Wifi Revolution

Tropos Networks reportedly announced that the Google wireless broadband network built with Tropos routers in Mountain View, California, experienced an extraordinary growth spurt as the number of users skyrocketed by nearly 19 percent from 16,000 to 19,000 in a 30 day span.

Officials at Tropos claimed that the Google (News - Alert) Wi-Fi Network celebrated its third anniversary this month and now transports close to 600 gigabytes of user data, which is twice the volume recorded in July, 2007.

“We continue to experience extremely high demand – both in terms of users and bandwidth,” said Karl Garcia, leader, Google Wi-Fi project at Google. "We’ve seen the iPhone (News - Alert) and other Wi-Fi enabled handheld devices as significant drivers of the high demand we see. Currently nearly a quarter of all devices that connect to our network are handhelds, compared to almost none when we launched the network.”

Official sources acknowledged that a primary reason for the record growth is because a significant number of users are using Smartphones more than ever before since these mobile hand-held devices are versatile and popular and has many of the advantageous features a laptop offers.

Among consumer electronic devices, Smartphones are the gizmos that have a demand in the current down economy as evidenced by the following commentary: 1.21 billion mobile handsets, including 171 million Smartphones, were sold in the year 2008 resulting in a 5.4 percent increase in sales over the previous year, and with other handset sales struggling to grow substantially, companies are ramping up their marketing strategy for selling Smartphones. This, coupled with a reasonable consumer acceptance in Q408, augurs well for the future of Smartphones. Additionally, consumers feel that they are getting a lot of devices and utilities rolled into one carry-anywhere- access-anything-use-anytime advantage.

Among Smartphones, the iPhone is the most popular because it has captured nearly 50 percent of the U.S. and Canadian Smartphone market, and 33 percent of global Smartphone market.

Tropos and Google said the growing trend for Smartphone access of Wi-Fi networks is similarly being experienced by AT&T (News - Alert) who recently reported to AppleInsider that 49 percent of users who connect to their Wi-Fi network are using a Smartphone.

A recent article titled, “LogMeIn Lays Low Laptop Lugging,” reported an innovative utility application is threatening to make the carrying around of a laptop history because the related company’s survey unearthed that close to 60 percent respondents prefer working from their Smartphones while travelling rather than hauling, unpacking, booting, working, shutting down and repacking their laptops, which were once a phenomenal must-have-carry-everywhere gizmo, but are now very gradually being relegated to second place behind the ubiquitous and popular Smartphone.

“The Google Wi-Fi network is a valuable community resource and helps increase economic development by making it easy for residents and visitors to stay connected anywhere around town,” said Margaret Abe-Koba, mayor of Mountain View. “We are very pleased that Google continues to support our community with this robust service.”

Tropos said that the Google Wi-Fi Network covers somewhere in the region of 12 square miles, or more than 31 square kilometres, and offers a free of charge service to anyone – residents, business people, or visitors - with wireless Internet accessible devices and a Google account within this region

“The volume of data and number of users on the Google Wi-Fi network in Mountain View is unmatched compared to other similar networks anywhere in the world,” said Tom Ayers, president and chief executive officer of Tropos Networks (News - Alert). “We continue to work closely with Google to extend Tropos' technology leadership and continue to solve the unique and challenging issues that outdoor wireless broadband presents.”

Tropos officials said one standout feature of the Google Wi-Fi Network is that it has kept pace with the ever increasing bandwidth demands without recommending changes in hardware upgrades.

The company coordinates and manages radio spectrum resources to handle four times the data capacity via its software and new patented algorithms, which include: PowerCurve, which adjusts the power and bit rate of each packet; Airtime Congestion Control, which senses congestion and allocates resources fairly; and, Smart Channel, which maximizes spectral reuse and avoids interference.

 

 

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