RCR Wireless News compiles the 10 most popular handsets in the United States for the month of October. Rankings were provided by AvianResearch.

Research In Motion has held the top spot on the ranking for five straight months, with the BlackBerry Pearl topping the list in April, and the Blackberry Curve dominating the list from May through October.

Although most of October’s top 10 phones were present on the list last month, the HTC’s G1 (Android), the LG Env2 and the HTC Diamond made their first appearances that month.

Meanwhile, the LG Rumor, Palm Centro and Nokia 5310 have dropped off the list from last month.

1. RIM Blackberry Curve: AT&T, Verizon Wireless, Sprint Nextel, T-Mobile, others
2. Apple iPhone: AT&T Mobility
3. LG Dare: Verizon Wireless
4. Samsung Instinct: Sprint Nextel
5. LG Voyager: Verizon Wireless
6. RIM Blackberry Pearl: AT&T, Verizon Wireless, Sprint Nextel, T-Mobile, others
7. HTC G1 (Android) Not ranked: T-Mobile
8. LG Env2 (Not ranked): Verizon Wireless
9. LG Shine: AT&T Mobility
10. HTC Diamond: Alltel, Sprint Nextel, others

RCR Wireless News has more.

Stuart Cohen, formerly CEO at Open Source Development Labs and currently CEO of Collaborative Software Initiative, says The Open Source Model Is Broken in article today in Business Week.

But the value is in the collaboration, not in open source itself. . .

On January 22, 2007, OSDL and the Free Standards Group merged to form The Linux Foundation, narrowing their respective focuses to that of promoting Linux in competition with Microsoft Windows.

While MSI’s upcoming U120 netbook is packing a 3G network card and a 10″ screen, MSI has even more interesting machines just around the corner, says Gizmodo.

Apparently due sometime in January, the U110 and U115 will run Atom Z530 chips, drawing less power than the “typical” N270 netbook processor. And they’ll pack a hybrid drive system, with the OS on fast SSD, a different graphic chipset and Draft-N Wi-Fi.

UMPC Portal has the specs:

• 1.6GHz Intel Atom Z530 CPU - more expensive but less power hungry chip (2w) than the Atom N270 (2.5w) which is in almost every netbook you see today
• 10″ screen (1024×600 )
• Poulsbo US15W chipset - Poulsbo in combination with the Z530 CPU will make for a total chipset drain of 4.3w
• Wi-Fi B/G/draft-N
• 6-cell battery
• Up to 250GB HDD for the U110
• Hybrid Storage - The U115 will feature SSD and HDD combinations. The idea is that the OS and programs can go on the smaller capacity SSD (8/16/32GB) for quick booting and program launching, then there will be plenty of room for media and other storage on the HDD (80/120/160GB). Computers such as the VAIO TZ have used a similar storage configuration. It will be important to the success of the U115 that this doesn’t consume too much power running both drives.

Meanwhile, Asus’ latest addition to its ever expanding Netbook line is the Eee PC 1002HA with a 10-inch screen, Atom N270 CPU, 1GB of RAM, 160GB hard drive, and Windows XP–but comes wrapped in a gray, brushed aluminum chassis. The $499 1002HA uses a tiny, 2-cell battery.

Atom-based Netbooks may have become too successful for Intel’s own good if it affects sales of their more expensive dual-core processors.

Stu Pann, vice president in the sales and marketing group at Intel, said his company sees the Netbook differently now, reports C/Net.

“We originally thought Netbooks would be for emerging markets and younger kids, and there is some of that. It turns out the bulk of the Netbooks sold today are Western Europe, North America, and for people who just want to grab and go with a notebook,” Pann said. “If you’ve ever used a Netbook and used a 10-inch screen size–it’s fine for an hour. It’s not something you’re going to use day in and day out.”

Outgoing FCC Chairman Kevin Martin is pushing for action on December 18th with a plan to auction spectrum for free wireless Internet service to all Americans, reports the Wall Street Journal.

The FCC plans to auction off the 2155-2175 MHz spectrum band (called AWS-3), to enable services similar to a plan offered by M2Z Networks, a start-up backed by Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers partner John Doerr.

T-Mobile is objecting to that move, on interference grounds. It paid $4 billion to lease the adjacent AWS-1 spectrum for 3G use. Some consumer groups object to the FCC’s proposal on censorship grounds.

But FCC engineers concluded that such a service would not interfere with other carriers (pdf report).

The free Internet plan is the most controversial issue the agency will tackle in December says the WSJ. Martin shelved plans to consider other controversial issues, including a request by the Hollywood studios to hobble TVs and set-top boxes so studios can offer copy-protected theatrical releases sooner.

At its December meeting, the FCC could also consider new rules designed to speed up consideration of disputes between independent cable programmers and cable providers such as Time Warner Cable and Comcast, which either refuse to carry some channels or put them on specialty tiers of service that cost subscribers more.

