Tag: 4G

Solwise improves on their two-piece mobile router concept

Article – From the horse’s mouth

Pleasure-boats at a marina in Melbourne

4G as an externally-mountable USB modem can bring more reliable mobile broadband in to your boat for a large area of the shoreline

Solwise UK

Product List

All prices here cover the cost of the equipment and include VAT and delivery within the UK

PATRIOT tube-shaped network adaptors

PATRIOT-4G 4G/LTE USB modem (GBP£70.63)

WL-PATRIOT-USB 802.11g/n Wi-Fi USB network adaptor – 5dBi antenna  (GBP£43.81)

Panel network adaptor – highly directional

WL-USB-ODUPANEL-12DB 802.11g/n Wi-Fi USB network adaptor – 12dBi antenna (GBP£40.94)

Travel Router

WL-USBWIFIRPT-3000 USB WiFi Repeater (Travel Router with USB and Ethernet WAN) (GBP£52.98)

Previous Coverage

Solwise offers a two-piece Wi-Fi repeater for caravans and similar applications

My Comments

A use case that Solwise are continually targeting as I have covered before is to be able to bring a reliable Internet connection in to your caravan, campervan / motorhome or boat while you are on holidays or living in these vehicles.

This has been through the approach of a separate USB Wi-Fi network adaptor which can be plugged in to your regular computer and mounted outside your vehicle or craft. This is to work around a common issue with caravans and campervans where the metal housing can attenuate the RF signal necessary for the Wi-Fi connection to work and can be aggravated if you are in a campground or caravan park and are located far from the main facilities buildings where the infrastructure necessary for the venue’s public-access Wi-Fi is located.

Then there is a wireless travel router with a WAN (Internet) connection provided by a USB or Ethernet connection, working in a very similar manner to the typical “Mi-Fi” or travel router where it creates its own network for your devices. Here, you could connect up a Wi-Fi USB network adaptor such as the ones listed above or connect to an Ethernet-based setup such as what Hyperoptic is offering in a few of London’s marinas.

Let’s not forget that they are also offering a 12-volt “cigar-lighter” power adaptor as an accessory for GBP£2.84 that allows you to power the travel router and the USB modem or network adaptor from your vehicle’s or boat’s battery. They are positioning this adaptor for those of us who run our motorhomes, caravans or boats from 12 volts rather than having access to mains-voltage supply.

But Solwise have taken things further by offering a 4G/LTE USB mobile-broadband modem that can work with most of the mobile-broadband services. Compared to the typical “dongle” USB mobile-broadband modem, this device is equipped with a stronger antenna and RF front-end and is designed to be mounted outside your vehicle or craft. For boaties, it is rated at IP66 which could allow it to survive most boating use including heavier seas.

The travel router that Solwise is offering will require a firmware update available for download from their site so you can set it up as a two-piece “Mi-Fi” mobile-broadband router. This has opened up the travel router’s appeal to people living in narrowboats or travelling around in campervans or caravans and avoiding caravan parks.

The PATRIOT “tube” modems and adaptors are designed to be anchored on to the vehicle or craft using various hardware kits available through Solwise. These range from a suction-cup kit suitable for temporary installs through “jubilee clips” or hose clamps that wrap around pipes to U-bolts that can be anchored to mobile TV antenna masts.

The approach outlined here with all this equipment is that you install one of these USB modems or USB Wi-FI network adaptors on the outside of your vehicle or boat. Then you run a 5-metre USB cable to within that vehicle and connect it to the USB-equipped travel router that is listed here. The travel router will create a local network useable by many devices within the vehicle or vessel and share this using 802.11g/n or Ethernet technology.

Here, Solwise are continuing to answer the highly mobile user’s needs for a highly-reliable mobile network setup by using two pieces of equipment connected to each other rather than you buying a Mi-Fi or Wi-Fi range extender which uses its onw RF abilities and not-so-great integral antennas.

