Re: Is Low-Cost Wi-Fi Un-American?
| Newsgroups | gmane.network.wireless.seattle.general |
|---|---|
| Message-ID | <[email protected]> |
It's difficult to get costs of equipment down at higher frequencies. That forces use of more exotic and less integratable ICs and other electronics. And, or course, the higher the frequency the more line of sight and higher path loss. Some systems providers are thinking in terms of high frequency spectrum grids (functionally similar to fiber optic metro grids) with sub 6 GHz PtM for the first/last mile connection. The cost issue is complex: discussions with operators show that in some metro areas, such as N.Y. or London, the cost of roof top or cell tower access has shot up to very high levels. Site costs can become a decisive factor that is almost irrelevant of the type of wireless system being used. Although there is a possibility that WiMAX or modular 3GPP cellular systems could use WMESH combined with micro and pico base stations to circumvent some of the cost. MMDS and LMDS systems could be said to have worked fine.. or acceptably. But they weren't a commercial success regardless. These were proprietary systems with limited vendor support and no compatibility between vendors. The WLAN and WMAN standards change that part of the equation. There aren't many mass markets for communications systems that are based solely on proprietary equipment. > Interesting discussion on wireless broadband. Having looked at this from > an RF engineer's perspective, and having talked with some of the > original folks who worked at ART and Winstar, I have some comments. > Fiber has its benefits but there is no magic. > > The 38 GHz effort failed because the equipment was produced to meet a > boom economy. The pricing was insane, but the equipment works fine. We > had several links running over 5 miles that did not fail except in heavy > rain. > > The 50-90 GHz bands will be where it happens, I predict. Once someone > decides to base a gigabit mesh technology on <$100 60 GHz radios and > <1km hop lengths, I think that will prevail over fiber, given the cost > of running and terminating FTTP. Redundant fiber to the neighborhood, > millimeter wave mesh inside. > > -- > David Josephson > Altaphon Inc > > _______________________________________________ > Talk mailing list > [email protected] > http://seattlewireless.net/mailman/listinfo/talk > _______________________________________________ Talk mailing list [email protected] http://seattlewireless.net/mailman/listinfo/talk