The agency also will ask for more feedback on its proposal to require programmers to sell their channels to cable operators individually instead of in bundles.

The FCC had issued a rule making on the topic back in June with a proposal that would create two tiers of wireless Internet service. The lowest tier would provide free wireless broadband for the 100 million Americans who don’t have access to broadband right now, and a carrier would sell access to the faster tier for all comers. The rule making was similar to a proposal created by M2Z Networks.

M2Z put forward a plan to use the 25 Mhz chunk (2155-2180 Mhz) using TDD Mobile WiMAX. It proposed free service (funded by advertising), as well as pay tiers.

In May, 2006, M2Z asked the FCC to give it a national 25 megahertz block of airwaves. The start-up said in lieu of payment, it would pay the Treasury 5% off the top. The idea of handing out airwaves potentially worth billions didn’t go over very well at the agency. But in May, 2008, Martin proposed auctioning off the airwaves to a company willing to set aside some of its airwaves for free use. The network would have to reach 50% of the U.S. population in four years and 95% within a decade.

Related DailyWireless stories include; CellCos to Martin: Sit Down and Shut Up, FCC: Free Broadband at 2155-2180 MHz, MXtv Makes Its Move, Free 2155-2175 MHz!, The Free Triple Play, How to Fix Muni Wi-Fi, Wavion Beamforms Backhaul, San Jose International: Free Wi-Fi, Bill to Free 2155-2180 Mhz, M2Z Vrs FCC, Freesat: Free Satellite HD in UK, Freeview Goes HD, UK: Free For All, BSkyB: Free Broadband, Murdoch to Offer Free Broadband?, Equal Access Happy Talk, Broadband Wireless — Hello Goodbye, Frontline: Rumble in the Jungle, The OTHER Public Safety Band, Public Service Moves to 800Mhz, FCC Hangs Up Free M2Z Service, 2.1GHz for MuniFi?, and M2Z: Free Internet Now!, Pipeline Wireless: We’re 3.65 GHz, FCC: Go For 3.65GHz, Airspan, Free 3.65GHz Mapping Service, Who the MuniFi MAN?, WiMAX: No Satellite Interference says WARC, Intel’s Rural Connectivity Platform, Airspan Gets FCC Nod for 3.65 GHz, Pipeline Wireless: We’re 3.65 GHz, FCC: Go For 3.65GHz, Airspan, Free 3.65GHz Mapping Service, Who the MuniFi MAN?, WiMAX: No Satellite Interference says WARC, Intel’s Rural Connectivity Platform, Airspan Gets FCC Nod for 3.65 GHz, 3.65 GHz Gets Real, FCC: Non-exclusive 3.6GHz Licensing and 3.65 GHz Gets Real.

Today, Ben Wolff, CEO of Clearwire, held a conference call reviewing the $3.2B investment by Comcast, Time-Warner, Intel, Google, and Brighthouse Networks.

Wolff said their spectrum holdings were “twice that of the 700 Mhz spectrum which sold for almost $20B” and said that their all IP Network would deliver a compelling value proposition, “reinventing wireless”. By combining spectrum from Sprint Nextel, Clearwire “now has 100 MHz or more of 4G spectrum in most markets across the U.S.”

But Wolff said LTE will be an option for the future. “This isn’t a case where one technology will win and one will loose,” said Wolff, after reiterating his company’s commitment to WiMAX. WiMAX, he said, was here now with 80 suppliers and 400 products, and has been proven to work well in Baltimore. Wolff said dual-band, CDMA/WiMAX cards, will be available next year for roaming out of WiMAX territory.

Portland, Oregon, will launch Clearwire’s Mobile WiMAX this month (December), with Atlanta and Las Vegas to follow early next year, according to Wolff on this morning’s conference call. Grand Rapids, Michigan wasn’t mentioned (a dispute with iPCS over competition in that market is ongoing).

The Sprint Xohm brand, will be fused into the new Clearwire Corporation and branded “Clear”. The new board, which was just announced today, would make the decision when to launch Sprint’s Washington DC and Chicago markets. Most of the $3.2B cash infusion would go to the network buildout said Wolff.

Clearwire’s Board of Directors will initially have eight members. Clearwire founder and wireless pioneer, Craig McCaw, is non-executive chairman of the board. Along with McCaw, other directors are Dan Hesse, Sprint’s chief executive officer; Keith Cowan, Sprint’s president, strategy and corporate development; John Stanton, chairman and chief executive officer of Trilogy Equity Partners and former chairman and chief executive officer of VoiceStream and Western Wireless; Sean Maloney, executive vice president, chief sales and marketing officer of Intel; Frank Ianna, former president of network services for AT&T; Jose A. Collazo, former head of BT Global Services and former chairman, president and chief executive officer of Infonet Services Corporation; and Dennis Hersch, former global chairman of mergers and acquisitions for JP Morgan. An additional five seats on the board are expected to be filled in the coming weeks.