Telstra steps to the fore with a 3-WAN carrier-supplied router

Articles

Telstra Gateway Frontier modem router press picture courtesy of Telstra

Telstra Gateway Frontier 4G/VDSL2/Ethernet modem router – ready for instant Internet or to provide failover service for the Internet Of Things

Telstra’s Gateway Frontier Modem Gives You A 4G Backup For Your ADSL Or NBN | Gizmodo

From the horse’s mouth

Telstra

Gateway Frontier (Product Page)

My Comments

Previously, I have written up an article about trends affecting carrier-supplied modem routers that customers receive when they sign up for Internet service but don’t order a “wires-only” or “BYO modem” deal.

One of the trends I was calling out was for a router to be equipped with an integrated mobile broadband modem along with a DSL modem and/or Ethernet connection as its WAN (Internet) connection options. The use cases for this include the ability to provide wireless “instant Internet” to subscribers while the wired connection is being established at their premises. But other use cases include a fail-over setup should the wired Internet connection fail or be in the process of being overhauled, to provide an increased “fat-pipe” for broadband connection or as a quality-of-service measure by redirecting particular traffic like emails or Web browsing to a slower path while video streaming or downloading goes the quicker path.

The wireless fail-over connection will have a strong appeal to households with building-security, personal-safety, medical-monitoring or similar technology that connects to a monitoring facility via the home network and Internet. Here, if the wired connection dies due to old and decrepit telephony infrastructure, there is the ability to maintain this essential link using the wireless link. This can extend to small businesses who need the Internet connectivity to be able to continue to trade.

I thought it would take a long time for this kind of equipment to show up as real consumer products but I had seen Telstra’s latest modem router on display at one of their shops in an outer-suburban shopping centre. I looked at some further details about this modem router and noticed that this device, the Gateway Frontier, was also equipped with a 4G mobile-broadband modem.

This device has a triple-WAN approach with the 4G mobile-broadband modem, ADSL2/VDSL2 modem and a separate Ethernet connection. This is intended to support the use of different NBN connection types – the VDSL2-based “fibre-to-the-node” or “fibre-to-the-curb” connections; or the fixed-wireless broadband, fibre-to-the-premises or HFC coaxial connections which rely on an external modem or ONT that uses an Ethernet connection to the router.

Personally, I would like to see the VDSL2 modem be a “software modem” that can be field-programmed to be a G.Fast modem for NBN FTTC (FTTdp) and FTTB deployments that implement G.Fast technology. This is in conjunction to the 4G mobile-broadband modem being able to become a femtocell to boost mobile-phone coverage in the modem-router’s operating area if you are using fixed broadband along with a continual software-maintenance approach for security, performance and stability.

This is a full “home-network” device with four Gigabit Ethernet connections along with an 802.11g/n/ac 4-stream dual-band Wi-Fi wireless network. It even supports NFC-based WPS connection that allows “touch-and-go” network enrolment for your NFC-equipped Android or Windows phone. This is in addition to push-button-based WPS setup that benefits open-frame computing devices that honour this function.

There is support for bandwidth sharing using the Telstra Air bandwidth-sharing platform along with support for the T-Voice VoIP “virtual cordless phone” function on your mobile phone. But this only works on a fixed-broadband (DSL / Ethernet) connection, and the mobile-broadband service is limited to a 6Mbps download and 1Mbps upload.

For a carrier-supplied consumer customer-premises-equipment router, the Telstra Gateway Frontier modem router, like the BT Smart Hub modem router that has Wi-Fi performance that is “beyond ordinary”, is showing that carriers can provide first-class equipment with up-to-date requirements rather than a piece of second-rate equipment they have to supply.

T-Mobile to provide data rollover for its mobile services

Article T-Mobile logo

T-Mobile Data Stash: You Can Finally Get Rollover for Your Data Plan | Gizmodo

From the horse’s mouth

T-Mobile USA

Press Release – Data Stash – Don’t Use Don’t Lose (English / Espagnol PDF)

My Comments

DataStashMost mobile and fixed broadband services that implement data allowances in their business models have it that you forfeit any of the bandwidth that you don’t use in these plans. This works against an increasingly-common practice of people buying data plans for these services with more data allowance than they really use. This same practice applies to just about all of the mobile providers who provide included talk-time and messaging allowance whether as a combination of talk-time minutes and text / MMS messages or a known value of service use.

