Matthew,
Thank you for inviting Tropos to respond to my concerns and thank you
for publishing their response.
Unfortunately, their response consisted of nothing more than "glittering
generalities". They used a lot of fancy words that, in the real world,
mean very little because Tropos isn't really comparing themselves in a
realistic fashion to other vendors.
My goal is always to be objective and my clients pay me to be objective.
That means that, after analyzing vendor performance claims, I have to
"call a spade a spade" or in other words, tell the truth - the good, the
bad, AND the ugly. Tropos has some good characteristics such as their
abiltity to work from a wide range of power sources and their good
receiver sensitivity however this is outweighed by the "bad" - their
seemingly endless practice of speaking only "marketese" - that is,
choosing to use high-sounding words and unrealistic claims instead of
addressing the real-world issues of performance and cost.
For example:
Tropos Claim - "the only mesh vendor on the market that actually
publishes performance numbers for deployed networks. With a single radio
design, Tropos can deliver in excess of 20 Mbps concurrent subscriber
capacity per square mile".
My View - Tropos made up this "concurrent subscriber capacity per square
mile" terminology. This term is so general that it means nothing - no
information about radios per square mile or backhaul configuration. No
wonder other vendors don't compare themselves to it; it's too general.
Bottom Line: Hype, balony, smoke and mirrors...
Tropos Claim - "...this stems from smart routing".
My View - Most mesh vendors use "smart" (dynamic, redundant) routing.
That's what a mesh architecture is all about. Tropos appears to be
claiming that their routing is somehow "smarter". How much "smarter" can
mesh routing get? What's the basis of their claim?
Bottom Line: Tropos hype, balony, smoke and mirrors...
Tropos Claim: "Additionally, focusing on the performance of the mesh
without visibility into backhaul and client performance is very
short-sighted and creates disastrous customer satisfaction scenarios".
My View: I couldn't agree more; unfortunately that's what Tropos appears
to be doing - ignoring visibility of the backhaul. Most Tropos muni
deployements (Philadelphia, for example) are going to be using a
separate 5 GHz point-to-multipoint network for backhaul. Does Tropos'
claim of delivering "in excess of 20 Mbps concurrent subscriber capacity
per square mile" take this into account? To "innoculate" themselves from
criticism of their technical shortcomings, especially their low
throughput capability, Tropos implies that other people are "very
short-sighted". This is a very common political tactic based on
DISTRACTION and ASSUMED INNOCENCE. Accusing your adversary of possessing
the bad behavior that you yourself possess focuses the attention of the
observer away from your own shortcomings and implies that you must be
telling the truth when in fact you are guilty of the sin that you accuse
your competitor of; you are also lying by omission. In reality, other
mesh vendors can deliver better throughput capacity at a lower cost by
integrating the 5 GHz backhaul wireless network capability right into
the mesh node.
Bottom Line: Tropos hype, balony, smoke and mirrors...
Tropos Claim: "the ONLY vendor to optimize the link end-to-end, from the
POP to the client".
My View: This is also meaningless. Does this "optimization" include the
separate 5 GHz backhaul network that is typically sourced from another
radio vendor? How is this "optimized"? What are the technical details of
this "optimization" process and what makes the results (reliable
throughtput delivery perhaps, or something else?) better or even as good
as any other vendor?
Bottom Line: Tropos hype, balony, smoke and mirrors...
Tropos Claim: "It doesn't matter if you're getting 54 Mbps in the mesh
if nobody can connect to it. It's a pretty fundamental point, and none
of the other mesh guys seem to get it".
My View: Tropos appears to be claiming that their system is the only one
that end-users can connect to, that end-users can't connect to mesh
nodes from other vendors and that the other mesh vendors don't
understand this. Yes, Tropos does have a good receiver threshold but is
it significantly better than the other vendors? If so, by how much? I'll
bet receiver threshold is a point that EVERY mesh vendor understands.
Why does Tropos think that only they understand it?
Bottom Line: Tropos hype, balony, smoke and mirrors...
Bottom-bottom line - Why do I feel so passionate about Tropos marketing
behavior that I'm willing to take the all this time and energy to refute
their claims?
I don't hate Tropos personally; I just hate the way that they market
their product. Their product isn't "bad". When Tropos is deployed in a
mesh that serves a limited number of people who need only a limited
amount of throughput in a low-interference environment, Tropos will do a
fine job but when deployed to deliver high-througput broadband wireless
service to large numbers of people in a high-noise environment (like in
Philly or San Francisco), Tropos' hype, balony, and smoke-and-mirrors
style is going to:
1. Cause many high-level City IT employees to lose their jobs when their
network doesn't meet their communities expectations.
2. Cause large network deployers like Earthlink and Google to experience
very public and very embarrassing wireless network failures.