Wolf stressed the company’s independence, claiming decisions would be made by the company and not investors. Clearwire remains headquartered in Kirkland, Wash. It will continue to have a focused technology and east coast deployment presence in Herndon, Va.

Clearwire’s new mobile WiMAX services will be branded “Clear”. The Clear brand will apply to all new mobile WiMAX services to be offered by Clearwire in the U.S. and will be phased in to those markets where Clearwire offers pre-WiMAX services, as these existing markets are upgraded to mobile WiMAX technology.

Amazon.com is offering a so-called Black Friday special on Eye-Fi Share:
The 2 GB Wi-Fi-enabled Secure Digital card normally runs $90; it's $65 while the sale lasts.

Given that Eye-Fi introduced a limited-time-only 4 GB "Anniversary" model that replaced the 2 GB Share version in its current line-up, and that the Anniversary model was $130 list but $100 for Costco members, it's pretty clear that the 2 GB won't re-appear, the 4 GB model will drop in price, and Amazon's acting as a clearance center.

The Eye-Fi Share lets you upload pictures over a local network to a designated computer, or upload via a Wi-Fi network for which the Eye-Fi is configured to connect over the Internet to Eye-Fi's servers, and from there to a specified photo-sharing, social-network, or photo-printing service.

I'm a fan of the Eye-Fi, although I favor the currently $130 Explore model (see my review), which comes with geotagging (via Skyhook Wireless) and adds a year of included uploading via Wayport locations (now part of AT&T).

Copyright ©2008 Glenn Fleishman. All rights reserved. Please notify us if you find this content anywhere but at wifinetnews.com or wimaxnetnews.com. Reproduction of full articles from RSS feeds is prohibited without permission.

Clearwire and Sprint Nextel announced today that they have completed the transaction to combine their next-generation wireless Internet businesses. With the closing, Sprint contributed all of its 2.5 GHz spectrum and its WiMAX-related assets, including its XOHM business, to Clearwire. In addition, Clearwire has received a $3.2 Billion cash investment from Comcast, Intel, Time Warner Cable, Google and Bright House Networks.

The transaction with Sprint and the new cash investment were completed on the terms originally announced on May 7, 2008. The new company retains the name Clearwire and remains headquartered in Kirkland, Washington. The deal (pdf), announced in May, will provide funding for Sprint and Clearwire to build the network and allow cable providers to offer wireless services to help them compete with rivals AT&T and Verizon. It will use Sprint’s existing broadcast wireless towers and its wired fiber network.

On Monday, December 1, 2008, at 10 a.m. Eastern Time (7 a.m. Pacific Time), Clearwire will hold a conference call for press and industry analysts to share its perspective and provide other details about the new company.

Sprint, which had earlier said they’d spend some $5 billion by 2010 building their WiMAX network across the United States, will now own about 51 percent of the new company. Sprint’s new partners will invest some $3 billion. Clearwire will own about 27 percent. Comcast, Time Warner Cable, Intel, Google and Bright House will get a combined 22 percent.

The partners have put the value of the deal at $12 billion, a figure that includes radio spectrum and equipment provided by Sprint Nextel and Clearwire, and the $3.2 billion invested by the partners.

Clearwire will be the only company allowed to sell 4G access as a standalone service, according to Sprint CTO Berry West. Sprint will essentially access the network as a mobile virtual network operator (MVNO), selling combined 3G and 4G access plans. Clearwire CEO Ben Wolff told the Seattle Times that, ultimately, the company could “get to 20,000 or 30,000 employees” nationally. Clearwire has about 2,000 employees now, including 350 to 400 at its Kirkland headquarters. Sprint has about 700 in its WiMax unit, including a research and development group in Herndon, Va.

Clearwire’s next rollout is expected to be in Portland, Oregon, early next year, where the company has been testing the system with partner Intel for the last year.

Analysis by Juniper Research indicates up to 12% of the global DSL installed base will be substituted by WiMAX by 2013. The Far East will lead with over one fifth of the 47 million subscribers in 2013.

The combined Mobile WiMAX network is expected to cover 120-140 million people in the U.S. by year-end 2010.