But T-Mobile, a spinoff of Deutsche Telekom who is selling mobile telephony and mobile broadband to the US market, is working against this norm. Here, they are marketing this option as “Data Stash” because of the way you can harbour the unused data and work with all of their plans that have an allowance of 3Gb or more. Even existing customers can use this feature which is unlike some carriers who will offer tasty features only to those who start a new account. This is part of their “Uncarrier” program where they offer extra service options and value that other mobile-phone carriers in the USA don’t normally offer.

Samsung Galaxy Note 2 smartphone

You can use a smartphone like this on a data plan that rolls over courtesy of T-Mobile

Here, they offer a “rollover” option for their data plans where if you don’t use all of your data allowance, the unused allowance is carried over to the next month just like what would happen with a bank account. T-Mobile have understood this reality with people buying more than they need and may be needing to satisfy a usage peak, which can be brought on by a change in living conditions, a holiday or simply attending a “big-time” event.

Personally, I would see this as being important with people who use a “Mi-Fi” device like the Samsung LTE Mobile Hotspot Pro or T-Mobile 4G LTE Hotspot Z915 on an occasional basis or use these devices increasingly through certain peaks like summer. But I also see this as a way simply to smooth out the peaks in your mobile-broadband data use and other carriers around the world should have a look at T-Mobile’s offerings to know how to gain the competitive edge.

France’s overseas territories to benefit from 4G mobile broadband

Article – French language

Bientôt des licences 4G pour la France d’outre-mer | 01Net.com (France)

My Comments

France DOM-TOM courtesy France Government

France is even working on the overseas territories to raise the broadband capacity there

France has established a highly-competitive mobile broadband market in the main territory, especially with Free.fr offering mobile telecommunications at very low prices in that area. But the government in Paris want to see its “DOM-TOM” outlying territories such as La Réunion, French Guyana, Martinique and co have proper Internet service.

Now they are working on opening up cellular-telephony spectrum in the “DOM-TOM” territories over the first half of this year to make sure these territories are on the same mobile broadband level. They have found that the spectrum in use in these territories isn’t enough to satisfy the real needs for people living there. There is proper coverage for 2G and 3G technology in those areas but not for 4G where they are needing to open up all of the cellular bands there.

As well. they need to do work to make sure there is affordable fixed and mobile Internet service in those territories. This could be achieved by ARCEP encouraging Free, Orange and co to set up shop and make sure there is competitive service on the same level as the mainland. The amount of bandwidth that passes through the territories could be increased whether as making them become “axis territories” for telecommunications backbone projects so they can serve themselves and any neighbouring countries with strong bandwidth.

Telstra brings a colour-screen Mi-Fi to its 4G network

Articles

Telstra’s new Wi-Fi 4G modem first to work with LTE-Advanced | PC World Australia

Telstra introduces its next-generation LTE-Advanced 4G hotspot | CNet

My Comments

Telstra have released the latest iteration of their premium “Mi-Fi” device for the 4G mobile-broadband network. This device seems to have “all the fruit” when it comes to the design of these devices such as a colour touchscreen as its on-device interface as well as the use of the dual-band Wi-Fi technology for its LAN side.

But it is also the first to exploit the newer “LTE-Advanced” technology which Telstra are trialling up in the Sunshine Coast in Queensland. This implements the use of both the 900MHz and 1800MHz wavebands and bonds the output of two “cells” together to create a “fatter” WAN pipe this increasing the bandwidth available, much in a similar way to how the MIMO functionality on the 802.11n Wi-Fi networks and HomePlug AV powerline networks work.

This device has been built by Netgear since it took over Sierra Wireless who made most of the previous USB wireless-broadband modems and “Mi-Fi” hotspots that are in circulation like the currently-issued device that Telstra is running as their premium “Mi-Fi” option.

