Showing posts with label WIFI consumption. Show all posts
Showing posts with label WIFI consumption. Show all posts

Friday, September 7, 2018

WiFi Industry Is Gearing Up for Move to 802.11ax

WBA officials said the next-generation WiFi will bring improvements in performance, capacity and efficiency and will take on early 5G use cases.
At a time when the upcoming transition to 5G cellular networking is getting a lot of airtime, the Wireless Broadband Alliance is reminding businesses and consumers alike that the next generation of WiFi will bring with it vast improvements in performance and capacity and will be able to support many of the early use cases of 5G.
In a white paper titled “Enhanced Wi-Fi—802.11ax Decoded,” WBA officials outline the numerous new features that 802.11ax will bring with it to support not only the tens of millions of smartphones that currently rely on WiFi connectivity, but also to address the demands from emerging segments such as connected internet of things (IoT) devices and augmented and virtual reality.
“The Wi-Fi industry isn’t resting on its laurels,” the authors of white paper write. “It is not complacent about its ability to continue to help support the tsunami of mobile data. With 802.11ax (11ax), the Wi-Fi industry is introducing, not just the next generation of Wi-Fi, not just a set of increments in terms of better throughput and coverage that improve all existing deployments, but fundamentally new sets of capabilities which can be used by the industry to address a whole new set of opportunities.”

The use of WiFi connectivity continues to grow rapidly, according to the WBA. Almost 70 percent of smartphone data is carried over WiFi, and there are 8 million WiFi devices in use around the world, 3 billion of which were added over the past 12 months. In its annual report for 2017, the group said that almost 80 percent of survey respondents said they will deploy next-generation WiFi by 2020.
The group also expects that by 2021, there will be 3.5 devices and connections per capita, which is fueling the rapid growth—47 percent a year over the next five years—in mobile data traffic.
“This growth is coming from multiple different product categories with different key requirements; ranging from certain IoT use cases that require low data rates and low power consumption supported using small battery powered devices, through to Augmented Reality/Virtual Reality use cases that require extreme throughput and low latency,” the authors wrote in the report, which was released Sept. 5.
A report by MarketsandMarkets Research says that by 2022, the global WiFi market will grow to $15.6 billion, up from $5.96 billion last year.
The WBA is highlighting a range of new features that officials said will address challenges facing enterprises. The new features include multi-user MIMO (multiple input, multiple output) uplink and downlink to increase for enterprises and carrier networks as well as large public venues and buildings with multiple users by increasing channel capacity when supporting multiple devices at the same time.
Support for both 2.4GHz and 5GHz band frequencies will increase the spectrum that can be used and ensure compatibility with existing devices, and will provide support to the 6GHz band. Flexible channel sizes and resource units will mean operators will be able to offer greater IoT efficiency, including connections that use lower data rates for narrow dedicated channels, all of which will save power. In addition, with this feature, carriers will be able to support both broadband-based services and IoT on the same network. The Target Wake Time feature means IoT devices can sleep to reduce competition for network access and wake up when needed, saving battery life.
The WBA laid out a range of use cases for 802.11ax, including high-density networks, the transportation, retail and entertainment industries, enterprises, the industrial sector and smart cities.
The ability to deliver what WBA officials call 5G use cases is key, they said. Top telecommunications companies like AT&TVerizon, Sprint and T-Mobile are gearing up their networks for 5G, and systems and component makers are building out their portfolio of products that will support the next-generation cellular networks. But WBA officials say 802.11ax connectivity will arrive before 5G starts to gain significant traction, and the new WiFi technology will support requirements laid out for 5G in ITU for IMT-2020.
“However, being ‘5G-capable’ represents more than being able to meet a set of throughput and density requirements,” the WBA authors wrote. “Already we have seen Wi-Fi integrated into key 5G concepts such as ETSI’s [European Telecommunications Standards Institute’s] Multi-Access Edge Computing architecture.”
WBA officials said they expect the 802.11ax standard to be ratified in the fourth quarter of next year, though multiple group members will launch forward-compatible products before the ratification.
“With so many new capabilities being delivered in 11ax, it is expected that the ramp in deployments will mean that 11ax will lead 5G by several years,” they said in the report. “Moreover, the backwards compatibility guarantees mean that the existing device ecosystem can be seamlessly supported using the very latest equipment, not a characteristic available to 5G New Radio deployments.”
They noted that the GSM Association, a trade group for mobile network operators, is predicting that fewer than 15 percent of global mobile connections will use 5G technology by 2025, while more than 70 percent of the enterprise-class WiFi shipments by 2022 will use 802.11ax.
However, there are still some challenges. Analysts with Dell’Oro Group in June said that delays in 802.11ax products will slow the growth of the enterprise LAN market this year, though migrations from 802.11ac Wave 1 to Wave 2 will ramp up.
“Several manufacturers of enterprise-class products are postponing general availability of 802.11ax access points as they wait for more advanced chipsets and further development of the standard,” Trent Dell’Oro, business analyst at Dell’Oro, said in a statement.