Related WiMax stories on Dailywireless include; Clearwire: Show Us the Money, Xohm Marks the Spot, Chicago Xohmed Next?, WiMAX Doomed? Not., Mobile WiMAX: Fast, Cheap and Out of Control?, Mobile WiMAX Cooking- But Still in the Kitchen, WiMAX Roundup, Australia Unwired, Australian Blowup, BT’s European WiMAX Plan, Backhaul Delays Xohm Rollout, Hesse on WiMAX, Sprint’s WiMAX Rollout?, Sprint-Clearwire Deal Dead, Sprint Considering WiMAX Spinoff?, Sprint Forces Forsee Out, WiMAX Demoed on Chicago River, The Launch, ICO Wants Its Mobile TV - via DVB-SH, Google Apps for Clearwire, Sprint WiMAX: It’s Called “Xohm”, Xohm “Partners”?, Death to WiMAX?, Verizon: It’s LTE, and Sprint: It’s WiMAX!

Intel’s open source Moblin platform is beginning to ship on consumer electronics products. The Linux-based platform is designed specifically for mobile Internet devices that use Intel’s Atom processor.

Gigabyte is preparing to release the M528, its first Moblin-based device, next week in Taipei. It has an 800Mhz Atom processor, 4GB internal storage, 512MB of RAM, a 3MP camera, and a 4.8-inch LCD touchscreen that supports a resolution of 800×480. It also has support for WiFi and 3G connectivity.

IDG reports that the product will be available for NT$12,900 (US$386) with a 2-year 3G service contract at Chunghwa stores in Taiwan. The device will face strong competition from Apple’s 3G iPhone, which is also set to launch through Chunghwa next month.

Gigabyte’s M700 features a 7” LED backlight display and an Express Card slot that supports both HSPDA and WiMAX.

Ofcom’s international communications market report indicates that 15 per cent of UK homes were mobile-only in 2007 - an increase of two per cent on the year before. Ofcom said it expects the worldwide economic downturn, coupled with the rise of mobile broadband that gives people fat pipe access without the need to have a landline, to further depress landline uptake.

Speaking at the Informa Mobile, Broadband & TV Industry Outlook conference in London today, Julian Herbert, principal analyst at Informa, said: “Telcos probably are beginning to think they can’t live without it [IPTV] in the current circumstances.”

Blockbuster on Tuesday launched its own direct-to-TV player, taking on rivals Netflix and Apple TV in time for the holiday shopping season.

The player was built in partnership with 2Wire, a company that provides software and hardware for delivering Web content to home TVs. The 2Wire MediaPoint player makes it possible for Blockbuster subscribers with a high-speed Internet connection to rent videos online and play them on their home TV. To lure customers, Blockbuster is offering the player at no charge for people who rent 25 online Blockbuster movies in advance for $99. After the initial rentals, movies are available for prices starting at $1.99 each.

“The player is simple to use, delivers DVD quality video, and there’s no monthly subscription commitment,” Jim Keyes, chairman and chief executive of Blockbuster, said in a statement.

Netflix streams movies from the Internet to TV sets with the Netflix Player from Roku and by partnering to offer its streaming service via Xbox.

Console-affiliated media portals such as Microsoft’s Xbox LIVE and Sony’s PlayStation Network will soon become formidable competitors to incumbent PayTV services, says Research and Markets.

The LIVE Netflix service on Microsoft’s Xbox leverages broadband-enabled game consoles bypassing cable and satellite TV operators by providing a more immersive, interactive video experience. Samsung has announced that its BD-P2500 and BD-P2550 Blu-ray Players will have access to movies and TV shows via Netflix in HD via a firmware update.

Sling.com has two key properties. The first is a well-stocked video portal to streamable TV content from a plethora of partners, including: Hulu, CBS, Discovery, Warner Bros, Sony, MGM, A&E, etc.

Its Live TV content works with a Slingbox. Traditionally, these devices allow users to use a software client to remotely stream content that originates from their home. You can view it through IE or Firefox under Windows XP and Vista (Mac support is coming) or via mobile phone.

Qwest Communications announced this week that it is bringing back lower promotional pricing for its broadband services, with 1.5 Mbps DSL for $14.99 a month for a year (regularly priced at $39.99 a month) and Qwest Connect Platinum with up to 7 Mbps for $24.99 a month for a year (regularly priced at $49.99 a month) to new customers. Telephony magazine says it is an acknowledgement of two realities: First, that the broadband connection becomes more important to consumers during tough times, and second, that a telco losing a broadband customer may lose that customer for good.

Motorola announced this week that the company has deployed its first WiMAX trial network for Vietnam Datacommunications Company (VDC), a member company of the Vietnam Posts and Telecommunications Group (VNPT), the largest Internet service provider (ISP) in Vietnam.

The network allows VDC to test next-generation wireless broadband services in major cities of Vietnam, the company said.

The launch of the WiMAX service follows the signing of an agreement between Motorola and VDC to commence a technical and commercial WiMAX trial in Hanoi and Ho Chi Minh City last year. Under the agreement, Motorola will install WiMAX Diversity Access Points and more than 100 customer premises equipment (CPE) in the nation’s two largest cities.

