Re: Speakeasy +WIMAX

I hope you all know that this service is not WiMAX or even Pre-WiMAX.  It 
uses Alvarion BreezeAccess VL base stations which are OFDM but not either 
256-FFT OFDM to conform with 802.16d/-2004 or SOFDMA, dynamic 2048-FFT to 
conform to the upcoming 802.16e standard.  One of my good friends at 
Alvarion was up in Seattle this week with Speakeasy (I won't give out his 
name to keep him blameless).  Speakeasy made the decision to call their 
system pre-WiMAX.  The vendor decided to stay out of that bit of marketing 
hype.

Although one of the current WiMAX/802.16  'System Profiles' is for the 
unlicensed 5.8 GHz spectrum, there are absolutely no systems on the market 
that are certified to that profile under the standard and WiMAX 
certifications process and I don't know of any major supplier who has a 
pre-WiMAX system that meets that profile.  Proxim, Alvarion, Airspan, Aperto 
are among companies who are working on systems.  Proxim, Vcom, and a couple 
of startup companies you will never have heard of  are likely to be among 
the earliest to field 5.8 GHz systems.  The more established companies have 
their hands pretty full right now pursuing product development, evaluations 
and field trials with the hundreds of licensed carriers around the world. 
And hundreds of millions of dollars are pouring into new and existing 
operators and MVNOs.  We are putting together research reports and ongoing 
work right now for companies who want to deploy internationally (were 
spectrum rights can be obtained or MVNO relationships developed). The 
unlicensed space can be part of this MVNO scheme, particularly the new 
3650-3700 spectrum and 5.8 GHz spectrum - the lower the better of course). 
Profiles are also being initiated in the 700 MHz band (requires special 
channel avoidance guard bands or adaptive modulation schemes to avoid 
interference).

Speakeasy, I was told second hand, will use, in some cases, multiple signal 
paths to achieve QoS guarantees (3 or 4 nines does not completely describe 
some quarantines but I don't know what Speakeasy's claims are).  In most 
cases, there is as much or more cost in the site for the equipment than the 
equipment: once you pay for the site, locate 2-3 sectors/directional antenna 
assemblies and beam in a grid fashion to a limited hop network (2-5 hops). 
This is not a self-forming or full-blown WMESH.  You set it up node-node 
with confined QoS parameters.  I'm winging the description here based on how 
the system works, not on specific knowledge of how Speakeasy themselves may 
set it up.  Like other equipment, you can set things up PtP, grid or some 
other way given what drivers you load and how you configure the base line 
and higher level operation.

This system should work fine and so a lot.. but it is still not even 
pre-WiMAX.  Better than most consumer level wifi? You bet. As good as even 
some early WiMAX systems?  No.  There will be WiMAX stuff coming down the 
pike that will blow your mind in another 1-2 years.. after the initial stuff 
is poo-pooed.  Like what?  Like pico to  micro to mini to macro base 
stations with some initial WMESH (with little to no bandwidth and small 
latency hits) thrown in here and there.  And some WiMAX plus WiFi with 
hand-over, although done in two separate radios, not on the same silicon or 
highly integrated radio design.


Robert (Bob) Syputa
Senior Analyst, Maravedis Telecom Research
www.wimaxpro.com
www.maravedis-bwa.com
206-367-6931

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----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Casey Halverson" <[email protected]>
To: "SeattleWireless Talk List" <[email protected]>
Sent: Friday, May 06, 2005 1:31 PM
Subject: RE: Speakeasy +WIMAX


Technically yes.....but there are too many new players now for the small, 
select few who have frequency coordination arrangements.

The fun part is when non-RF savy network engineers get ahold of microwave 
gear, and start pointing it all over the place.  They also drink the 30 mile 
marketing koolaid too;  they come up to me and ask what vendor I suggest for 
shooting through 20 miles of trees and through a hill.  Yea right.

It will be interesting to see how successful speakeasy is with their 5.8GHz 
unlicensed service.  While there is a bit of activity downtown in this band, 
I suspect that with noise tolerances and directional antennas, it wont get 
that bad.  Even in noisy environments, the stuff still works pretty well in 
the real world.  3 or 4 9's?  Maybe...but who knows.

There is no way in hell they are getting Nextel/Sprint 2.5GHz 
spectrum....now that they are one company, they are going to be done some 
really interesting stuff with WiMax in this band nationwide.

> -----Original Message-----
> From: [email protected]
> [mailto:[email protected]] On Behalf Of John
> van Oppen (list account)
> Sent: Thursday, May 05, 2005 8:16 PM
> To: SeattleWireless Talk List
> Subject: AW: Speakeasy +WIMAX
>
> Does anyone know if there are any city wide frequency
> coordination efforts in seattle?
>
> John :)
>
>
>
> -----Ursprüngliche Nachricht-----
> Von: Jack Unger [mailto:[email protected]]
> Gesendet: Thursday, May 05, 2005 8:09 PM
> An: SeattleWireless Talk List
> Betreff: Re: Speakeasy +WIMAX
>
> Not likely. Many new WISPs don't have a clue about noise,
> interference, signal-to-noise ratio, throughput,
> reliability... etc. What they do know about is equipment
> manufacturer's marketing claims (30 miles,
> none-line-of-sight, blah, blah, blah...)
>                            jack
>
> Ralph Sims wrote:
> > http://www.speakeasy.net/business/wimax/coverage.php
> >
> > I hope they've done their homework.  There's a LOT of 5.8
> traffic in
> > their proposed service area--including Fisher Plaza.  And
> that's not
> > including all the new 5.8GHz phone systems scattered around.
> >
> >
> > _______________________________________________
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> > [email protected]
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> >
>
> --
> Jack Unger - 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
> [email protected]  (818) 227-4220  http://www.ask-wi.com
>
>
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