3. Cause broadband wireless progress to be substantially set back when
people see that wireless performance doesn't live up to it's promises.
4. Cause small WISPs to be unable to compete and therefore go out of
business (the Wal-Mart effect).
5. Cause the "Big Brother" AT&T monopoly to almost completely "take
over" the business of providing broadband Internet access and
connectivity thereby choking off both future competition, future
economic growth and open democratic access to information on the Internet.
6. Make lying (yes - tellling lies) the defacto standard in business, in
political, and in social interactions.
Tropos' hype, balony, smoke and mirrors, and lies of omission can help
make all of the above consequences come to pass. We can already see
where telling lies has gotten our nation on the political and the
economic level; our very survival as a proud, a free, and a just nation
is now threatened. We as a nation can not take any more lying; we've
got to wake up; speak up, and put a stop to this lying RIGHT NOW.
Tropos must do a 180-degree turn IMMEDIATELY and start marketing honestly.
jack
Disclaimer: I do NOT sell wireless equipment and NOBODY has paid me to
write and to post this email.
Matthew Reed wrote:
>
> FYI
>
> -----Original Message-----
> From: Chari Amalavoyal [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]
> Sent: Tuesday, May 23, 2006 1:19 PM
> To: Matthew Reed
> Subject: RE: [SOCALWUG] Re: WiFi Launched in Downtown Pomona
>
> Hi Matthew,
>
> Thanks for forwarding the thread along, I'm happy to try to respond.
>
> Tropos is the only mesh vendor on the market that actually publishes
> performance numbers for deployed networks . With a single radio design,
> Tropos can deliver in excess of 20 Mbps concurrent subscriber capacity
> per square mile. No other vendor can prove better capacity or better
> costs in real deployed networks. And this stems from smart routing,
> which a lot of people who're into counting radios don't seem to get.
>
> Additionally, focusing on the performance of the mesh without visibility
> into backhaul and client performance is very short-sighted and creates
> disastrous customer satisfaction scenarios. Tropos is the ONLY vendor
> to optimize the link end-to-end, from the POP to the client, to ensure
> the highest throughput, most robust and reliable subscriber experience
> in the market. That is why we were chosen for Philadelphia, New
> Orleans, Anaheim and San Francisco - because we're the only metro-scale
> Wi-Fi architecture that has been proven to deliver this type of
> subscriber experience. It doesn't matter if you're getting 54 Mbps in
> the mesh (which we know is not possible today) if nobody can connect to
> it. It's a pretty fundamental point, and none of the other mesh guys
> seem to get it.
>
<personal stuff snipped>
>
> Thanks,
> Chari.
>
> -----Original Message-----
> From: Matthew Reed [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]
> Sent: Monday, May 22, 2006 7:47 PM
> To: Chari Amalavoyal
> Subject: FW: [SOCALWUG] Re: WiFi Launched in Downtown Pomona
>
> Nara, I wanted to get your thoughts on this biased and critical response
> I
> received on a wireless forum, which I am member of. It reads like Tropos
> is
> getting an unfair estimation with their single radio solution.
>
<personal stuff snipped>
>
> Matthew Reed
>
>
> -----Original Message-----
> From: [email protected] [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] On
> Behalf
> Of Jack Unger
> Sent: Monday, May 22, 2006 5:23 PM
> To: [email protected]
> Subject: [SOCALWUG] Re: WiFi Launched in Downtown Pomona
>
>
> Matthew,
>
> With all due respect to you, I must offer the following...
>
> Per Wireless Broadband Innovations's website: "Entries will be judged on
>
> the basis of the information provided to the independent judging panel
> on the entry form and additional supporting materials where permitted.
> Details of the judging panel meetings will not be disclosed".
>
> Unfortunately, it looks as if this Tropos award proves only that the
> claims that Tropos submitted about their "architecture" sounded sexier
> than the claims made by AirSpan, PicoChip, and SkyPilot.
>
> In terms of performance, Tropos single-radio, single-band mesh
> architecture is like a one-armed baseball player who claims that they
> can outplay a two-armed (dual-band, multiple-radio mesh node) baseball
> player. In time, the truth will become obvious. In the next year or two,
>
> the real-world deployments of the upcoming Tropos-based Philadelphia and
>
> San Francisco mesh networks may very well reveal the truth in terms of
> both performance and cost.
>
> Hopefully, some day soon, Tropos will "wake up" and offer a two, three,
> or four-radio dual-band mesh node. Only then can they (IMHO) claim to be
>
> a major-league contender.