As for battery runtime, the supplied 2500mAh battery can run for 10 hours. But I am not sure if this device will offer more than the typical “Mi-Fi” functionality like mobile NAS functionality. Telstra are intending to run it at a similar cost to the existing premium Mi-Fi device i.e. for AUD$6 per month on a AUD$50 per month 24-month contract with 8Gb data allowance. I am not sure if they will offer this as a shared plan where many mobile-broadband devices like a smartphone and a “Mi-Fi” can share the same allowance pool.

A Mi-Fi device that is the size of a USB stick courtesy of Telstra

Article

Telstra Launches 4G USB + Wi-Fi Device | Gizmodo Australia

From the horse’s mouth

Telstra

Product Page

My Comments

I never knew this would happen when it came to the design of wireless-broadband access devices. Here, Telstra had launched a 4G access device that was the size of a typical USB wireless-broadband modem but was able to work as either a typical wireless-broadband modem or as a “Mi-Fi” router.

In the latter mode, you could just plug it in to one of many USB power-supply devices ranging from a self-powered USB hub through a AC-powered or 12V-powered USB charger typically for your phone to even one of the USB external battery packs. This gives it a level of power-supply flexibility on the same par as a typical smartphone, and the supplied AC adaptor can also work as another spare smartphone charger.

In some ways, this “Mi-Fi” could be used along with the Pure One Flow Internet radio and a USB battery pack of the kind used to charge up mobile phones to provide a truly portable Internet-radio solution that is if the price is right for Internet access. It is similar to what may be expected for in-car Internet applications as what BMW, Chrysler and others are proposing.

Who know what can happen for networking and Internet use as we end up on the road with these kind of “sticks”.

Raising the bar with MiFi router design

Articles

AT&T’s new MiFi Liberate is LTE-capable, ‘world’s first’ with touchscreen display – Engadget

AT&T Shoved a Touchscreen in Its Latest LTE MiFi Hotspot Because, Hey, Why Not! | Gizmodo

AT&T’s MiFi Liberate LTE is first touch-screen hot spot | CNet

From the horse’s mouth

AT&T – Press Release

My Comments

AT&T have released a new “MiFi” router for 4G wireless broadband networks in the form of the AT&T-Novatel MiFi Liberate. Here, this device is not your “father’s old station wagon”.

The device borrows the P-shaped design cues from the Apple Magic Trackpad and some door-handles rather than Microsoft’s newer input devices. Users can manage their connection using a colour LCD touchscreen rather than the typical Web user interface and, in some cases, a monochrome LCD or OLED display.

It can connect up to 10 concurrent Wi-Fi devices to the 4G LTE wireless-broadband connection and can do this for 11 hours on its own battery. What also impresses me about this MiFi is that it, like a few recent AT&T MiFis, has the ability to share files off a microSD card, including the ability to share media to UPnP AV / DLNA devices like Internet radios. This function could be taken further if the MiFi could mount microSDXC cards of 64-128Gb capacity.

At the moment it’s only through AT&T but I would like to see more carries who run LTE-compliant 4G networks offer this device in their 3G wireless router lineup. The firmware that all of the carriers who run with this device should support all of the functions including the file-sharing / DLNA functionality.

CEBit 2012

Introduction

The CEBit 2012 IT show in Hannover, Germany is one of may technology trade shows covering the European area where there is a strong crossover between product classes. It was positioned at work-based computing but is competing with Mobile World Congress in Barcelona, Spain (smartphones), Internationaler Funkaustellung in Berlin, Gernamy (consumer electronics) and Photokina in Cologne, Germany (digital imaging) as a European showcase platform for consumer and small-business information technology.

It has carried through the overall key trend of work-home computing and the always-mobile business life. This is more so with the emphasis on portable computing equipment and equipment to service the data cloud.

