Hasta La Gadget!

The Fonera is the hippie of the router world. You hook it up and it shares your network with friends and strangers alike.

Owners who share their connections thusly, called “Foneros” in the company’s cutesy marketing-ese, get to use other Foneros’ networks when they travel. And because the router sets up two separate networks, one private (and secure) and one public, you never have to worry about having your bandwidth, or your data, sucked dry.

The new Fonera 2 does all this, and a whole lot more. I have been testing it over the last few weeks, and for the most part, it works. But it also has one big, big problem, which makes it almost useless, for me at least.

First, the Fonera 2 gets 802.11n networking, for faster speeds over a longer range. Hook it up to your network via ethernet (there is no way to join a network via Wi-Fi without hacking) and you have just added a second wireless network to your home.

The Fonera 2 then acts like a tiny computer on your network. You can plug a USB hard drive into the Fonera and access it from any other computer (this was a little janky, requiring a firmware update for my Mac’s Finder to see the disk). You can use the router as a standalone BitTorrent device which can download movies and TV shows while all other computers are switched off (the Fonera uses Transmission, which can be controlled through a nice web interface). You can even stick a 3-G USB dongle into the side and use it like a mains-powered MiFi, creating a Wi-Fi hotspot from the 3G cell signal.

In addition to this you can upload video to YouTube, photos to Flickr, and generally do a lot of what you might leave a computer running to do. This is the idea: to offload the long uploads and downloads to a device which is both always connected and always on.

And it works beautifully, for the most part, although you’ll have to be somewhat geeky to get the most out of it. Setup and control is all done through your web browser, and is slick, polished and easy. It sucks down torrents just fine, and streaming the resulting video files from the connected hard drive is easy and smooth, as it should be.

So what’s the problem? The Fonera has no modem inside. This means that you need to hook it up to an existing router, or the router/modem combo that your ISP provided you with. And if your cable or phone connection is in the hallway, that means you’ll be stacking up one extra box, and a hard drive, just where it can be seen by everyone who visits. Additional glitches: My iPod Touch wouldn’t connect to the Fonera, and my router/modem kept flaking out when the Fonera was also running.

All of these add up to make a gadget that is perfect for the geek who lives alone, but is all but useless when living with anyone who has aesthetic concerns.

It’s a shame. As we said when the router was announced back in April, “this collection of features is fantastic, and exactly what a router should be doing”. Sadly, it doesn’t quite make it as a “set and forget” home appliance just yet. $100.

Product page [Fon]

See Also:

• Fonera 2 Combines Wi-Fi Sharing, BitTorrent, Network Storage …
• FON Offers Free Routers to San Franciscans

What’s the best technology to use to track people who like to wander off? You might be inclined to say GPS, but stagger into a cave or basement (or, sometimes, a city street) and suddenly you’re off the grid, man. Not with Ekahau’s T301W wristband: it uses Wi-Fi to beam location information. Yes, we know that your average cave doesn’t have Wi-Fi, but Ekahau has a range of beacons available that will fix that, and when in the presence of those beacons (or any other configured Wi-Fi network) a wristband can be located to within a few feet. It’s the latest of a variety of similar devices from Ekahau, but the first small enough and waterproof enough to be wearable, which has the company envisioning everyone from cruise ship captains to secret service agents slapping these on their visitors. At $60 a pop, though, we’re not sure how many organizations will be able to afford that many.

Filed under: Misc. Gadgets, Wireless

Ekahau’s T301W Wi-Fi wristband wirelessly tracks kids, wandering grandparents originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 15 Oct 2009 07:18:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Good news for Canadians who can’t seem to get a decent internet plan for home. Rogers has unveiled a 3G station for residential use dubbed the Rocket Hub, and with it a number of jet propulsion-related puns that we’ll be taking painstaking measures to avoid. It boasts 7.2Mbps HSPA, WiFi and ethernet out, and voice calls over UMTS. Makes sense since it’s riding an Ericsson W3x core. The Upfront cost of hardware hasn’t been disclosed yet, but plans start at $35 Canadian. Launch date (okay, we couldn’t resist) is sometime later this month.

