And because the annoyance and inconvenience of switching from one service to another can be great, the first technology to arrive at the doorstep is likely to be the one that consumers stick with. As Conway says, it will be only one leg of the stool. But it will almost certainly provide a kick in the pants to those technologies, which have been plagued with technical, service and installation problems. The companies flocking into this space are all trying to differentiate their products. Kite, which focuses on small and midsized business clients, is zeroing in on the 5-GHz spectrum on the unlicensed band.
Consumers are most familiar with wireless as a portable telephone technology.
Raze expects to begin beta testing its solution this summer. Festa estimates that 35 percent to 50 percent of U.S. residences don't have access to broadband service. With our solution, only about 15 percent of the total cost is in the infrastructure. As the provider signs on each subscriber, he has to put the box on the house. Capital costs would be recouped within a year.