Key issues and trends in computing

Privacy and security in the online age

A key issue that has been raised through this year’s CEBIT show in Hannover is how US-based companies are limiting data privacy in the eyes of Europeans. Regular readers of HomeNetworking01.info may have seen articles being published about this issue, especially an industry interview that I did with Alastair MacGibbon and Brahman Thyagalingham, concerning the responsibility of service providers if something goes awry with the data in their care.

This was brought about through the recent privacy and security changes at Google as well as an increase of data being held “in the cloud”. There was also an underscoring of the improtance of trust concerning data in the Internet Age.

Technological trends

PCs and laptops

These “regular” computers have not been forgotten about even though there is a lot of interest in the tablets and smartphones. It has been led about through the imminent release by Microsoft of Windows 8 which is available as a consumer-preview version at the time of writing. One feature pitched about this operating system is that it was intended to bridge home and work computing lifestyles with mechanisms like Windows To Go “boot-from-USB” setups.

As well, there was the imminent release of the Ivy Bridge chipset and processor families by Intel with these offing graphics that are just close to “gaming quality” but with economical power consumption. There was a “Super SSD” drive also being premiered which had 512Gb of solid-state storage in a 2.5” housing for the current generation of portable computers.

This year has seen more of the Ultrabooks being released by the various manufacturers and in different variants.

An example of this was Acer showing their new range of equipment with the Timeline Ultra M3. This was a so-called “15-inch Ultrabook” which had an optical drive and NVIDIA GeForce discrete graphics, with variants available with a hard disk or solid-state-drive only for their secondary storage.

Acer had also premiered their V3 lineup of 14”, 15” and 17” budget-friendly laptops with the 17” variant having a Blu-Ray optical drive. They also premiered the V5 11”, 14” and 15” slim mainstream laptops with the 14” and 15” varieties being equipped with discrete graphics as an option.

Toshiba also fielded a variant of the Portege Z830-120 Ultrabook with WiDi Wi-Fi-driven display link technology and was promising a “brown-goods” LCD TV with WiDi display functionality. I would say that this function may appear in a higher-end LCD chassis which serves a particular run of high-end lounge-room sets.

Of course, there would be some computers that are positioned as “bridge” units between the regular laptop and the tablet, typically being equipped with a touchscreen and a keyboard at least. Examples of these would include ASUS “Transformer” variants with detachable keyboards or “swivel-head” convertible laptops. These could be based on either an ARM RISC microarchitecture or the classic Intel microarchitecture with them running Windows or Android. They would be pitched at those of us who like the touchscreen tablet experience but also want to use a proper keyboard to create content.

Smartphones and Tablets

The smartphone and tablet scene at this fair has been affected by two issues. One is Apple releasing their third-generation iPad with the higher-resolution “Retina” display and A5x graphics subsystem concurrently with this show, setting the cat among the pigeons. Of course, the patent fights are still on with Apple over tablet-computer design with some of the lawsuits still not resolved.

The other is that a lot of the smartphones and tablets destined for Europe were premiered at the previous Mobile World Congress in Barcelona, Spain. But there were a lot of the tablets being exhibited in Hannover.

Key features that were being put up included near-field communications which enabled “tap-and-go” payment and data transfer for these devices, larger screens for this device class, LTE wireless-broadband and DLNA implementation. As well, the Android devices are being released with quad-core processors, keyboard docks, glasses-free 3D, full HD graphics and other more attractive features.

As for LTE 4G wireless broadband, an increasing number of European mobile carriers are rolling out LTE networks through their market areas and are launching phones, tablets and modems that work with this technology.

Conclusion

What it sounds like is that the CEBit show is underpinning a mobile cloud-driven computing environment which is to support “regular” and mobile usage classes.

The arrival of 4G wireless broadband–what does it mean for Next Generation Broadband

Article

Telstra super-fast 4G wireless sparks debate over NBN

My comments

As many countries agressively build out fibre-optic-based “Next Generation Broadband”, there is also the reality that companies involved in wireless broadband will deploy LTE or WiMAX “4G” technologies for this service.

