Unwiring from copper, and a word on ETel. January 22, 2006
Posted by James Webster in : tech, web, telephony , trackbackSince November 2004 I have been on the leading (and sometimes bleeding) edge of broadband in Australia. I am online via iBurst, a portable/mobile wireless broadband technology that uses an array of fixed base stations with ’smart antenna’ technology to send tightly focused beams to users within the area. I think the technology still has a few kinks and benefits from better LOS to the tower, but overall I am bullish enough to stay a user for the moment. And I have seen the mobility benefits first hand; having lived on the Gold Coast, a couple of places in Brisbane, and done a business trip to Sydney or two since I have been a subscriber. Plus its available NOW, whereas WiMAX will be available, ummm, whenever?
Well, the upshot of all this is that we are moving to Sydney within the next month and frankly we are strongly considering not connecting a fixed phone service. Assuming we live in an area with decent iBurst reception, I am going to set up a basic Asterisk@Home server, buy VOIP service through Engin or a similar provider and start living the wireless dream baby! Check back in a few months to see if it has worked out, or whether I have run back to the safety but emasculation of copper!
BTW, keep an eye on the blogosphere for reports of cool demonstrations coming out of ETel, O’Reilly’s inaugral emerging telephony conference.
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