Mobile voice over Wi-Fi at 130 km/h
Just as I was reading Verizon's latest proclamation that "with Wi-Fi, you are limited to one spot" (see Glenn's post on Verizon's latest wireless FUD in Texas), in comes a Skype call from Martyn Levy of RoamAD who tells me that the world's first highway Wi-Fi mobile voice network has been successfully tested on a US interstate highway – the Canamex Interstate Highway (I-19) from Rio Rico to a point south of Green Valley, Arizona. Wi-VOD deployed it using a Department of Homeland Security grant; the network is managed by the Arizona Telecommunications and Information Council. Get this: Wi-VOD claims it was able to make multi-party VoIP conference calls at speeds in excess of 130 kilometres per hour (80mph) sustained over the entire network.
Before you all start yakking on your Wi-Fi PDAs breaking Arizona speeding laws, please note that the network is for public safety personnel (police, fire, ambulance and border partrol) first, with various community agencies, schools, business and local residents being added as the deployment expands beyond its targeted coverage areas,