Filed under: Wireless, Networking

Rogers’ Rocket Hub disguises 3G data and voice as mild-mannered home modem originally appeared on Engadget on Sat, 03 Oct 2009 07:10:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Aiming for a larger share of the unemployed-slacker-wasting-time* market, Borders said it would partner with Verizon to allow customers of the 500 or so Borders bookstores free Wi-Fi.

The process is under way, and should be completed by mid-October, according to Borders.

“Re-engaging with customers as a serious bookseller is one of our
strategic priorities,” said Borders Group chief executive officer Ron
Marshall, in a statement. “By offering free Wi-Fi, we are extending the open atmosphere
of exploration that is at the core of every great bookstore experience
and furthering the sense of community we have always fostered at
Borders.”

The deal won’t require Borders customers to sign up for or already be a member of the Verizon network; according to a press release from the company, users will merely be offered a splash screen offering recommendations on new titles, special offers, and the ability to sign up for a Borders rewards card.

*Note: all slackers may not be unemployed.

After nearly five years in draft, the next-generation Wi-Fi standard is set to be finalized in September. Officially known as 802.11n and often referred to as “Wireless N,” the new standard paves the way for blazing fast high definition video and data at home.

Products based on the final 802.11 n standard could offer up to 600 Mbps connectivity speeds, plus the ability to have up to four simultaneous streams of high-definition video, voice and data through the house. The standard also promises easy backward compatibility, which means new devices will work smoothly with older products.

For consumers, the difference in speed and range will be palpable, says Will Strauss, an analyst with Forward Concepts.  “Speed is everything and videos are the main driver for this technology,” he says. “When you are home you want to get to YouTube fast and watch video and have a phone connection and surf.”

The 802.11n standard is the successor to the 802.11g Wi-Fi protocol, which offers speeds of up to 54 Mbps. The 802.11n standard’s most important addition has been the multiple-input multiple-output capability, also known as MIMO. MIMO allows for multiple antennas to resolve more information quickly.

Although 802.11n won’t be final until next month, manufacturers have been making products based on a draft version of the standard for several years. These typically offer two or three channels to send and receive data or voice respectively.  They also limit the overall speed to much less than the 600 Mbps that newer standard offers.

“So far we have had products based on the version of 802.11n that is fairly basic,” says Kelly Davis-Felner, marketing director for the W-Fi alliance. “Now we are likely to see more devices that have all the bells and whistles in place.”

Chip makers are racing to deliver on that promise. At the Computex show last month, Qualcomm introduced a chip that could make 802.11n a dream standard for users.  Qualcomm’s chip offers 4×4 transmit and receive capability, meaning that it uses four separate streams to distribute concurrent voice, video and data in either the 5GHz or 2.4 GHz radio bands.

“At the least we can get six times the speed of the current 802.11g standard,” says Mike Concannon, senior vice president of connectivity and wireless modules for Qualcomm. “That means we can transmit high definition video across multiple rooms in a pretty large house with just one access point.”

The chip, WCN 1320, is expected to be available in consumer devices, such as routers and set-top boxes, early next year.

Qualcomm competitors such as Broadcom and Atheros are fighting to catch up. The latter have chips based on the 802.11n draft standard but only with 2×2 or 3×3 MIMO capability, for either two or three simultaneous data channels.

Qualcomm’s latest chip also promises coverage of a 4,000 square feet with a single access point, compared to the two or more repeaters or boosters that would be required to cover the same area with 802.11g products.

“The challenge with today’s Wi-Fi is rate vs. range,” says Concannon. “In your house if you are right next to the access point you can get really good data rate but if you go around the corner not so much.” So if you have a McMansion or just a weird layout, that means adding repeaters or multiple access points to boost the range.

There is some fine print. The high speeds and MIMO capability work best only when devices such as notebooks and routers support it. Though the standard is be backward compatible, supporting older devices will cramp its style.

“To have true 4×4 MIMO capability, both ends of the connection need to support that feature,” says Strauss. “The notebooks and desktops that we have today won’t help.”

Qualcomm says it is working with device makers to help bring the chips to upcoming products.

See Also:

• Sprint, Verizon to Include Wi-Fi in all Future Phones
• Wired 11.05 UNWIRED: The Wi-Fi Revolution
• Wired 10.10: Being Wireless
• Wired 11.05 UNWIRED: Beyond Wi-Fi

Photo: (Florian/Flickr)