via eweek

Thursday, June 21, 2018

New Gigacheck Wireless Analyzer Offers Smartphone App Connectivity to Test WiFi and Ethernet Connection Speeds

Press Release Summary:


Greenlee Textron Inc. announces GigaCheck in AirScout® line of wireless analyzers for testing Wi-Fi coverage and wired Ethernet connection. It measures signal to noise ratio, PHY rate and transmit/receive success rates on wireless networks using the industry standard Ookla® Speedtest®. The analyzer provides technicians with tools to validate connection speed on wireless and Ethernet networks and verify whether the customers receive the connection speeds they pay for and expect.

Original Press Release:

Greenlee Communications Launches AirScout GigaCheck

Easily Verify Network Connection Speeds with Greenlee® Communications AirScout® WiFi® Test System
AirScout® GigaCheck Tests WiFi and Ethernet Connection Speeds up to a full Gigabit
Vista, Calif., (June 19, 2018) — Greenlee Textron Inc., a Textron Inc. (NYSE: TXT) company, announces the addition of GigaCheck to its award-winning AirScout® line of wireless analyzers. Controlled via Smartphone app, GigaCheck tests Wi-Fi coverage as seen from the residential gateway and tests wired Ethernet connection upload and download speeds up to 1Gb in real-time.
“Today’s customer demands dependable, high-speed services and expects their service provider will deliver the speed they pay for. AirScout GigaCheck gives technicians the tools needed to quickly and easily validate connection speeds on both wireless and ethernet networks,” explains Oleg Fishel, Director of PLM for Greenlee Communications.
AirScout GigaCheck measures Signal to Noise Ratio, PHY Rate and transmit/receive success rates on wireless networks using the industry standard Ookla® Speedtest®. Upload/download and Ping tests are performed on both Ethernet and WiFi for real-time speed testing.
The AirScout unit connects to the wireless router in one-click and is controlled via a smartphone app. The simple connection and intuitive user interface of the app make it easy for technicians to verify customers are receiving the connection speeds they pay for and expect. Technicians define pass/fail thresholds based upon their SLA and can generate reports and save them in the Cloud for easy transference and transparency of test results.
BTR, Broadband Technology Report, awarded AirScout Enterprise the 2017 Diamond Technology Winner in Wi-Fi Solutions. For more information on the complete AirScout line, visit www.getairscout.com.
Greenlee, under its Greenlee Communications brand, develops Ethernet, Transport, C37.94, Fiber, DSL, Wi-Fi and Copper test solutions, tracing and locating equipment, and fiber/cable jet installation equipment. A broad product portfolio, coupled with solutions-branded Greenlee Utility®, HD Electric Company® and Sherman + Reilly®, creates a single source partner providing unmatched value to the communications and utility markets.
Greenlee Communications
The Greenlee Communications brand offers a complete line of innovative and industryleading test and measurement solutions for the communication service provider industry. Our expertise and innovative solutions address all stages of network deployment enabling the development, installation and maintenance of xDSL, fiber, cable and wireless networks. It is a leading brand of test and measurement solutions in the global communications industry with a long track record of delivering high quality innovative solutions enabling technicians to achieve their goals in a timely manner and with confidence.
Greenlee Textron Inc.
Greenlee Textron Inc. is known as a global leader in the professional tool category. The Rockford, Illinois-based company develops high quality innovative products distinguished by customer-driven design and differentiated by supply chain excellence. It also leverages its powerful brands such as Greenlee Communications and Greenlee Utility in the electrical, construction and maintenance markets worldwide. More information is available at www.greenlee.com.
About Textron Inc.
Textron Inc. is a multi-industry company that leverages its global network of aircraft, defense, industrial and finance businesses to provide customers with innovative solutions and services. Textron is known around the world for its powerful brands such as Bell, Cessna, Beechcraft, Hawker, Jacobsen, Kautex, Lycoming, E-Z-GO, Greenlee, Textron Off Road, Arctic Cat, Textron Systems, and TRU Simulation + Training. For more information, visit: www.textron.com.
Certain statements in this press release may describe strategies, goals, outlook or other non-historical matters; these forward-looking statements speak only as of the date on which they are made, and we undertake no obligation to update them. These statements are subject to known and unknown risks, uncertainties, and other factors that may cause our actual results to differ materially from those expressed or implied by such forward-looking statements.