This issue has been raised recently as Telstra, Australia’s incumbent telephone and mobile carrier announced its intention to deploy LTE-based 4G wireless broadband. This is even though the Australian Federal Government were rolling out the National Broadband Network, which is the next-generation broadband service based primarily on “fibre-to-the-premises” technology.

A key issue that have been raised include the “all-wireless” household or small business, which doesn’t have a landline telephone or ADSL/cable-based broadband Internet for their telecommunications. This may be implemented by students and similar households where each user wants control over their communications costs as well as assuring proper service privacy.

Issues of comparison

Value of service as a primary Internet service

A common disadvantage with this kind of setup is that the bandwidth available to the user from a wireless broadband service is less than that for a wireline broadband service like ADSL, cable or fibre-optic. As well, the wireline service is typically able to offer better value service than the wireless service. This disadvantage may be eroded if the 4G wireless broadband services are priced aggressively against the Next-Generation-Broadband wireline services.

Reliability and Stability

Even so, the 4G wireless broadband setups won’t yield the same bandwidth as a next-generation broadband setup; and these systems are based on radio technology which can be affected by many factors such as  the environment surrounding the radio equipment, the aerial (antenna) that is used as part of the equipment and the calibre of the equipment itself.

Examples of this include wireless-broadband modems used in double-brick / cinder-block buildings; equipment like USB modem sticks designed to be compact therefore not having adequate aerial systems; and simple weather conditions that affect wireless performance.

Here, this could lead to inconsistent performance for 4G wireless-broadband setups, with results like stuttering during VoIP telephony or multimedia playback.

Multiple device setups

No-one has yet raised the issue of a person operating multiple devices that connect to wireless broadband Internet. This is a common reality as people buy smartphones, tablets and netbooks that have integrated wireless-broadband connectivity. Here, these devices are operated on their own services and it requires users to keep track of the many accounts and bandwidth allowances that each device has.

As well, the wireless-broadband technologies discourage the idea of establishing local-area networks which could permit bandwidth sharing / pooling or sharing of resources like printers or file directories. Here, the users would end up not creating a local area network at all, and may just end up using technologies

Political issues peculiar to the Australian scenario

I also see certain political issues in the “next-generation-broadband vs 4G wireless broadhand” issue more so in Australia. Here, the Australian Labour Party see the National Broadband Network as a tool for nationalising or “claiming back” the wireline telephony infrastructure that they relinquished when Telstra was privatised. Here, Telstra, like British Telecom was originally part of the government-owned “Posts, Telegraphs, Telephones” department and became its own telephony entity as this department was separated.

There hadn’t been any mentions of intent to nationalise the Telstra-owned wireless infrastructure used for reselling their mobile telephony and wireless-broadband service. As well, Telstra were wanting to set up the aforementioned 4G LTE wireless-broadband technology on this infrastructure as a retail service and the Australian Labour Party were seeing this wireless-broadband service as a broadband service that competes with their National Broadband Network.

How I would see this argument is a way of seeking legal authority to require Telstra to do a “BT-style” sell-off of its mobile-telephony and wireless-broadband business. This is where they would be forced to divest themselves of the infrastructure and retail mobile-telephony / wireless-broadband business to another service

Conclusion

How I see the role of any wireless-broadband technology is that it is a complementary technology to a wireline technology rather than a competing technology. It exists primarily for mobile, portable and temporary computing applications.

PS. If I am appearing to write this article in a manner that supports Telstra, I have no pecuniary interests in this telecommunications company other than to be a regular customer of its telephony services.

Consumer Electronics Show 2011–Part 3

Now we come to the issue of network-infrastructure equipment that will need to support the increasing demands placed on the home network by the previously-mentioned smartphones, tablet computers and Internet-enabled TVs.

Network Infrastructure

Network Connectivity

Some newer chipsets have appeared which will increase network bandwidth for the 802.11n Wi-Fi segment and the HomePlug AV segment. The current implementations may use manufacturer-specific implementations which won’t bode well with the standards.

