Carl Weinschenk

A serious weakness has been discovered that endangers Wi-Fi users. The problem is made worse by the fact that the problem is in the WPA2 standard, not a specific device or network. The Wi-Fi vulnerability was discovered by Mathy Vanhoef and Frank Piessens of Katholieke Universiteit Leuven in Belgium, according to RCR Wireless . The […]

There is unanimity that the coming age of 5G will require a massive influx of small antennas. Many of the frequencies used have physical characteristics that make this necessary. The macro cells that have done the job until now need to be supplemented. The problem for the telecommunications companies is that following a variety of […]

The idea that 5G would not hit in significant numbers until 2020 has changed during the past year or so. Smart people are working on the issues and first mover advantages are enticing. The industry is not taking a comfortable “it will come when it will come” attitude. It’s still too early to say with […]

People have an intuitive feel for technology. Some trust it and some do not. In the case of autonomous vehicles (AVs), the general feeling is that they will eventually be safer than human drivers. There are problems, to be sure. But AVs don’t drink and drive, apply makeup while driving, text or (as I have […]

T-Mobile and Sprint, the third and fourth largest wireless companies, have been discussing merging for a long time. Those talks have heated up recently. Reuters this week reported that the U.S. Department of Justice would likely say no to the carriers combining on antitrust grounds. The report is based on conversations with three people familiar […]

Carriers and service providers are working very hard to implement complex virtualized schemes across their networks. That’s a big part of the game, but not the entire challenge. Another important element is making sure that services run across different networks without issue. They must maintain the same level of service and ease of use across […]

The virtualization of telecommunications networks offers great rewards but, at the same time, requires massive amounts of research and development. Much of this is new. Late last week, AT&T took a significant step by providing the Optical Networking Foundation (ONF) with version 1.0 of its Virtual Optical Line Termination Hardware Abstraction (VOLTHA 1.0) specification. Optical […]

Power generation is a huge issue in the world of telecommunications. It’s front of mind when storms take down the grid and the telecom network it hosts. That situation, of course, is far too familiar this year. It is not, however, the only interest that carriers and service providers have in creating a stable and […]

It may not be surprising to learn that AT&T and Verizon are spending the most money on fiber in the United States. What’s noteworthy may be that they are being public about it. A research report from Deutsche Bank Markets Research pointed out that telecommunications companies are becoming more vocal about their plans to spend […]

The road to virtualization is long and complex. The transition from an emphasis on hardware to software is difficult, especially since that complicated software landscape is being developed more or less on the fly. One of the main reasons that consortia and standards organizations exist is to confront such issues. Two groups recently made announcements […]

The augmented reality and virtual reality (AR/VR) segments will gradually be dominated by mobile AR devices, according to a report from Digi-Capital. Indeed, mobile AR seems poised to be the “killer app” that the mobile sector has been seeking for years. Digi-Capital says that it is possible that mobile AR will have an installed base […]

What is artificial intelligence (AI)? It’s a deceptively simple question. Quite possibly, the confusion is centered on the precise use of the word “intelligence.” An adding machine can perform computational tasks far faster than humans. Nobody would say that it is more intelligent, however. There are different approaches to AI, but all rely to lesser […]