Flying without wires

Austar and Unwired have signed a $15 million wholesale agreement this month to trade 2.3GHz spectrum for 3.5GHz spectrum licences, helping the Sydney-based wireless broadband provider -- which is still filling in holes in its Sydney coverage -- get regional and roaming capability. "It was always going to be diffi cult to launch a brand against Telstra in regional Australia, but I think Austar has the brand and product range," Spence says.

Coming software from technology partner Navini heralds an upgrade for Unwired’s network that will help it migrate to WiMAX. "Otherwise, it would have been quite a lot of work for us, going from the current level of technology to the next level," he says.

Unwired signed 25,000 customers by May and expects that take-up to continue. The provider has and will keep investing heavily in marketing and education campaigns, which it believes have been key thus far.

Most customers are on 256Kb/s or 512Kb/s, but when they are on 1Mb/s or more, that’s what they really get, says Spence.

Six to 8 percent bring the product back within the money-back guarantee period because it doesn’t suit their needs, and another 1 percent bring it back after the guarantee expires. That level of customer satisfaction equals or betters that experienced by mobile phone carriers, he says.

Wireless broadband users are going to go on wanting more speed to cope with more data crunching, and also voice. Email boxes are going to have to grow accordingly and machines will talk to each other and delegate tasks, he suggests.

Five years from now, Spence envisages wireless broadband ‘in everyone’s pocket’ via a BlackBerry or PDA-type device. The speed will have accelerated to 1Gb/s to 2Gb/s, but only if you want it.

"Burstable speed is the way to go. Because you don’t want to be always paying for high speed just for email or something. It’s going to get a lot more flexible and I think people will use it for a lot more services," Spence says.

"I think it will split into commercial use, fun use, emergency services and security and, I think, for tracking devices as well. And [the industry] will do a lot more with robotics."

Computergate's Greco: Wireless broadband adds annuity revenue

Mario Greco, managing director at Melbourne reseller Computergate, says his SMB customers are liking wireless broadband and even using VoIP. Wireless broadband adds annuity revenue and a chance for Computergate to offer additional services to new customers. "It’s not a leading product for us, but it does give us other opportunities. It has worked really well for us," he says.

"And who knows where the broadband market is going to go?"

Computergate was initially in the VoIP business, and has bundled VoIP and wireless broadband with some success. "Skilling up with wireless broadband is not difficult -- it’s just another networking product," Greco adds.

The reseller has found that its dealings with numerous other vendors have prepared it for a level of complexity that can cope with supporting wireless broadband for business. Security is the same as with any other broadband offering, he says.

And customers love it, he says. Computergate sells -- and uses -- Access Providers’ wireless broadband offering, which Greco says has high uptime and good services. "They can reach [Access Providers] any time they want."

Big Air's Ashton: It's been a good 12 months

Access Providers is not the cheapest product but it is commercial grade, delivering 8Mb/s or more to businesses. "Access Providers is a really good company to work with. But they can probably do a lot more with their product, to extend them further. It is a good product," Greco adds.

Access Providers also gives specific discounts for volume sales. The hard sell for Computergate, Greco says, is getting customers to understand the contention ratio.

"A lot of people just don’t understand the difference. With wireless broadband, you can have a one-to-one contention ration, which means you’re on one pipe and you don’t share it," Greco says. "With DSL, you can have 18 to 1, 150 to 1, 300 to 1, if you’re all on at 9am."

Jason Ashton, managing director at wireless ISP BigAir, says things are going well for the company, which, like fellow startup Unwired, has had its fair share of detractors. "It’s exceeding expectations. It’s been a good 12 months for us," he says. "People are over the fear, uncertainty and doubt with wireless and really starting to understand the benefits."