The Houston city council appears to have set a record in approving a Wi-Fi network: EarthLink was declared the winning bidder just two months ago. Many larger cities have spent 8 months or longer getting from winning bid to council-approved contract. Houston will be an anchor tenant. The network is estimated to cost $40m. As in many other EarthLink-contracted cities, the vote for approval was unanimous.

The network is currently the largest committed deployment at 600 sq mi. While county-wide networks and Wireless Silicon Valley may be larger (the latter covering 1,500 sq mi), those larger networks typically are in trials or require city-by-city sign-off for urban deployment. Free access is promised for five percent of the area.

Agreements for attachment to electrical utility poles--cue ominous music--are still underway with a private firm, Centerpoint Energy.

10:30:46 PM    

David Pogue reviews four 802.11n routers, and finds only Apple's meets most of the promise, Belkin second: Pogue was unable to achieve the highest speeds promised by these routers, except with the Apple AirPort Extreme. That may be because all these early routers are single band (2.4 GHz) except Apple's. They may also all be much more susceptible to interface or back-off from adjacent networks, although Pogue isolated a lot of variables. As other reviewers have found, range is much better than bandwidth, but Pogue wasn't able to get more than 49 Mbps from any device but Apple's. I have only thoroughly tested Apple's router, and achieved 70 to 80 Mbps in unoccupied 2.4 GHz channels.

Pogue had kind words for Belkin's Draft N gateway, due to its superb installation instructions and labeling and its  clear troubleshooting icons that are built into the front of the gateway. If there's a problem, an icon representing the part of the network that's faulty flashes an amber outline; network components that are okay are outlined in blue.

His conclusion? "If you’re in the market for new wireless gear and can’t wait a few more months for the “n” committee to finish the spec, buy the polished, upgradeable gear from Apple or Belkin." I'm not waiting for the spec to be finished, but rather anticipating a wave of firmware upgrades that should improve performance in the 2.4 GHz band based on the latest draft from the 802.11n committee. (Pogue says that Linksys didn't promise to him that the device he tested can be upgraded; the other three manufacturers did.)

While the draft was approved in March, it may be weeks yet before firmware appears for shipping devices that accounts for changes, especially in how 802.11n and previous 802.11 specs work together on the same network and in adjacent networks. The Wi-Fi Alliance will also announced certified devices sometime this quarter for Draft N, which would mean new firmware as a result of "plugfests" and other lab testing to achieve that seal of  interoperability.

10:29:42 PM