Posted: 13th Jan, 2005 By: MarkJ
Motorola's Canopy wireless broadband products can finally be purchased in the UK, although regulatory restrictions have meant less power and range. It's feared this could hamper their use as a solution for broadband black spots:
Three models, running at 2.4GHz, 5.4GHz and 5.7GHz, were unveiled at a press conference in London earlier this week. Canopy radios can be used as wireless access points to bring broadband connectivity to businesses and homes within a small area, or as point-to-point wireless bridges between buildings.
At a demonstration in London on Monday, Motorola showed that Internet applications such as VoIP could run over Canopy. Each radio can handle a theoretical maximum of 10Mbps of traffic, with 7Mbps typical in practice, the company said.
"The range is less good. The products coming to the UK can reach around two miles, which gives some 13 square miles of coverage," said Tony Kobrinetz, vice-president and general manager for Canopy wireless broadband. "The Canadian and US versions have a range of 10 miles, which equates to a coverage area of over 300 square miles."It remains to be seen whether adoption will be successful or not, especially with so many other wireless standards coming into fruition. More @
ZDNet.