Roving Hotspots

[temporaryjake]

Taken from the New York Times:
http://www.nytimes.com/2005/07/14/te...=5070&emc=eta1


July 14, 2005
For Surfers, a Roving Hot Spot That Shares
By JOHANNA JAINCHILL

When the Sunningdale Country Club in Scarsdale, N.Y., opened its gates last week to a location shoot for "The Sopranos," a new fixture was on display in the mobile dressing rooms - a roving Wi-Fi hot spot.

With a device called the Junxion Box, the production company can set up a mobile multiuser Internet connection anywhere it gets cellphone service. The box, about the size of a shoebox cover, uses a cellular modem card from a wireless phone carrier to create a Wi-Fi hot spot that lets dozens of people connect to the Internet.

The staff members of "The Sopranos," squeezed into two trailer dressing rooms, needed only the Junxion Box and their laptops to exchange messages and documents with the production offices at Silvercup Studios in Queens.

"We used to fax everything," said Henry J. Bronchtein, the show's co-executive producer. "The paper would jam; it was messy. This is much more reliable."

Junxion Boxes have also been spotted on Google's commuter buses for employees and along Willie Nelson's latest tour. But what may be a boon for wandering Web surfers could quickly become a threat to wireless providers.

"The premise is one person buys an air card and one person uses the service, not an entire neighborhood," said Jeffrey Nelson, executive director for corporate communications at Verizon Wireless. "Giving things away for free doesn't work anymore. It never did."

Unlimited service on cellular modem cards for PC's costs about $80 a month. The carriers are clearly worried about a technology that could destroy that business, but they have not formed a united front against Junxion.

The makers of the Junxion Box, based in Seattle, seem eager to head off any battle by forming partnerships with the wireless companies.

"We're not trying to build a radar detector," said John Daly, 42, co-founder of Junxion Inc. and vice president for business development. "We believe we're creating an opportunity for the carriers. It may not be entirely comfortable for them right now, but we hope we can get to a point where we can collaborate with them."

The Junxion Box was created by Mr. Daly and two partners, David Hsiao, 38, the company's president, and Peter Polson, 31, vice president for product development. The commercial version of the box retails for $699. They plan a less expensive consumer version next year.

John Kampfe, director of media and industry analyst relations for Cingular Wireless, said the Junxion Box was being evaluated and certified by Cingular and could eventually be sold in conjunction with Cingular's wireless service for wide-area networks.

"There is a whole pricing model that has to take place with the Junxion Box," Mr. Kampfe said.

So far Junxion has about 200 customers, many of whom are testing the product. The company went around the wireless companies by making Trio Teknologies, a wireless services reseller, its exclusive distributor.

Peter Schneider, a partner at Gotham Sound, the communications equipment company in New York that supplied Junxion Boxes to the sets of both "The Sopranos" and the rapper 50 Cent's upcoming movie, "Get Rich or Die Tryin'," said his customers would not be interested in wireless modem cards were it not for the possibility to share the connection through the Junxion Box.

"That's the exact appeal of it" for his customers, he said. "That you can rent it to a group. As word gets out, it will become part of the communication equipment they rent."

But for carriers like Verizon Wireless, which spent $1 billion on its broadband network, it is difficult to let users piggyback on that service. "We're not surprised that people are building services like this and trying to attach them to our network," Mr. Nelson of Verizon said. "It verifies how cool and how important our network is. We're going to protect that investment."

That may prove to be an uphill battle as new technologies like Junxion alter the wireless carriers' control over the use of their networks.

"That's just something they have got to live with because that's the technology now," said David Anderson, Willie Nelson's tour manager of 31 years. "Most people wouldn't or couldn't afford to have that many cards. They weren't going to get 22 customers, but now they got 6."

There are two Junxion Boxes in each of the two tour buses and each has three wireless modem cards so they can switch to the cellular provider network with the best local coverage. It allows Mr. Nelson, whom Mr. Anderson describes as a computer geek, to check his e-mail and surf the Web while on the road.

"The Junxion Box is good for going down the highway," Mr. Anderson said from Hillsboro, Tex., where Mr. Nelson was performing earlier this month. "It was frustrating in the older days. It's finally the way it should be."

[coalminer]

