Citywide wi-fi gets a helping hand

A new wi-fi start-up called Wavion Networks came out of stealth mode on Monday and said it has developed technology to solve many of the problems big cities such as Philadelphia and San Francisco face when deploying citywide wi-fi.

Interest in citywide wi-fi networks - blanket wireless urban internet access - has exploded in the past year. But early deployments in cities including Tempe, Arizona and St Cloud, Florida are resulting in contractors being required to deploy more access points than had been originally planned and subscribers being forced to attach signal boosters to their homes to get internet access inside.

Wavion, which is backed by venture capital firm Sequoia Capital, says it has developed software and silicon that not only increase the transmission distance of a wi-fi signal but also alleviate much of the signal loss so that fewer people need to deploy signal boosters.

Alan Menezes, vice president of marketing and business development for Wavion, said: "All the mesh wi-fi equipment makers use commodity chipsets developed for indoor use. People have stretched the current technology to use it outdoors, which is a tougher environment. We've developed something that provides the scalability necessary for true citywide deployments."

Menezes said Wavion solves these issues by using a version of Mimo, or multiple input and multiple output technology, which uses multiple antenna to send and receive several data streams over the same channel simultaneously. He said Wavion's technology doubles the range of wireless signals from 600 feet, which is typical of gear from companies such as Tropos Networks, to 1,200 to 1,500 feet.

The increased range means that three to four times fewer access points are needed to blanket cities, which Menezes said reduces costs by at least 50 per cent. The technology also reduces signal loss, which is important for reaching users inside their homes, he added.

Even though Wavion plans to build and sell its own access points, it doesn't see itself competing with existing mesh wi-fi gear makers such as BelAir and Tropos. Instead it plans to partner with these companies, so that they can add the Wavion technology to their products. In exchange, Wavion hopes to license the companies' management and mesh software for its own equipment.

Menezes said: "These other companies are on their fourth, fifth and sixth generations of software. We didn't want to come on the scene with another mesh product that competed. Instead we wanted to develop technology that fixed a lot of the pain points people are experiencing in early deployments."

Wavion hasn't yet announced specific products but it has been testing its technology in an outdoor setting in San Jose.

Marguerite Reardon writes for CNET News.com