The first new “call” is the 450Mbps 802.11n WPA2 WPS Wi-Fi segment which is being provided by most network makes for their midrange routers and access points. Access points and routers that work with this specification use three 802.11n radio streams to maintain the high throughput. The full bandwidth may be achieved if the client device is equipped with an 802.11n wireless network adaptor that supports the three streams but your existing devices may benefit due to reduced contention for the wireless bandwidth due to the access point / router offering three streams.

Most of the routers shown at the Consumer Electronics Show this year that support the 3-stream 450Mbps level for the 802.11n wireless network functionality also offered dual-band dual-radio operation to the same specification. Here, these devices could work on both the 2.4GHz band and the 5GHz band at this level of performance.

Some manufacturers were trying out the idea of a 60GHz high-bandwidth media network which may be based on a Wi-Fi (802.11 technology) or other proprietary scheme. This could lead to three-band multimedia routers and access points that use 2.4GHz and 5GHz for regular whole-home wireless networking and 60GHz for same-room wireless networking.

The second new “call” is the 500Mbps throughput being made available on high-end HomePlug AV devices. These powerline network devices may only achieve the high bandwidth on a segment consisting of the high-bandwidth devices that are based on the same chipset. Here, I would wait for the HomePlug AV2 standard to be fully ratified before you chase the 500Mbps bandwidth on your HomePlug segment. Of course, these devices can work with HomePlug AV segments.

The third new call is for midrange high-throughput routers to have Gigabit on the WAN (Internet) port as well as the LAN ports. This is more relevant nowadays as fibre-based next-generation broadband services are rolled out in most countries.

Everyone who exhibited network-infrastructure equipment offered at least one 450Mbps dual-band dual-radio router with Gigabit Ethernet on the WAN (Internet) connection as well as the wired-LAN connection. As well, most of these routers are equipped with circuitry that supports QoS when streaming media and some of them have a USB file-server function which can also provide media files to the DLNA Home Media Network.

Trendnet also offered an access point and a wireless client bridge that worked to this new level of 802.11n performance. They also demonstrated power-saving circuitry for Wi-Fi client devices which throttles back transmission power if the device is in the presence of a strong access point signal for their network. This was ostensibly to be “green” when it comes to AC-powered devices but would yield more real benefit for devices that have to run on battery power.

They also ran with the TPL-410AP which is a HomePlug AV Wireless-N multi-function access point. Another of those HomePlug access points that can “fill in the gap” on a wireless network or extend the Wi-Fi network out to the garage, barn or old caravan.

They also issued the TEW-656BRG 3G Mobile Wireless N Router, which is an 802.11n “MiFi router” that is powered by USB and works with most 3G / 4G modem sticks available in the USA. It is of a small design that allows it to be clipped on to a laptop’s lid or a small LCD monitor.

TP-Link had their 450Mbps three-stream dual-band dual-radio router with Gigabit on bot WAN and LAN Ethernet connections. As well they fielded a single-stream 150Mbps USB stick as the TL-WNT23N.

They also tried their hand with IP surveillance with the TL-SC4171G camera . This camera can do remote pan-tilt, and 10x digital zoom. It connects to the network via Ethernet or 802.11g Wi-Fi (not that much chop nowadays) and is equipped with an IR ring for night capture, as well as a microphone and speaker.

Netgear were more active with the 450Mbps three-stream routers with Gigabit LAN. Two of the models are broadband routers with Gigabit WAN, while one is an ADSL2 modem router which I think would serve the European and Australian markets more easily. The top-end model of the series has a USB file server function which works with the DLNA Home Media Network and also with Tivo “personal-TV devices”.

They also released the XAV5004 HomePlug AV switch which is the 500Mbps version of the their earlier “home-theatre” four-port HomePlug switch. Of course, they released the XAV2001 which is a compact “homeplug” adaptor which connects to the regular standards-based HomePlug AV segment.

They also have released the MBR1000 Mobile Broadband Router which works with 3G/4G wireless broadband or  Ethernet broadband. This unit is being provided “tuNrnkey” for Verizon’s new 4G LTE service.