Thursday, February 1, 2018

How Scammers Steal Your Computing Power to Mine Cryptocurrencies







Cryptojacking, an internet scam found on thousands of websites in which nefarious actors mine cryptocurrencies on computers without users’ permission, has been on the rise since the prices of bitcoin and many other cryptocurrencies began spiking last year. The con involves websites stealing computational power from a visitor’s computer to execute the algorithms that are involved in cryptocurrency mining, which requires significant amounts of energy.
While it’s most common in the sketchier corners of the internet, hackers have also been able to inject the cryptojacking software onto websites for Showtime and PolitiFact and on e-commerce platforms. Patrons of a Buenos Aires, Argentina, Starbucks branch discovered in December that its Wi-Fi service was covertly using their computers for mining, and last week disgruntled netizens complained on social media that YouTube ads were also stealing mining power. AdGuard estimates websites can earn up to $326,000 per month from cryptojacking based on traffic to popular websites found to have the mining software.

Cryptocurrencies are digital currencies that exist on a blockchain, an encrypted digital ledger that securely keeps track of the order of transactions between computers. Mining in general requires a computer to solve extremely complex mathematical puzzles in order to produce a piece of data, which serves as a unit of a given cryptocurrency. The mining process needs to be difficult and energy-intensive to make sure that these data sets are scarce enough to serve as a currency. If it were too easy to mine a bitcoin, then the coin would have no value. Cryptojackers are essentially stealing the energy that mining requires.
One of the most popular tools among cryptojackers is a JavaScript plugin called Coinhive, which mines Monero, a privacy-focused cryptocurrency launched in 2014. Although not as valuable as bitcoin, a single Monero is worth roughly $300. And it’s easy to mine on a personal computer, unlike bitcoin, whose mining process usually requires large server farms. A portion of the processing power that a computer allots to a website with the Coinhive plugin goes toward the mining process. The creators of the tool then get a 22 percent cut of the mined Monero.


Coinhive and other in-browser miners are often employed in a deceptive manner. AdGuard released data in December showing that four of the most popular streaming and video-conversion sites (Streamango, RapidVideo, Openload, and OnlineVideoConverter), which collectively receive about 992 million monthly visits, take users’ processing power for mining without informing them.
Cryptojackers are essentially stealing the energy that cryptomining requires.
To observe the effects of cryptojacking for myself, I went on publicwww.com, a search engine for source code, and found a list of websites that use Coinhive. Most of them appeared, based on their URLs, to feature either porn or pirated movies. I then visited five of the sites on separate Chrome windows at the same time, veering away from the NSFW content and toward websites for universities in Indonesia and Mexico. Only one site, the notorious Kiwi Farms forum, gave me the option to turn the miner on or off. Within 15 minutes, my laptop was hot to the touch, and the internal fan began whirring like a commercial airliner at takeoff. My cursor could no longer keep up with my finger’s trackpad movements, and the text that appeared on the screen was a good five words behind what I was typing on my keyboard. I opened the activity monitor, which showed a huge increase in processing:


