I took a several-year-long nap in between the time I was doing Granite Systems and the time that I woke up and started working with Nakina. Somewhere in that interval cell sites stopped being fed by one or two T1/E1 lines, and started being fed by big fat optical pipes at OC-3 rates and up. This is good news for companies like Fibertower , since making adequate backhaul capacity available is going to be an ever greater challenge for wireless operators. I just saw a review of one of the gadgets that’s going to keep driving data throughput up (and hence keep feeding the ravenous demand for faster backhaul). Over at engadget mobile there’s a review of a new “MiFi” device from Novatel that’s being distributed by Verizon Wireless . For a hundred bucks you get a credit card-sized WiFi router that gives access to five devices at EV-DO speeds. Engadget clocked it at about 1.8 Mbit/s down and 0.4 Mbit/s up — more than enough for the usual email catchup and web wandering. The access charges are low enough that for anyone who spends as much time on the road as I do, and gets as ticked off as I do about the absurd charges some hotels levy for net access, this looks like a no brainer. Time to cancel my Boingo subscription…