Netgear have also fielded the VEVG3700 VDSL2/Gigabit Ethernet dual-WAN router with Gigabit Ethernet LAN, Cat-IQ DECT VoIP phone base station. This device, which is pitched at triple-play service providers also supports DLNA server functionality. As well, they also had a DECT VoIP kit available for these providers

As well, Netgear have tried their footsteps in to IP-surveillance for home and small business with a camera and an Android-driven screen for this purpose.

D-Link’s network hardware range include the three-stream 450Mbps routers with Gigabit WAN/LAN, a multifunction access point / repeater for the 802.11n network as well as a new DLNA-enabled network-attached storage range

As far as the MoCA TV-coaxial-cable network is concerned, Channel Master is the only company to release any network hardware for this “no-new-wires” network. It is in the form of a MoCA-Ethernet 4-port switch for the home theatre.

“Mi-Fi” wireless-broadband routers

Every one of the US cellular-telecommunications carriers are catching on to the 4G bandwagon not just with the smartphones and tablets but with the wireless-broadband routers.

Sprint have a unit for their WiMAX service while Verizon are fielding a Samsung LTE “Mi-Fi” as well as the aforementioned Netgear MBR1000 router.

Computer hardware and software

Monitors

Some of the companies who manufacture monitors are looking at the idea of “Internet-connected” monitors which have a basic Web browser in them so you don’t have to fire up a computer to view the Web.

CPU/GPU combo chips

These new processor chips combine a CPU which is a computer’s “brain” as well as the graphics processor which “draws” the user interface on to the screen. AMD and Intel were premiering the “Accelerated Processor Units” and the Core “Sandy Bridge” prcessors respectively at the CES this year.

Intel were trumpeting the fact that this technology could make it harder to pirate movie content but this is more about mainstream computing and small-form-factor hardware being behind this space and power saving processor hardware.

Sony had lodged a commitment to AMD to use the Zacate “Accelerated Processor Unit” in some of their VAIO laptops.

Other hardware

AMD haven’t forgotten the “performance computing” segment when it comes to processor chips and released the quad-core and 6-core “Phenom” desktop and gaming-rig CPUs.

Seagate have also made the “GoFlex” removable / dockable hard disks a standard by building alliances with third-parties to make hardware that works to this standard. Could this be another “VHS-style” alliance for dockable hard disks?

Microsoft also used this show to premiere their Touch Mouse which uses that same touch operation method as Apple’s Magic Mouse. Do I see an attempt for them to “snap at” Apple when it comes to “cool hardware” as well as software?

The Microsoft Platform

There has been some activity with the Microsoft Windows platforms now that set-top boxes and tablet computers are becoming the “order of the day”

One direction Microsoft is taking is to port the Windows Platform, which was primarily written for Intel-Architecture processors, to the Acorn ARM-architecture processors. The reason that this port is taking place is due to these energy-efficient RISC processors being commonly used in battery-driven applications like tablet computers. They are also popular with other dedicated multimedia devices like set-top boxes and TV applications.

As well, Microsoft will be working on a lightweight Windows build for TV applications like set-top boxes. This is although they have previously written Windows-CE builds for this class of device.

Microsoft also want to make a variant of the Windows Phone 7 for tablet computers and are starting work on the Windows 8 project.

Similarly, Somsung has demonstrated the second incarnation of the Microsoft Surface platform This one comes in a slimmer table-based form rather than a unit that is as thick as the 1980s-style “cocktail-table” arcade game machine.

Conclusion

The Consumer Electronics Show 2011 has certainly put the connected home on the map. This is due to affordable smartphones and tablet computers becoming more ubiquitous and Internet-provided video services becoming an increasing part of American home life.

It will be interesting to see what will happen for the other “pillar” of the consumer-electronics trade fair cycle – the Internationaler Funkaustellung; and how more prevalent the Internet TV, smartphone and tablet computer lifestyle will be in Europe and Asia.