Originally Posted by temporaryjake Taken from the New York Times: http://www.nytimes.com/2005/07/14/te...=5070&emc=eta1 July 14, 2005 For Surfers, a Roving Hot Spot That Shares By JOHANNA JAINCHILL When the Sunningdale Country Club in Scarsdale, N.Y., opened its gates last week to a location shoot for "The Sopranos," a new fixture was on display in the mobile dressing rooms - a roving Wi-Fi hot spot. With a device called the Junxion Box, the production company can set up a mobile multiuser Internet connection anywhere it gets cellphone service. The box, about the size of a shoebox cover, uses a cellular modem card from a wireless phone carrier to create a Wi-Fi hot spot that lets dozens of people connect to the Internet. The staff members of "The Sopranos," squeezed into two trailer dressing rooms, needed only the Junxion Box and their laptops to exchange messages and documents with the production offices at Silvercup Studios in Queens. "We used to fax everything," said Henry J. Bronchtein, the show's co-executive producer. "The paper would jam; it was messy. This is much more reliable." Junxion Boxes have also been spotted on Google's commuter buses for employees and along Willie Nelson's latest tour. But what may be a boon for wandering Web surfers could quickly become a threat to wireless providers. "The premise is one person buys an air card and one person uses the service, not an entire neighborhood," said Jeffrey Nelson, executive director for corporate communications at Verizon Wireless. "Giving things away for free doesn't work anymore. It never did." Unlimited service on cellular modem cards for PC's costs about $80 a month. The carriers are clearly worried about a technology that could destroy that business, but they have not formed a united front against Junxion. The makers of the Junxion Box, based in Seattle, seem eager to head off any battle by forming partnerships with the wireless companies. "We're not trying to build a radar detector," said John Daly, 42, co-founder of Junxion Inc. and vice president for business development. "We believe we're creating an opportunity for the carriers. It may not be entirely comfortable for them right now, but we hope we can get to a point where we can collaborate with them." The Junxion Box was created by Mr. Daly and two partners, David Hsiao, 38, the company's president, and Peter Polson, 31, vice president for product development. The commercial version of the box retails for $699. They plan a less expensive consumer version next year. John Kampfe, director of media and industry analyst relations for Cingular Wireless, said the Junxion Box was being evaluated and certified by Cingular and could eventually be sold in conjunction with Cingular's wireless service for wide-area networks. "There is a whole pricing model that has to take place with the Junxion Box," Mr. Kampfe said. So far Junxion has about 200 customers, many of whom are testing the product. The company went around the wireless companies by making Trio Teknologies, a wireless services reseller, its exclusive distributor. Peter Schneider, a partner at Gotham Sound, the communications equipment company in New York that supplied Junxion Boxes to the sets of both "The Sopranos" and the rapper 50 Cent's upcoming movie, "Get Rich or Die Tryin'," said his customers would not be interested in wireless modem cards were it not for the possibility to share the connection through the Junxion Box. "That's the exact appeal of it" for his customers, he said. "That you can rent it to a group. As word gets out, it will become part of the communication equipment they rent." But for carriers like Verizon Wireless, which spent $1 billion on its broadband network, it is difficult to let users piggyback on that service. "We're not surprised that people are building services like this and trying to attach them to our network," Mr. Nelson of Verizon said. "It verifies how cool and how important our network is. We're going to protect that investment." That may prove to be an uphill battle as new technologies like Junxion alter the wireless carriers' control over the use of their networks. "That's just something they have got to live with because that's the technology now," said David Anderson, Willie Nelson's tour manager of 31 years. "Most people wouldn't or couldn't afford to have that many cards. They weren't going to get 22 customers, but now they got 6." There are two Junxion Boxes in each of the two tour buses and each has three wireless modem cards so they can switch to the cellular provider network with the best local coverage. It allows Mr. Nelson, whom Mr. Anderson describes as a computer geek, to check his e-mail and surf the Web while on the road. "The Junxion Box is good for going down the highway," Mr. Anderson said from Hillsboro, Tex., where Mr. Nelson was performing earlier this month. "It was frustrating in the older days. It's finally the way it should be."

Heck of a device, great idea, took me a whole 2 minutes to convince my boss that we need one of these for our meetings!!!!!!

[temporaryjake]

Originally Posted by coalminer Heck of a device, great idea, took me a whole 2 minutes to convince my boss that we need one of these for our meetings!!!!!!

And they start at $699...however they'll be releasing a consumer version that I'm positive will take off. Hopefully Cingular/Verizon/T-mobile will market these devices instead of banning them.

[coalminer]

Originally Posted by temporaryjake And they start at $699...however they'll be releasing a consumer version that I'm positive will take off. Hopefully Cingular/Verizon/T-mobile will market these devices instead of banning them.

Yes true, for our meetings we usually have to spend between 150 to 200 a day for a high speed line at the hotel or resort we are staying in. Our national sales meeting is 5 days, and we have smaller regional meetings throughout the year, this will save us money.

[jimbo]

Originally Posted by temporaryjake And they start at $699...however they'll be releasing a consumer version that I'm positive will take off. Hopefully Cingular/Verizon/T-mobile will market these devices instead of banning them.

I think it is pretty safe to say that they won't be marketing them with a $80 unlimited plan, not anytime soon anyway.

[coalminer]

Well, I got the Kyocera KPC650 and the Junxion box today, except for the ugly green color, this thing works great, and sooooo easy to set up, all web browser based, took like 5 minutes to set up, will report back and see how it works in the real world......

[J.Tiger]

I am using the $195 3G Phoebus MB6000 EVDO router in my office. It works perfectly and supports all Verizon, Sprint and Cingular 3G PCMCIA Cards. Here is a cool review for those interested:

http://gearlog.com/blogs/gearlog/arc...4/17/9870.aspx

It is the low cost version of the Junxion box with similar feature set. Market price is $399 but I only paid $195 for it after signing up Sprint services. Here is the link where I bought it:

http://www.onsale.com/onsale/shop/de...no~7040786.asp