Rockford, Illinois Goes Wireless Broadband

Rockford, Illinois, a mid-size city and my home town, has just announced a plan to energize its downtown core with broadband via Wi-Fi Internet access. Rockford joins a steady stream of municipalities that are embracing broadband Internet as a strategic asset for future business expansion and the job growth it brings. Unlike the AC power grid or switched telephone service, broadband is becoming a utility by consensus, not federal mandate.

So why Wi-Fi? The most universal of the wireless access standards is 802.11b Wi-Fi. The antenna and transceiver come built-into nearly every laptop sold in recent memory. The pioneers of public broadband access, coffee shops, bookstores, and restaurants all offer broadband Internet service via 802.11b Wi-Fi. Most home wireless networks are based on this standard. I even have a wireless all-in-one printer that is Wi-Fi enabled. Adoption of Wi-Fi as the defacto Internet connection has been grass-roots supported and is spreading virally.

Almost as much a mandate has been the gravitation toward "free" Wi-Fi hotspots. Whether the service is free or paid is a strategy that varies from city to city, business to business. In the case of New Orleans, high speed Internet service is free for the moment. It will be throttled back to a lower bandwidth once emergency relief has been completed. Rockford has chosen to support a for-profit consortium, ROC-net Services, that will offer paid access for personal and business use. Other cities have varying strategies.

The common threads in municipal broadband strategies are a standardization of Wi-Fi rather than wireline as the access means, a notable absence of involvement by the incumbent telephone, cable, or power companies, and a belief that broadband Internet is a vital infrastructure for the community. Rather than wait for gradual built-out by small businesses and individuals, cities are putting on a push for universal coverage and free or low cost access.

Rockford's wireless coverage will be centered in the downtown business district initially. Like many rust belt municipalities, downtown development has been almost dormant for decades. It's a smart strategy to try to jump start redevelopment with the infrastructure that will be most in demand for future job growth...the Information Superhighway. Just over a week ago, the Rockford Public Library unveiled its Wi-Fi hotspot to complement the controlled access public terminals. This week, the big news is wireless access covering an 8 square mile area. Things are moving fast.

Rockford is using previously installed but unlit fiber optic rings to feed its wireless access points. A combination of fiber and Wi-Fi will service will provide megabit to multiple gigabit bandwidth to hospitals, financial companies, manufacturers, research labs, independent professionals, and visitors. It is also likely that coverage will expand to the city limits and similar city networks. ROC-net Services has already said it has plans to expand wireless Internet service to 10 counties in northern Illinois.

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Samsung D357 For Cingular Push to Talk

Cingular Wireless users can now get walkie-talkie type service on their cell phones, much like Nextel users enjoy. The phone you want is the Samsung D357.

Walkie Talkie or Push to Talk, often abbreviated PTT, works more like a two-way radio than a traditional telephone. In regular phone service you talk and listen at the same time. With PTT, only one person talks at a time and you push a button when you want to speak.

So why would you want to turn a phone into a CB radio? Well, your phone is actually still a phone. Unlike CB, Ham Radio or two-way walkie talkies, your conversations aren't broadcast to just any other phone. You pick the parties you want to speak with and they are the only ones in on the conversation. What Push To Talk does is let you push one button and instantly talk to one or more parties. You talk. Your voice comes out of their telephone. No waiting for the phone to ring and then get answered. It's instant communications.

As you can imagine, PTT operation can be really handy for short messages, coordinating activities, work situations and so on when you aren't planning to just chit chat for 20 minutes. For those longer conversations you can switch back to regular cell phone operation any time you feel like it.

The Samsung D357 is the first phone designed for Cingular Wireless service that has the Push to Talk technology built in. It also has Bluetooth communications so that you can clip a wireless headset on your ear and converse without having to hold up the phone. If you want to include more people at your end, just turn on the built-in speakerphone.

You can also operate this phone vocally. Advanced voice-activated dialing requires no pre-training of the cellphone.

For times when it isn't possible to speak, The D357 is set up for SMS text messaging. AOL, Yahoo! and ICQ instant messaging come built-in. You also get an email client for on the go emailing.

The D357 clamshell type phone has two displays. The large main display shows over 65,000 colors. A smaller external display shows valuable information while the phone is closed.

All this and excellent battery life too. The Samsung D357 gives you up to 300 minutes or 5 hours of talk time. Exceptional. Standby time is up to 200 hours or well over a week.

If you've been craving a cell phone with Push to Talk capability combined with the Cingular Wireless network, this is the phone for you. Can you believe that it is available free after rebate? It is as of this writing, but this deal may not last so hurry.

What are the hottest cell phone deals available right now, including free cell phones? Use the Cell Phone Plan Finder to check out the top phones and associated wireless service plans.

PalmOne Treo 700w Special Discount Offer

Palm describes this wireless device as "the everything machine." It's an all-in-one smartphone with powerful support for both business and multimedia applications.

The PalmOne Treo 700w is the first Treo ever with the Microsoft Windows Mobile platform. It's like having Microsoft Office on your cell phone. The 700w comes equipped with Microsoft Office Word, Excel, PowerPoint and Outlook Mobile. Yes, you can download, view, edit, create, and upload Word and Excel files on the go. You'll have your calendar, contacts and data wherever you happen to be. Even read PDF files. No need to be constrained by an office or even lug a laptop computer around. The Treo 700w fits in your pocket and has everything you need to conduct business.