Motorola WiMAX 802.16e technology allows more people across the country access to faster Internet connections and other advanced telecom services, contributing to the country’s economic growth.
“Vietnam Datacommunications Company gains competitive advantages by being a pioneer in trialing and launching new WiMAX services, which will allow us to capture market opportunities in the next generation wireless broadband space,” Mr. Vu Hoang Lien, CEO, VDC.

Motorola says they now have 24 contracts for commercial WiMAX networks in 19 countries.

StarHub, Singapore’s second-largest mobile operator, and the sole cable TV provider in Singapore, has launched ‘Home Zone’, the world’s first commercially-available 3G femtocell service.

StarHub’s Home Zone service costs S$16.05 (US$10.62) per month with a 1-year contract. Users must also have a mobile-phone and broadband Internet accounts with StarHub for the service to work.

A Huawei 3G femtocell supplies cellular service in the home. A Starhub cable modem supplies backhaul.

Femtocells are similar to WiFi access points except they connect directly to a user’s 3G mobile phone. While services such as Voice-over-IP (VoIP) have been available for some years, these are restricted to VoIP-enabled mobile phones and generally use Wi-Fi. A 3G femtocell supports virtually all 3G-enabled phones. Customers don’t need to purchase special handsets.

Users who frequently make cell phone calls from home may save money by avoiding charges for cellular airtime with the femtocell service although StarHub still charges full mobile data rates for mobile downloads, MMS messages, and surfing the Internet using the cell phone. All local outgoing voice, video calls and SMS are free for customers using the ‘Home Zone’ service.

The subscriber can also nominate up to three other StarHub mobile numbers recognised by the ‘Home Zone’ service. This means that up to four StarHub 3G mobile users can call out simultaneously over a single ‘Home Zone’ connection. Hubbing families will be able to get more out of it with better cost-savings and convenience, says the company.

The commercial launch follows an extensive trial that began in May this year, says Unstrung, which also included femtocell devices from Huawei’s domestic rival ZTE. (See StarHub Starts Customer Femto Trial.)

Cellular operators like femtocells in that it transfers infrastructure costs to end users (who supply their own broadband backhaul). Comcast and Time-Warner Cable in the United States are also expected to adopt a femtocell approach for mobile Wi-Max handsets when they become available late next year. AT&T and Verizon are also expected to bundle femtocells with their broadband offerings.

I was digging around my basement looking for a USB extender and came across this gem: Anyone remember Tenzing? Anyone? First folks to put Internet access (sort of) on planes? Well, I do. Tenzing was a Seattle company that was later merged into what became OnAir (a Airbus/SITA joint venture).

Tenzing's ultimate goal was Internet access via satellite on planes, but they started with a clever workaround. Using Verizon AirFone's narrowband air-to-ground phone service and an onboard proxy server, Tenzing offered email on United and, I believe, Delta for a short period. The service offered subject lines for a small fixed fee (a few dollars a flight) along with the first part of a message, with longer messages being charged by the K.

The service didn't catch on fast enough, and then 9/11 hit, which put the domestic airline industry on the skids from which it still hasn't recovered. Tenzing shed workers, and then reorganized its assets into what was transferred to OnAir.

This Connectivity Kit that I dug up was a promo to let people test out Tenzing's service. It came with a card good for a short, free Verizon AirFone call; a code for one free Webmail session; and a retractable RJ11 phone cable because this required a modem connection over the local phone network. A CD came with Windows software; Mac users just entered 123-4567 for the dial-up number.

Now, what's amusing about this blast from the past? This is precisely the service--sans phone cord--that JetBlue is offering on its single equipped test plane that has Internet access. Back on 8-June-2008, the LiveTV division of JetBlue that won 1 KHz in the U.S. air-to-ground spectrum auctions in 2006 purchased AirFone's ground assets--communication gear on 100 towers.

While I don't have direct proof that JetBlue is using the same sort of system as Tenzing, the reported onboard features and speeds make it pretty clear that the company hasn't upgraded equipment on the towers yet, though they plan to do so.

Happy Thanksgiving to my fellow Americans; enjoy a few days of peace and quiet, the rest of the world.

Copyright ©2008 Glenn Fleishman. All rights reserved. Please notify us if you find this content anywhere but at wifinetnews.com or wimaxnetnews.com. Reproduction of full articles from RSS feeds is prohibited without permission.

JK OntheRun compares AT&T’s iPhone, T-Mobile’s G1 and Verizon’s Storm.

How do they compare? That’s not really a fair question because at the basest level they are totally different phones that should appeal to different users. What I find the most interesting about this comparison is that all three phones are smartphones that are aimed at the consumer. This is a big change from the not so distant past when smartphones were almost exclusively the domain of the enterprise worker. The phones such as these three have straddled the fence and shown the consumer that the benefits of good smartphones are not restricted to the enterprise.