Yet, returning my computer to its regular functions didn’t require any help from my anti-virus software or trips to the Genius Bar. Simply exiting out of the offending websites did the trick.
My experience with cryptojacking was more annoying than destructive. But this is not to condone the practice—it does rely on deceit and can cause crashes and make your computer vulnerable to other malicious codes. There are also more invasive forms of the scam, like miners disguised as legitimate Android apps that users unknowingly download. “This is a theft of power and time from people,” said Tarah Wheeler, a cybersecurity policy fellow at the New America Foundation. (New America is a partner with Slate and Arizona State University in Future Tense.)
However, the creators of Coinhive say they didn’t intend for it to be malicious. Their websiteadvises, “While it’s possible to run the miner without informing your users, we strongly advise against it. You know this. Long term goodwill of your users is much more important than any short term profits.”
I emailed the Coinhive team to ask if they knew whether anyone was using their miner legitimately, as all the coverage of their software I had seen had been in the context of the cryptojacking. They pointed me to a German image board called pr0gramm, which has been allowing users to access premium accounts with extra features in exchange for running the miner on a separate page. The team further claimed that some porn sites have been giving viewers the option to disable invasive pop-up ads by mining Monero. “Cryptomining in the browser is a very new concept and we (the web) still have to figure out how to use it properly. We have high hopes that a more ‘legitimate’ use of the miner will eventually prevail,” they wrote in the email.




At best, the outsourcing concept behind Coinhive could hold potential as a new way for websites to earn revenue. Users caught Pirate Bay, one of the most established internet hubs for sharing movies and other files, using Coinhive on some of its websites without prior notice in 2017. The site’s administrators explained in a blog post, “We really want to get rid of all the ads. But we also need enough money to keep the site running.”
While many weren’t pleased, some users actually seemed open to the idea of contributing spare processing power if it meant the end of pesky, and often crude, ads. Perhaps if Pirate Bay had presented cryptomining as a bargain beforehand, its users wouldn’t have been so irritated. As Wheeler, the cybersecurity policy fellow, said, “Cryptocurrency mining when you have the consent of the people that are visiting a site is like borrowing a cup of sugar from the neighbors. Cryptocurrency mining when you don’t have consent is like sneaking in and stealing the sugar.”
Almost everyone I conferred with about this monetization scheme mentioned SETI@home, a project at the University of California, Berkeley, that uses a radio telescope to listen for unnatural signals that could be evidence of extraterrestrial life. Whereas previous iterations of the project required a supercomputer to analyze all the data, researchers in 1999 released a software program to the general public that allowed people to donate their computers’ processing power while not in use. More than 4 million people have participated, and the collective effort of their idle computers has turbocharged the search. SETI represents what current efforts to outsource cryptomining could aspire to be. “[SETI] actually asked people if they could use the computers. … The research community has already found a way to do this with permission,” said Yvo Desmedt, professor of computer science at the University of Texas, Dallas.

However, there are many hurdles to jump before this vision can come to fruition. For the majority of people who are not familiar with the mechanics of plugins like Coinhive, the prospect of a website co-opting their computers to mine cryptocurrency may seem invasive. Bill Maurer, director of the Institute for Money, Technology and Financial Inclusion at the University of California, Irvine, said, “It depends on a pretty sophisticated consumer … you need to have a certain level of geekiness.”
And this revenue model also, of course, relies on the viability of cryptocurrencies, which have seen an overall slump in prices in 2018. Extreme volatility and high transaction costs have often precluded bitcoin owners from using it for purchasing—the online payment platform Stripe recently announced that it would no longer accept bitcoin as payment. The possibility of a large-scale hack or bubble burst bringing the whole currency system down may also prevent companies from implementing a cryptomining model. Nicole Becher, a fellow at New America’s Cybersecurity Initiative, surmised, “In the advertising world, you have to be able to sell this to a C-level [senior management] and say, ‘This is actually a new, viable to make money, so you can actually make payroll and actually become profitable.’ It’s all cool and nerdy, but at the end of the day, doesn’t it really come down to that?” 
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Wednesday, January 10, 2018

