WISPCON IV - Day One - Session Details - Over 100 hours of intense learning will be available and at your finger tips.  

Monday, October 27th - There will be three Session Tracts 

Opening Keynote Address - 8am to 9am:  Back to the Future

Speaker  - Jack Rickard, Original Founder of ISPCON, and Boardwatch,  - Mr. "Internet" Rickard will take us on a stroll from past to present and future of the broadband industry. 

Moderator:  - Steve Stroh, Editor in Chief, FOCUS on Broadband Wireless Access

 

9:00am - 10:00am  - Sessions

 

Exhibit Hall Opens

 

All Day - WISP 101 - Beginning Wireless Internet - Overview of all the License-Free Radio Bands, definitions of terms used in radios (dB, EIRP, etc), types of radios, summary of relevant IEEE 802.1 standards, overview of Wireless Internet Systems and 2.4GHz WiPOP systems.

Speaker:  - Michael Young, Founder and President, YDI

 

Technical - Educating Your Customers On Wireless - Fixed wireless telecommunications technology can deliver broadband Internet access and other vital telecommunications applications to remote rural areas, which may not be able to be served by traditional wireline technologies. Yet wireless technologies may be difficult to understand for customers who may be only familiar with traditional wireline solutions. Bridging this gap may prove to be challenging for some within the service provider’s organization. This session will outline the vital role of educating the customer to improve acceptance of fixed wireless technologies and applications. What are the advantages and disadvantages of fixed wireless technologies for the service provider? What are the benefits of fixed wireless technologies for the consumer? How can these advantages be effectively communicated to the end-user and why is this important for the rural service provider? This session will last 40 minutes with a 5-minute question-and-answer period.

Panelists: Marlon Schafer, Odessa Office

 

Specialized - Revenue Generation through Managed Services - "Speed, Secure, and Always Available", that's what customers want from their networks. This is more than just a pipe, customers want a service. There are many opportunities for greater revenue from customers - voice services, security and privacy services, roaming, protection from SPAM - which ones should you try to deliver? This session will include presentations from people working to deliver value-added services to help you make important decisions. The presenters include WISPs and engineers. After the presentations there will be a panel discussion and questions from the audience.

Panelists: Martha Zimet, Vivere Networks, Matt Larsen, Others TBA

 

Configuration - ImageStream Configuration - Learn how to configure Imagestream routers

Speakers: Doug Hass, Executive Vice President/Chief Operations Officer, Imagestream

 

10:00am - 10:15am  - Morning Refreshment Break/Visit Exhibitors

 

10:15am - 11:15am  - Sessions 

 

Administrative - See WISP 101 - Types of Modulation and Their Characteristics -  Explanation of FHSS, DSSS, OFDM Spread Spectrum in layman's terms, how Processing Gain works. Overview of non-spread spectrum; Wideband FM, PSK, QPSK, real spectrum plots for various radios.

Speaker:  - Michael Young, Founder, YDI

 

Technical - NLOS Experiences - A Two Year Experience -  This session will provide a detailed case study of the evolution of a NLOS wireless system over the last two years, including an overview of network growth, obstacles and how they were overcome, the WISP's business model, and it's current plans for growth. The session will also provide detailed commentary on the advances and features that are in demand now, vs. several years ago when the industry was still in its infancy. 

Speaker: Charles Brown, WaveRider

Specialized - Taking 5.8GHz Even Farther - The use of 5.8GHz radios has traditionally had major limitations where the deployment involves either obscured Non-Line of Sight path or is subject to atmospheric effects over long range. This session looks at the cause of these limitations and reviews recent technology advances that can enable cost effective, high availability wireless links under challenging deployments. Real life deployments will be reviewed that demonstrate the type of deployment that can achieved.  

Speaker: Phil Bolt, CEO and President, Orthogon System

 

Configuration - MikroTik Configuration - This crew is coming all the way from Europe to present you  with many of the hard to fill solutions for your wireless networks. PPPoE and routing are among the many features of MikroTik to be addressed. 

Speaker: Arnis Riekstins, CTO, MikroTik

 

 

11:15am - 12:15pm  - Sessions

 

Administrative - See WISP 101 - Antennas and RF Propagation - Antenna basics: How they work, antenna characteristics and important features; how to read and understand antenna spec sheets and plots; Free Space Loss; System Operating Margins; Fresnel Zone issues; Down-tilt antennas; how they work, what they do, calculating coverage areas for WiPOPs.

Speaker:  - Michael Young, Founder, YDI

Technical - Cable Characteristics and Selections - This session will acquaint you with the basic design concepts of coaxial cables, the performance advantages and disadvantages of different available cables and connectors, and proper connector installation methods. Also covered will be the installation of accessories such as ground kits, and weather-proofing kits along with loss (attenuation) calculations. 