For me, the iPhone is out because it lacks microSD. The Storm is out because it lacks Wi-Fi. Android has both, plus lots of software and the cheapest service. What’s not to like?

x

My interview with Aircell CEO Jack Blumenstein is now available: Through a variety of happy accidents, I wound up interviewing Blumenstein for BoingBoingTV while we were on Virgin America's inaugural Wi-Fi flight/press launch last Saturday.

If we appear hurried, we were trying to finish the interview in the remaining window for access as we were getting close to starting an approach for landing at SFO. Aircell's service is ground-to-air, and they're covering only domestic U.S. flights (and Air Canada's flights for their intra-U.S. portions).

For this test flight, which left and returned from SFO, the route was carefully plotted to keep the plane over the ocean, but oriented towards ground stations to make a loop that wouldn't interfere with SFO ground traffic but which would provide continuous coverage. The company flew a test in their own smaller craft, and then did a test run with the actual Virgin America flight before the press event.

Copyright ©2008 Glenn Fleishman. All rights reserved. Please notify us if you find this content anywhere but at wifinetnews.com or wimaxnetnews.com. Reproduction of full articles from RSS feeds is prohibited without permission.

NPR’s On The Media has an interesting story on Bloomberg News and how the organization may target regional business stories for newspapers, almost like an outside contractor:

SETH MNOOKIN: Well, right now, Bloomberg News has more editorial employees than The New York Times and The Washington Post combined which, when I found out, astounded me because they are not dependent on models that clearly are not working, advertising based, subscription based models.

Bloomberg News would never make that decision to spend that three million dollars. They would look at Iraq and say, how many of our customers would either subscribe or stop their subscription if they don’t get this information? So there’s always that very direct relationship at Bloomberg.

Airspan Networks announced today that it has successfully demonstrated seamless, uninterrupted handover from one frequency band on a mobile WiMAX network to another frequency band (pdf).

A handover provides seamless transfer from one base station to another without loss or interruption of service. As mobile WiMAX deployments become more common, users will benefit from the ability to transfer from one operating network to another. For instance, in the United States, a user with an Airspan MiMAX USB device connected to their laptop may be able to roam from a license-exempt 3.65 GHz network into a national, license-owned 2.5 GHz WiMAX network.

In many regions, the availably of 2.5 GHz is limited. Now operators can aggregate spectrum to allow significant expansion of coverage and roaming capabilities. A carrier, for example, could begin with a small allocation at 2.3 or 2.5 GHz and add a larger, often more affordable, allocation at 3.X GHz or even 5 GHz, says Airspan.

The showcased solution used Airspan’s HiperMAX base station at 3.6 GHz and a MacroMAXe base station in the 2.5 GHz band, communicating with a MiMAX Q-Series quad-band USB device connected to a laptop roaming between the two base stations.

Staged in the UK with partner FREEDOM4 and strategic partners Starent Networks, using their Access Service Network (ASN) gateway for connection management, and Bridgewater Systems, using their subscriber management solution that delivers carrier-grade authentication, authorization, and accounting (AAA) services.

Graham Currier, Chief Operating Officer at FREEDOM4, stated, “Airspan’s Quad-Band MiMAX device creates a new paradigm for European WiMAX operators. Airspan’s technology allows us to combine the reach of the 2.6 GHz frequency band with our large block of 3.6 GHz to create a spectrum position that can deliver a true broadband experience for mobile users. We can deliver speeds and capacities many times greater than operators using evolved 3G HSPA technologies.”

Paul Senior, Chief Technology Officer of Airspan, commented, “We are very pleased to have succeeded in this world’s first demonstration with FREEDOM4. Confirming Airspan’s WiMAX innovation and technology leadership position, this achievement permanently changes the landscape of mobile WiMAX and its possibilities.”

Airspan says their equipment can support this type of handover between all the major WiMAX bands — 2.3, 2.5, 3.3, 3.4-3.6, 3.6-3.8, and 5 GHz bands.

In other news, WiNetworks, a pioneer in Mobile WiMAX Wave 2 (MIMO), announced today that it received formal FCC authorization for its Mobile WiMAX 802.16e base station for 3.65 GHz networks.

Their Compact (left) and Pico base stations are designed for quick and easy installations using outdoor fixtures like walls, poles, and towers.

The FCC allocates the 3.65 GHz band specifically for wireless broadband to help overcome U.S. broadband service gaps. The FCC approval is the first certification of its kind for 3.65 GHz Mobile WiMAX 16e (MIMO) base stations.

The 2.5 GHz/2.6 GHz spectrum will be auctioned/allocated in almost all European countries over the next 24-26 months, and typically up to 50 MHz of 2.5 GHz TDD spectrum (suitable for WiMAX) is available. The 2.6 GHz auction in the UK will likely happen in the first half of 2009.

