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Motorola's new combo WiFi/GSM phone is 5GHz!

Motorola's new combo WiFi/GSM phone is 5GHz!

Old Feb 8, 2005, 2:21 pm
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Motorola's new combo WiFi/GSM phone is 5GHz!

See http://www.vonmag.com/webexclusives/...e_Surprise.htm

This is pretty good news to me. I have 5Ghz (802.11a) both at home and work so I'd love to get my hands on one of these things. The only problem is that most hotspots are 2.4Ghz, but that is slowly changing. Maybe this new phone will help speed the change. In any case you have GSM and GPRS to fall back on.

If anyone at Motorola (or anywhere else) can help me get my hands on this thing, I will test the heck out of it!
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Old Feb 10, 2005, 8:50 am
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I called my buddy at Moto and he can't even get one himself. Sorry.
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Old Feb 10, 2005, 9:17 am
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Originally Posted by stimpy
The only problem is that most hotspots are 2.4Ghz, but that is slowly changing. Maybe this new phone will help speed the change.
But aren't the new protocols (802.11b/g) 2.4GHz? Is there a change to 5GHz coming?
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Old Feb 10, 2005, 9:47 am
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But at the end of the day this thing is still a Motorola. And for me that is a decent enough reason to stay away from it.
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Old Feb 10, 2005, 10:07 am
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Originally Posted by Doppy
But aren't the new protocols (802.11b/g) 2.4GHz? Is there a change to 5GHz coming?
802.11A is 5GHz. In chronological order, it was first B, then A, then G. But since G is backwards compatible with B, most of the market went in that direction. Now due to the crowded 2.4GHz spectrum, people are swinging back to 802.11A.
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Old Feb 10, 2005, 10:19 am
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Originally Posted by stimpy
people are swinging back to 802.11A.
Really? That's news to me. Any data points on that?

A quick search at a popular web site shows products available for A/B/G at 43/192/142, and every A product is B or G capable also.

Or is Motorola going to build a nationwide 5GHz cellular network?
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Old Feb 10, 2005, 10:53 am
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Originally Posted by stimpy
Now due to the crowded 2.4GHz spectrum, people are swinging back to 802.11A.
Given 802.11a's crappy range, i have a tough time believing that.
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Old Feb 10, 2005, 11:15 am
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I can't think of a single person who's running 802.11a.
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Old Feb 10, 2005, 12:32 pm
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Originally Posted by MrFurious
I can't think of a single person who's running 802.11a.
Same here, and I a make my dough in that industry. I don't know a single client running a .11a setup, or ANYONE that has moved from b/g to a.
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Old Feb 10, 2005, 1:36 pm
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Originally Posted by CPRich
Really? That's news to me. Any data points on that?

A quick search at a popular web site shows products available for A/B/G at 43/192/142, and every A product is B or G capable also.

Or is Motorola going to build a nationwide 5GHz cellular network?
There are no public documents, but if you work in the industry you can see it. Motorola made their decision for a reason. Many areas have simply become too crowded with 2.4GHz access points, not to mention 2.4GHz cordless phones. Why would you release a mass market phone that won't work across the mass market? Well yes there are few hotspots running 802.11A (more each year), but plenty of enterprise networks are switching to 802.11A and that is what Motorola is going for in the near term. The bottom line is that 802.11A has a future and 802.11B and G do not. There is nothing you can do to free up that spectrum.
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Old Feb 10, 2005, 1:40 pm
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Originally Posted by ScottC
Same here, and I a make my dough in that industry. I don't know a single client running a .11a setup, or ANYONE that has moved from b/g to a.
Actually you don't have to move to .11a. Most chips nowadays support all three technologies. So you can deploy all three and allow the client devices to migrate. That is happening in hotpots already. Many support all three. Take a PCMCIA card like a Netgear WAG511 which is A/B/G. It will always automatically choose the .11a access point over the others if all things are equal. So when we deploy such hotspots, the operators are surprised to see so many people accessing their .11a AP's. In fact the people probably do not even know they are using .11A.
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Old Feb 10, 2005, 1:44 pm
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Originally Posted by MrFurious
I can't think of a single person who's running 802.11a.
As I said here and in another thread, I use .11a at home. Why? Because in my apartment building and probably the other buildings near me, there are more than 7 access points running. .11b/g simply won't work very well in such an environment. It's how CSMA/CA works. Add on 2.4GHz cordless phones and performance just sucks. So I swapped my 11g AP for an 11a AP and viola! Instant high speed performance. Once the rest of the market understands this, a whole lot more people will switch.
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Old Feb 10, 2005, 2:10 pm
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Originally Posted by stimpy
Actually you don't have to move to .11a. Most chips nowadays support all three technologies. So you can deploy all three and allow the client devices to migrate. That is happening in hotpots already. Many support all three. Take a PCMCIA card like a Netgear WAG511 which is A/B/G. It will always automatically choose the .11a access point over the others if all things are equal. So when we deploy such hotspots, the operators are surprised to see so many people accessing their .11a AP's. In fact the people probably do not even know they are using .11A.
Where do you come up with this stuff?

Netgear doesn't even produce an 802.11a product anymore. All 802.11a products in their line are discontinued, and leftovers at vendors are all there is. Linksys makes TWO ABG wireless cards and 2 ABG routers, the rest of their assortment DOES NOT support 802.11a. So the claim that most chipsets support it is most certainly not correct.

I have NEVER, I repeat NEVER ran accross an 802.11a capable hotspot.

Face it, 802.11a is DEAD. Technologies like MIMO and WiMax are taking over.

The only reason Motorola is releasing this phone is because 802.11a makes some sense for certain corporate locations. Only high-end equipment still offers 11a coverage. And 802.11a is the best solution for VOIP.

But when walking around with your 802.11a phone, don't expect to ever find any public hotspots it'll work on...
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Old Feb 10, 2005, 2:15 pm
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Originally Posted by stimpy
Actually you don't have to move to .11a. Most chips nowadays support all three technologies. So you can deploy all three and allow the client devices to migrate. That is happening in hotpots already. Many support all three. Take a PCMCIA card like a Netgear WAG511 which is A/B/G. It will always automatically choose the .11a access point over the others if all things are equal. So when we deploy such hotspots, the operators are surprised to see so many people accessing their .11a AP's. In fact the people probably do not even know they are using .11A.
Ah yes. The Chipset.

Linksys uses a lot of Broadcom chipsets that are 802.11a CAPABLE, but only include a 2.4GHz transceiver in the product, rendering the entire 802.11a stack useless. Considering Broadcom delivers chips to many of the major vendors I am sure the same goes for most cards.
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Old Feb 10, 2005, 2:34 pm
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Originally Posted by stimpy
As I said here and in another thread, I use .11a at home. Why? Because in my apartment building and probably the other buildings near me, there are more than 7 access points running. .11b/g simply won't work very well in such an environment. It's how CSMA/CA works. Add on 2.4GHz cordless phones and performance just sucks. So I swapped my 11g AP for an 11a AP and viola! Instant high speed performance. Once the rest of the market understands this, a whole lot more people will switch.
Consider yourself lucky then. I had an "a" AP in my house and couldn't get a usable signal on the first floor from the AP on the second, even directly below the AP! I live in a standard residential wood frame house.

5.8 ghz and walls/floors don't mix.
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