Woosh Wireless (formerly WalkerWireless) have licensed some of the frequency spectrum off the Government to offer cellphone-style always on, mobile BroadBand in NewZealand.

They're just starting in Auckland, Hamilton, and Christchurch and their pricing is reasonable. Watch this space. Anyone on the service, please comment.

Hah! I looked into getting WalkerWireless when I first arrived in Hamilton in 2000. They've been claiming that they will extend coverage to Hamilton in the near future for as long as I've been here. Don't hold your breath. -- JohnMcPherson

They do own 3G frequencies now, and are partnered with Vodafone, so they're a bit more than all talk and nothing but 802.11b -- CraigBox

Do you live in Mission Bay? 'Cause if you do, you can't get it.

There have been reports of high latency on woosh wireless. This makes it unsuitable for online games or anything that requires low latency, like voice over ip.

In June 2004, Woosh were replaced for the 3 regions it had won the tender for in the Project Probe broadband initiative when it became obvious that they would be unable to fulfill the contract.

How to configure a Woosh USB Modem under Linux

Use the ethernet connection, I don't know of a way to make the USB connection work. These modems speak PPPoE. The following instructions are for Debian Woody.

 apt-get install pppoe

Edit /etc/ppp/peers/dsl-provider, make sure you have the following lines

 user "foo@woosh.co.nz"
 # if you're using an interface other than eth0 substitute it below
 pty "/usr/sbin/pppoe -I eth0 -T 80 -m 1452"
 noipdefault
 # Comment out if you already have the correct default route installed
 defaultroute
 hide-password
 lcp-echo-interval 60
 lcp-echo-failure 3
 # Override any connect script that may have been set in /etc/ppp/options.
 connect /bin/true
 noauth
 persist
 demand
 mtu 1492

In /etc/ppp/chap-secrets you need a line like

"foo@woosh.co.nz"    *       "foopassword"

Then run

 pon dsl-provider

And you should be away.

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