Utah’s multi-city Utopia network (wikipedia) is taking perhaps one last shot at making its wholesale municipal fiber project work, says Telephony Magazine, with a revised model, new management and a new focus on business customers.

The 11-city fiber-to-the-premises project has been under increased pressure from taxpayers since revenue shortfalls led it to ask participating cities to double their investment in the project last spring so that construction could continue, says the on-line magazine.

“The cities have come down on them and basically said, ‘You guys [have] got a year to make this work,’” said Lane Livingston, chief executive officer of Fibernet, a local ISP that recently signed on to sell services on Utopia’s network. “So Utopia has regrouped and said, ‘We’ll go after wherever there’s real money.’”

Key to Utopia’s new focus is a move to redirect network deployment toward businesses rather than residential customers. Though the project was initially conceived as a way to bring universal broadband to underserved residents, critics say that model isn’t lucrative enough.

When the Utah Telecommunication Open Infrastructure Agency (UTOPIA) was launched in 2003, it planned to boost the broadband competitiveness of Utah cities, although the largest city, Salt Lake, did not participate. UTOPIA only supplies the fiber optic network. Private companies would provide the content and services, and pay fees to the network to make their products available.

“For a lot of different reasons, they didn’t get the last mile in in lots of places before they needed to refinance”, said Hugh Matheson, Utopia’s new communications director. “There’s fiber that goes into some footprints but doesn’t go down streets. There are places where there’s fiber under the streets that hasn’t been marketed. They were kind of going maybe too many places at once.”

Utah’s other well-known muni network, iProvo, was acquired and privatized this year by Broadweave Networks. The acquisition makes Broadweave one of the largest Fiber-To-The-Home (FTTH) network operators in the country. iProvo passes 36,000 homes, businesses, government buildings, and schools at speeds up to 1,000 times faster than cable or DSL.

Provo spent $47.5 million total, they sold for $40.5 million, so in the end the city’s out about $7 million. iProvo was the largest municipally owned fiber-optic network in the United States.

Construction of the FTTH project in all of Provo was completed in 2006. An iProvo RFP (.pdf), issued on April 18, 2007, sought qualified companies to run it.

iProvo was struggling with churn and other problems similar to Utopia’s. They ditched the wholesale-only model, which Utopia still shares. Separating service providers from the network operator created inefficiencies, said Steve Christensen, iProvo’s new CEO.

But Utopia’s reformation will be an uphill battle, concludes Telephony Magazine. Its political troubles may make potential customers nervous about how long it will be around.

Meanwhile, the incumbent in Utah, Qwest Communications, is now aggressively rolling out fiber to the node, with 7-Mb/s and 20-Mb/s services – something it wasn’t doing when the initial case for Utopia was being made.

Broadband Properties has an indepth story (pdf) in their October issue. Tim Wu compared U.S. broadband providers to OPEC in a recent New York Times op-ed piece, a charge the CTIA thinks is ridiculous.

Related Dailywireless Fiber articles include; Trouble in Utopia, FiOS: Too Risky?, Municipal Fiber: Fits and Starts and Be Your Own Fiber Net.

The Colombian newspaper in Clark County, Washington, has teamed up with MapWith.Us to create an online news map, reports Google Maps Mania.

At the moment The Columbian’s news map shows reports from the newspaper’s own reporters and photographers, who are armed with smart phones to post reports from the field. However before the end of the year the newspaper will also have a separate map that accepts citizen journalist reports.

The citizen journalism map will allow the newspaper’s readers to instantly publish news that matters to them directly from their “smart” mobile telephones. The posted data will appear on the Google Map mash-up, automatically pinpointed to the correct location using the phones’ built-in GPS systems. Reader’s submissions will be able to include photographs, text and even audio and video footage.

MapWith.Us Mobile lets anyone upload pictures, audio, video, and text annotations to your maps on the Web. Its’ available for the iPhone, Blackberry and soon Android, Samsung Instinct and Windows Mobile phones.

In other news, PocketGear is launching an Android storefront at Androidgear.com to sell a suite of free and commercial applications for the G1. The company is offering 25 percent off applications through the end of the month.

RCR Wireless News says Sprint is teaming with VeriSign’s Xoomerang platform to enable subscribers to send photos and videos from their phones to popular social media sites like MySpace, Photobucket and YouTube. Sprint plans to add other online communities in the near future.

The service is free for subscribers with Sprint Picture Mail. With Xoomerang, they can:

• Publish - Capture and publish videos and pictures to popular destinations with a single click.
• View - Explore media across destinations or view the latest comments on a friend’s wall.
• Interact - Set their status, leave a comment on a cool video or a friend’s wall, Edit, Tag, Comment, Post, Rate, Save, Create, Enhance, and more.