>
> All the best,
> jack
>
>
> Matthew Reed wrote:
>
>
>>Friends at SOCALWUG -
>>According to Wireless Broadband Innovation's
>>
>>Tropos was awarded Best WiMAX / Wireless Broadband Product 2006
>>Tropos was also nominated for Best Public WiFi Product 2006
>>
>>
>>-----Original Message-----
>>From: [email protected] [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] On
>
> Behalf
>
>>Of Tim Schaeffer
>>Sent: Wednesday, May 17, 2006 5:29 PM
>>To: [email protected]
>>Subject: [SOCALWUG] Re: WiFi Launched in Downtown Pomona
>>
>>Sure for mesh all of the follwing handily outperform tropos: belair,
>
> strix,
>
>>firetide, qorvus, and both firetide and qorvus ae much less expensive
>
> and
>
>>both have builtin 5 ghz backhaul, which tropos makes you buy a seperat
>>motorola canopy for. Nomaix is just a captive portal with a firewall
>
> and
>
>>waled garden, any linux box can be configured that way using nocat and
>>iptables. Or for a cmmercial product you can Colubris. And qorvus
>
> already
>
>>has the nomadix function built into there box.
>> ----- Original Message -----
>> From: Matthew Reed
>> To: [email protected]
>> Sent: Monday, May 15, 2006 7:55 PM
>> Subject: [SOCALWUG] Re: WiFi Launched in Downtown Pomona
>>
>>
>> Tim, I noticed in you're post you didn't list any of the better
>
> solutions
>
>>so could you for the sake of the forum members offer one. Also, I
>
> don't
> know
>
>>if you're were aware of this an article was put out last week
>
> concerning
> the
>
>>Top 10 movers and shakers in Telecom, guess who made the list?
>>
>
> http://www.lightreading.com/document.asp?doc_id=94333&page_number=1&site
> =
>
>>
>>
>> Matthew Reed
>>
>>
>>
>
> ------------------------------------------------------------------------
> ----
>
>>--
>>
>> From: [email protected] [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]
>
> On
>
>>Behalf Of Tim Schaeffer
>> Sent: Monday, May 15, 2006 6:15 PM
>> To: [email protected]
>> Subject: [SOCALWUG] Re: WiFi Launched in Downtown Pomona
>>
>>
>>
>> Ijust always like it better when the best cost/perfroming systems
>
> win
> the
>
>>bid. Tropos is far far away from that- so is nomadix for that matter
>
> :)
> Much
>
>>better solutions for less money are readily availabkle these days.
>>
>>
>>
>> Tim Schaeffer
>> Network Engineer
>> [EMAIL PROTECTED]
>>
>> ----- Original Message -----
>>
>> From: Richard
>>
>> To: [email protected]
>>
>> Sent: Sunday, May 14, 2006 10:23 AM
>>
>> Subject: [SOCALWUG] Re: WiFi Launched in Downtown Pomona
>>
>>
>>
>> Yeah!
>>
>> Very perceptive, Larry...
>>
>> WHERE'S MINE!?!?
>>
>> On 5/13/06, Larry Weber <[EMAIL PROTECTED] > wrote:
>>
>> Do I detect some jealousy here?
>>
>>
>>
>>
>>
>
> ------------------------------------------------------------------------
> ----
>
>> From: [email protected] [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]
>
> On
>
>>Behalf Of Tim Schaeffer
>> Sent: Saturday, May 13, 2006 10:18 PM
>> To: [email protected]
>> Subject: [SOCALWUG] Re: WiFi Launched in Downtown Pomona
>>
>> Marketing hype wins over technology and costeffectiveness.
>>
>>
>>
>> Tim Schaeffer
>> Network Engineer
>> [EMAIL PROTECTED]
>>
>> ----- Original Message -----
>>
>> From: Frank Keeney
>>
>> To: [email protected]
>>
>> Sent: Friday, May 12, 2006 4:58 PM
>>
>> Subject: [SOCALWUG] WiFi Launched in Downtown Pomona
>>
>>
>>
>> "The City of Pomona Califonia reached an agreement with
>
> Affiliated
>
>>Computer Services in a joint pilot project with Cheetah Wireless
>>Technologies, Inc. , Tropos Networks and Nomadix to use wireless
>
> technology
>
>>and innovative applications to enhance government efficiency, promote
>>economic growth, foster greater community satisfaction and bridge the
>>digital divide."
>>
>> Full press release here.
>>
>>
>>
>> More news from Muniwireless.
>>
>>
>>
>>
>>
>> Frank Keeney
>>
>> http://www.unwiredadventures.com
>>
>> http://www.wlanparts.com
>>
>
>
--
Jack Unger ([EMAIL PROTECTED]) - President, Ask-Wi.Com, Inc.
Serving the License-Free Wireless Industry Since 1993
Author of the WISP Handbook - "Deploying License-Free Wireless WANs"
True Vendor-Neutral WISP Consulting-Training-Troubleshooting
Our next WISP Workshop is June 21-22 in Atlanta, GA.
Phone (VoIP Over Broadband Wireless) 818-227-4220 www.ask-wi.com
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