The PalmOne Treo 700w is designed to communicate on the EV-DO cellular network being deployed nationwide by Verizon Wireless. EV-DO (EVolution Data Only) can be described as cellular broadband. It runs as fast as many DSL connections but without wires.

Another wireless technology built into the 700w is Bluetooth. Don't want to hold the Treo up to your ear for phone calls. Clip a small Bluetooth headset on and you can have private conversations without any dangling cords.

The PalmOne Treo 700w is also a multimedia machine. Windows Media Player Portable gives you MP3 and streaming multimedia support. Take your entertainment with you. Or make your own entertainment with the built-in 1.3 Megapixel digital camera. Its 1280 x 1024 pixel resolution is sharp enough for great prints. Create and edit a photo album right on your Treo. Switch to video capture mode and you can use your camera like a camcorder to make movies limited in length only by the amount of available memory.

Text messaging is a breeze with the onboard backlit QWERTY keyboard and TFT color main display that measures 240 by 240 pixels. Of course, you also have the capability to send and receive email and browse the Web with Pocket Internet Explorer.

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Samsung MM-A920 Special Discount Package

The hottest new phone from Samsung is the MM-A920. The MM stands for Multi-Media. That means a host of entertainment technologies including support for Sprint TV and the Sprint Music Store, high resolution digital camera, camcorder for making short movies, picture mail and video mail, Bluetooth communications and a built-in MP3 player. You'll almost forget it's a cell phone until it rings.

The Samsung A920 is EV-DO enabled. EV-DO (EVolution-Data Only) can be thought of as cellular broadband. Both Verizon and Sprint are deploying EV-DO on their cellular networks in order to make the new generation of multimedia phones possible. The Samsung MM-A920 operates on the Sprint PCS network, so the advanced video and music download features work in major metropolitan areas where EV-DO service is available.

The 1.3 Megapixel camera features a resolution of 1280 x 960 pixels, which is good enough for quality prints. Printing from your phone is made easy by the inclusion of PictBridge support. All you need is a printer that has PictBridge capability and you are good to print. The camera also includes a LED flash for low light conditions. Most of the time this is all the camera you are going to need with you for those unexpected photo ops.

The digital camera can be put into video capture mode with the LED acting as a movie light. You can record short videos up to 30 seconds long to share with friends or embarrass them with.

Like to take your music with you? The Samsung MM-A920 is also an MP3 player. The phone has a standard 2.5mm headset jack and a stereo headset is included. When the phone is closed, you have your MP3 player controls right on the outside of the case and the color external display shows you what is happening. The A920 comes with a 32MB TransFlash memory card. You can plug other cards up to 512 MB in the expandable memory card slot to hold your music, pictures and videos.

Like hands-free capability? Lets start with the speakerphone. Turn it on and you can include the whole group in the conversation. For more private conversations, clip a Bluetooth headset on your ear and you can chat without any dangling cords. The MM-A920 also supports hands-free dialing and has an advanced voice recognition technology that needs no pre-training of the phone.

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LG VX9800 Multimedia Phone Bluetooth Bonus

Multimedia is the hottest trend in wireless technology and the LG VX9800 gives you everything you need for multimedia on the go. Yes, it's a cell phone too. But what really sets the VX9800 apart is its collection of entertainment functions.

Are you familiar with VCAST? That's the Verizon Wireless on-demand video service. You don't need to be anywhere near your TV set to watch news, sports, weather and entertainment shows. VCAST is available in over 170 metropolitan areas and available to over 140 million people in the U.S. It runs over the next generation cellular broadband service called EV-DO, so it delivers your video and music fast.

Did you hear music? It might be a VCAST performance or it might be coming from the built-in MP3 player with customizable equalizer and surround sound. Leave your current MP3 player at home but still have your tunes with you.

You can also leave your current digital camera at home. The LG VX9800 has a 1.3 Megapixel digital camera with 4x digital zoom and an LED flash. Take still pictures you can send to your friends or print. Switch to video capture mode and you can make short movies up to 15 seconds long.

You'll notice something unusual when you open your LG 9800. Unlike the usual clamshell phone, this case has the hinge on the long side. Oh, you thought this was a candy bar phone because the usual calling buttons are on the outside? Open it up and it you'll find a QWERTY keyboard and huge internal display with stereo speakers on each side. Those are great for watching and listening to VCAST videos. But how about that keyboard? Text messaging has never been easier or more convenient.

Perhaps you'd prefer to go hands-free? No problem. Turn on the internal speakerphone and have a conference call. Or clip a Bluetooth headset on your ear and talk privately with no dangling cords. You can also use voice-activated dialing to just speak a phonebook name with no pre-training needed. Save up to 100 voice memos of up to 1 minute each. People will think you are talking to yourself... and you will be.

Does this fantastic phone sound like just what you want? Well, don't go paying up to $500 for all this technology when you can get it through our online cellular store for just $99.99 after rebate. Plus, you'll also get a bonus Bluetooth headset worth $80 included free. You'll need to act quickly because this deal is unlikely to last too much longer.

What are the hottest cell phone deals available right now, including free cell phones? Use the Cell Phone Plan Finder to check out the top phones and associated wireless service plans.