by implementing Scalable OFDMA (Orthogonal Frequency Division Multiple Access). This allows Mobile WiMAX far greater efficiency in mobile and non-line of sight applications. Mobile WiMAX is currently being investigated as the evolution of current 3G data standards for the handsets of tomorrow - Sprint Nextel has shown the most interest in the US market, announcing that it will be spending approximately US$3 billion over the next few years in an effort to establish a WiMAX network. Wimax is truely the future of Wifi.

Mobile WiMAX is attractive to providers as a 4G data network standard because of its increased bandwidth over current 3G networks. Mobile WiMAX offers a theoretical peak downlink speed of 70Mbps, with 10Mbps being a more attainable figure in real world conditions. Compared with the peak downlink speed of UMTS (one of the current 3G data standards) of 3.6Mbps, you can see the obvious difference.

Mobile WiMAX is a completely different technology than current mobile broadband networks, so there is an increased expenditure needed to establish networks…and this will take some time..