How music streaming may slow internet use



NEWS

Huawei announces Q2 mesh Wi-Fi system with max speed of 1867 Mbps
No matter which version you get, Huawei WiFi Q2 can be installed in just five easy steps and kicks out speeds of up to 1867 Mbps. It takes just 100 milliseconds to switch between satellites, and the whole system supports as many as 192 devices at once at 16 individual hotspots. Huawei WiFi Q2 also ...
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Huawei releases a mesh Wi-Fi system it claims has ultrafast connection speeds
Huawei doesn't just make smartphones and laptops; it's also getting into mesh Wi-Fi. Yesterday at CES, the China-based company announced a hybrid whole-home Wi-Fi system. Like other mesh Wi-Fi systems, Huawei's Wi-Fi Q2 system aims to send a stable signal through a large home or an estate.
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Comcast to Increase Internet Speeds for Customers in Utah at No Additional Cost
In addition to increasing internet speeds, Comcast continues to offer the fastest in-home WiFi gateway, and most Xfinity Internet customers can enjoy complimentary access to more than 18 million Xfinity WiFi hotspots nationwide by selecting “xfinitywifi” from the list of available networks on their laptops or ...
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How music streaming may slow internet use
But in many homes, the walls and floors are thick enough to partly block Wi-Fi radio signals, which effectively reduces your internet speed for devices that are a distance from your wireless router. For example, walls made of brick, marble or solid wood can reduce Wi-Fi internet speed by as much as 50 ...
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In 2018, WiFi Routers Learn New Tricks
But a new WiFi standard, called 802.11ax, is just beginning to roll out, and the first routers to comply with it will be appearing in 2018. The new standard brings even higher speeds, especially in situations where lots of users are online at the same time. At CES, router companies introduced a handful of ...
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Ask Ken: How to Send Emails and Texts While Boating
WebWatch WC-1 ($850) by Shakespeare is a mini antenna dome (12 by 12 inches) that combines Wi-Fi and cellular signal amplifiers in one housing with cell speeds up to 4G standards. It is smart enough to automatically switch from cellular to a Wi-Fi connection when within Wi-Fi range to save on ...
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What is the Future of Wi-Fi?
While speed and stability have improved significantly in Wi-Fi networks over the last decade, there are new innovations that will become available in 2018 and into ... Wi-Fi vantage includes multiple mechanisms and protocols including IEEE 802.11ai which is a standard that was finalized in June 2017.
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​US government's new broadband rules don't add up
Specifically, it delivers higher connection speeds, permits greater cross-platform security, typically includes unlimited data, and maximizes a mobile device's utility via high-speed Wi-Fi. As such, wireline broadband is a critical, in-home gateway to the content, applications, and services that enable ...
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Cox Expands Gigabit Speeds at Rapid Pace
Cox has increased internet speeds more than 1,000 percent over the past 17 years. In 2017, the company launched Panoramic WiFi, which provides wall-to-wall coverage, eliminates "dead zones" via professional install and signal extenders and puts the customer in control with a device and network ...
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Comcast increases internet speeds for Utah customers free
“Increasing Wi-Fi speeds gives us the opportunity to enhance the overall customer experience,” said Bryan Thomas, Area Vice President, Comcast's Utah market. “Whether it's streaming, gaming, shopping or surfing the web, customers need an internet provider that can deliver speed and these ...
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WEB

Traffic Monitor with Widget
Demand more. Have it all at your fingertips. Speed - Data - Voice - Quality With the ad-free RadioOpt Traffic Monitor with built-in Today Extension (Widget) and Apple Watch Support you can check your 3G / 4G speedand keep an eye on network coverage and data usage on your smartphone. Integrated ...
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