Speaker: Kevin Moyher, Product Manager, Commercial Assemblies, Times Microwave

Specialized - Understanding Subnetting and TCP/IP - The goal of this session is to provide enough understanding of how Subnetting works in order to understand how it is used by routers to perform their task.  The goal of this session is to learn how to use subnetting to make your network traffic more manageable and reliable.  This session will include a discussion of router placement within the network, criteria for determining the size of a subnet to use for a given network segment and basic network planning, including a brief discussion of advantages of using routing protocols vs static routing.    Attendees for this session
should have a basic understanding of subnet masking and routing. This session will discuss the OSI Layered network model, components of an IP address and netmasks, classful and classless addressing, how a router uses netmasks and addresses to make routing decisions.  Attendees should be familiar with basic routing terminology and concepts.  This session lays the foundation for the third session in "Building a Routed Network".This session will discuss the differences between a bridged and a routed network.  It will include a discussion of how to decide when and where on your network bridged or routed connections will work better.  We will discuss the advantages of bridged and routed architectures.  This session will serve as a basic introduction to the overall series "Building a Routed Network".  This session is intended for those that are just starting in building a network and are fairly new to the concept of IP networking. 
Speaker: Butch Evans - BPS Networks

 

Configuration - Redline Communications AN-50 Configuration - 

Speaker: Alf Malan - Redline Communications

 

12:15pm - 1:30pm  - Lunch/Visit Exhibitors 

 

1:30pm - 2:30pm  - Sessions

 

Administrative - See WISP 101 - Amplifiers, Converters and Signal and Analysis - How amplifiers work; what they do and don't do, when you should and should not use them, FCC issues when using amps, 2.4 to 5.8 GHz Up/Down converters, Signal, Noise and SNR Analysis and how to trouble-shoot with it. Amplifier Do's and Don'ts.

Speaker:  - Michael Young, Founder, YDI

Technical - 700Mhz Solution Opportunities - This session will discuss broadband wireless access implementation options in the 700MHz band including the challenges and benefits of this particular band.  Several applications will be discussed as well as an overview of who owns the spectrum, and an update on product availability from the vendor community. 700 MHz represents a great opportunity for carriers of both fixed and mobile wireless.  With very few equipment vendors in the 700 MHz space, rural carriers are searching for solutions. This session will incorporate an overview of the current vendor line-up and their available solutions. The applicability and suitability of these solutions to rural markets will also be addressed. 

Speaker: David Reeder - AirSpan

Specialized - Site Surveys - How to perform the best site survey to determine service availability for that potential customer.

Speaker:  Allen Marsalis, ShreveNet

 

Configuration - MRTG/STG Configuration - Learn how to install MRTG, STG, and RTG to monitor and account for your bandwidth.

Speaker: Josh Easton, CTO Bella Mia Net

 

2:30pm - 3:30pm  - Sessions 

 

Administrative - See WISP 101 - 2.4 GHz WiPOP Base Stations and CPE Options - Sample 2.4 GHz Systems, Base Station Antenna installation issues, CPE options, Interference issues and possible solutions. Do's and Don'ts when setting up a WiPOP Base Station.

Speaker:  - Michael Young, Founder, YDI

Technical - Spectrum Analyzer Fundamentals - This session will cover the many other uses of the Spectrum Analyzer. Features, and capabilities.

Speaker: TBA - AVComm of Virginia

 

Specialized - RUS Funding, Who's Getting It and Who Isn't - We've all heard a lot about the program that offers grants and small interest loans to those providing broadband access to rural communities, but who really is getting the money. Is it the local Telco's? Is it the predominant ISP or WISP? Is it the small WISPs or the large WISPs? This is but one of the many questions that will be answered during this session.  Also highlighted are the behind-the-scenes type of issues related to the RUS funding program. 

Speaker: WCA - Rural Broadband Federation

 

Configuration - WaveRider Configuration - These 900mhz systems are very cool and can solve a lot of the problems associated with Line-Of-Sight restrictions. Make sure you deploy these systems with the best possible configurations for maximum efficiency.   
Speaker: Chris Wyard, WaveRider

 

 

3:30pm - 3:45pm  - Afternoon Refreshment Break/Visit Exhibitors

 

3:45pm - 4:45pm  - Sessions

 

Administrative - See WISP 101 - Wireless System Issues - Speaker:  - Security and Authentication Methods and ideas; Hidden Node issues and how to solve them; WEP and WEP-Plus encryptions; 5.2/5.8 GHz options; Tips, Techniques and Anecdotes; Q & A and discussions

Speaker:  - Michael Young, Founder, YDI

Technical - Dealing with the Interference Equation - As networks using unlicensed spectrum grow, the issue of interference multiplies. Avoiding interference may be the "luck of the draw", but most WISPs will have to develop a strategy to deal with the situation. This presentation focuses on how to avoid being overrun in the bandwidth wars. 

Panelists: Chris Gustav, VP of Engineering, Trango Broadband Systems

Specialized - Wi-Fi on Steroids - The New Last Mile - 802.11 based technologies are being adopted by Wireless ISPs, carriers and Hot Spot providers to provide last mile Internet access to homes and apartments, retail, government and office complexes, etc. In this session we will discuss the basics of 802.11, what is needed to make 802.11 work outside over distance, 802.11 benefits and businesses advantages, as well as the latest details about the plethora of 802.11 standards and specifications including security, QoS, and high-speed 802.11a and 802.11g.
Speaker: Rob Jansen,  Proxim

 

Configuration - Airspan Configuration - Airspan will present technical details of its unlicensed Broadband Wireless Access system (Wireless IP Local Loop - "WipLL") which operates in the 700MHz, 900MHz, 2.4GHz and 5.8 GHz bands.  Deployment configurations for Voice Over IP and multi-frequency deployments will be presented.  Specific applications such as VoIP, low-speed mobile data, WiFi backhaul, CCTV surveillance and VPN services will also be discussed. 

Speaker:  David Reeder, Vice President, Sales, North America, Airspan

Social Gathering and Networking  - Sponsored by: MapleNet

 

PART-15.ORG Networking  - PART-15.ORG members will be discussing, among other things, training agreements with manufacturers and resellers, organizational objectives, and membership issues. All interested parties may attend.  Location TBA