http://www.digitmag.co.uk/news/index.cfm?NewsID=4958
NTT DoCoMo, Japan's biggest mobile telco, has successfully tested 1Gbps transmission speeds using 4G (fourth-generation) technology in outdoor experiments, taking 4G a step nearer to use in mobile phones, the company said Friday.
In experiments conducted in May, the technology worked at up to 400 metres, according to Miki Nakajima, a DoCoMo spokeswoman.
While the company demonstrated 1Gbps transmission speeds with an earlier version of the same technology last August, that was in the lab, so the latest experiments show the technology is a step nearer to practical usage, she said.
(more at link above)
Can someone tell me why we're bothering trying to blanket cities with protocols that were designed to be barely sufficient for LAN use, and make WANs with them (I'm speaking of 802.11b specifically here).
We have technologies with excellent access control, workable infrastructure, scaleability, and demonstratable utility, and people are still so hardheaded and naieve to think that the right thing to do is 802.11b+VoIP for wireless data and voice? Stupidity.
(end rant)
Because people don't understand the concept of using the right tool for the right job. When all you have is a hammer (802.11b) everything looks like a nail.
Yes, I'm talking about people like ISPs, and projects like Wireless Oakland. They have the money, and should know better.