MIT Professor Hari Balakrishnan thinks wireless carriers aren’t using their networks in the most efficient way possible when it comes to mobile broadband, resulting in slower speeds. His solution involves using your phone’s accelerometer, gyroscope, magnetometer, barometer and GPS. More »
San Franciscans are among the likely folks in America to take to WiMax 4G. So why’d they have to wait so long to get it, despite indications that it was pretty much ready to launch months ago? Hooray, bureaucracy! More »
While older cell towers were topped with those those unsightly satellite-looking antenna fixtures, newer ones can be contained entirely in sleek, featureless polls and thus disguised as trees. Nice for us, not so much for woodpeckers. More »
Ever since man tried to talk with God at Babel we’ve been building towers as a way to communicate. While mobile phone makers fall over themselves to make us buy the latest, greatest and most fashionable handsets they are little more than plastic and shiny lights without a tower to talk to. More »
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AT&T managed to keep its network from crashing and burning at SxSW this year by wheeling in three COWs, or cell towers on wheels. Rocketboom went inside one to check it out. [Rocketboom]
I recently visited a cell site shared by Clearwire and two other unnamed carriers—without frying my nuts. We’ve all driven past them so many times, but have you ever actually wondered how they work?
AU: Very US-centric, but interesting nonetheless. Anyone have more info on Australian towers? Is it the same setup?
Mobile reception sucks an elephant dong at John McCain’s Arizona ranch. Or it did, until Cindy McCain “embarked on an expensive public process” for Verizon Wireless to build a permanent cell tower at their ranch, reports the Washington Post. That got scrapped, but Verizon did see fit to “navigate a lengthy county regulatory process that hit a snag on environmental concerns” in order to get the McCains setup with at least a portable tower, absolutely free of charge, after a Secret Service request. AT&T caught word of this, and brought in one of their own towers, also free. Wouldn’t ya know, there’s a laundry list of ethical concerns? Update: Verizon has responded to the Post’s story, their statement below.