Meanwhile, Verizon Wireless unveiled a similar service last week using Ontela, a Seattle startup. The $3-a-month downloadable application automatically sends pictures from phones directly to users’ Photobucket accounts.

The NY Times says there are lots of ways to edit, download and send a photo to an online service.

Nokia has its own method for easy photo sharing. The N96, for example, offers four icons — one for trash, one for saving the shot to the camera’s internal gallery, one for e-mailing the photo, and one for sending it to “Share on Ovi,” Nokia’s free online media sharing service.

You can also download free software like ShoZu, either from their mobile Web browser (m.shozu.com) or from ShoZu.com. ShoZu says millions of handsets will be distributed this year in the United States with its software preinstalled.

Online photo sharing services like Flickr, or a mobile social networking service like Radar.net also have their own mobile software that you can download.

Adobe Photoshop.com Mobile beta lets you upload, view, and share photos online from a Windows Mobile phone. You need a Photoshop.com membership, but the basic services are free. It’s a free beta download and you can edit photos online. You can store up to 2GB of photos there free while the $49 Plus service provides 20GB of storage — enough for up to 15,000 photos or four hours of DVD-quality video (how to videos).

Digital pictures frames are popular, but adding wireless connectivity adds more value. You can use WiFi, Bluetooth or cellular connections to make them “live”.

T-Mobile’s Cameo (right), has its own phone number. The Cameo, a rebranded Parrot DF7220, features a 7″ (720×480) screen that can receive and display photos from any camera phone, be it T-Mobile or not (video). You send messages via a multimedia message or an e-mail. You can also transfer them via a USB cable or a microSD card. No Bluetooth, though. It’s $99, but requires a $10/month cellular data plan from T-Mobile.

David Pogue reviewed seven LCD picture frames earlier this year. No computer required. Pogue complained that things get screwed up by inattention to the user experience. Why, he asks, can’t the manufacturers be bothered to do what’s right? Apparently wireless picture frames are a work in progress.

Here’s a summary of his review:

• EMotion with Bluetooth(7 inches, $160, Mediastreet.com). Open your cellphone or laptop, select its Search for Bluetooth Devices command, and “pair” the phone with the frame. You can beam photos to the frame; they’re no longer trapped on your cellphone’s tiny 2-inch screen — unless you use Verizon, of course, which prevents Bluetooth photo-sending.
• Parrot DF7220 (7 inches, $170, Parrot.com). Good news: this Bluetooth frame is so thin, it hangs flat on the wall. Bad news: the resolution is so coarse (410 x 234 pixels), it’s not such a big improvement over your cellphone’s screen.
• Kodak EasyShare EX1011 (10 inches, $250, Kodak.com). Kodak adds Wi-Fi. It can display pictures that sit on a Windows computer elsewhere in the house, provided it’s running Windows Media Player 11. Unfortunately, Macs need not apply. Once you’ve signed up for a free account at Kodakgallery.com and set up some photo albums there, the frame “sees” them immediately and begins a slide show of the albums you select.
• EStarling Digital Wireless (8 inches, $250, Seeframe.com). This Wi-Fi picture frame doesn’t have its own phone number, but it does have its own e-mail address. As a result, you or your friends can send it pictures from cellphones or computers, any time, anywhere, no charge. Just attach the photo to an email and send (Chris Pirillo review). In addition, you can sign up for “photo feeds”— themed slide shows like New Yorker cartoons, city skyscapes, nature shots and so on — from popular photo sites like Flickr, Picasa, AOL and Photobucket. Unfortunately, even though this frame is much better than its disastrous first model last year, it’s still flakier than a croissant, says Pogue.
• Momento 100 (10.2 inches, $280, Momentolive.com). This frame has a white matte and clear acrylic border, but otherwise, it has a lot in common with the Kodak: Wi-Fi, photo display from a Windows PC, widescreen shape and photo auto-downloading from the Web. And like the eStarling, it has a Web setup page (formerly $40 a year, now free), a unique e-mail address and the option to subscribe to photo feeds from Flickr, Picasa and so on.
• PanDigital Wi-Fi Picture Frame (8 inches, $150, pandigital.net and review). This screen offers both Bluetooth and Wi-Fi. Unfortunately, all the Wi-Fi lets you do is download images from Picasa.com — no e-mail, no accessing photos from your PC. Still, the price is right and the photos look great.
• SmartParts SP8PRT (8 inches, $280, Smartpartsproducts.com). This baby won’t be available until March, and there’s nothing wireless about it — but hiding behind its dark cherrywood frame is a claim to fame no other frame can name: a tiny built-in dye-sublimation printer. A 4-x-6 photo sheet rolls into the three-inch-deep back panel four times: once for each primary color, and once for a protective clear coat. Each tiny $20 cartridge contains 36 sheets of 4-x-6 paper and enough colored film to print them.

Amazon and Wireless Picture Frames have more.