I don't get it. You live in Docklands, one of the best-provided areas for giganet metro anywhere in the UK, maybe the world. Why would you go for a proprietary wireless solution, which won't be available for at least another year from a startup which isn't prepared to talk turkey on price, yet?

Sounds like an expensive way of bypassing the BT local loop and one which will probably have limited life if Wimax fulfills its promises.

Well, the founders of Libera have promised a full explanation of what they're about. Apparently, my report was full of errors, though they haven't said what yet!

A full report is on its way, they say.

Edited by author 07-02-2004 03:58 PM
Right of reply. It's something I feel ambivalent about, because it means I'll be publishing things I may feel very strongly aren't right. Nonetheless, when Robert Condon complained about our earlier piece, I offered him a platform to explain what he's trying to do with Libera - a network of symmetrical wireless Internet links.

The earlier news story which so annoyed our "serial entrepreneur" was full of errors (he complained). Frankly, I think there's more to his company than his short feature article indicates; I've had people write in strongly supportive of his technology, as well as those who agreed with my cynical first take!

But the thing I still don't see, in this, is where we were wrong. I can see that we weren't supportive! But Condon's original letter is worth posting here, and I'll do so (on his behalf) shortly. Let us know what you think!

Have to agree with you, Guy. I can see a small niche for this, but foresee some major practical issues:

- Many businesses are tenants in shared/leased buildings and don't have the right to bolt things to the roof or walls or run cabling through public areas
- Most building owners will probably want fibre into the site anyway
- Huge manageability / security issues where the devices running over the wireless connection are inside the firewall (big issue for hosted business VoIP generally)
- Unclear whether this technology is line-of-sight only or not