[opendtv] White spaces, WiMAX, traffic offload: US carriers get creative
- From: "Manfredi, Albert E" <albert.e.manfredi@xxxxxxxxxx>
- To: "opendtv@xxxxxxxxxxxxx" <opendtv@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
- Date: Mon, 26 Oct 2009 10:46:05 -0500
"Last week, some progress was made, with a deployment by two key white spaces
supporters - Dell and Microsoft - working with Spectrum Bridge and the TDF
Foundation. Backed by local Congressman Rick Boucher, the group opened a
network in the rural community of Claudville, Virginia, which had no access to
broadband before, and which is designed to showcase the benefits of this free
spectrum."
What a bunch of politically motivated/self-serving hooey.
Are you telling me that out in a rural Virginia town, they could not find a
slice of spectrum in the 2 - 66 GHz range that IEEE 802.16 can use? They had to
use TV frequencies for this MMDS?
But hey, they linked to a school. That makes it okay.
Bert
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http://www.rethink-wireless.com/article.asp?article_id=2063&pg=2
White spaces, WiMAX, traffic offload: US carriers get creative
By CAROLINE GABRIEL
Published: 26 October, 2009
As networks are stretched to their limits by new devices and mushrooming mobile
broadband usage, US carriers are getting creative, looking to a range of new
approaches to increase capacity and support new applications. In the past week
we have seen the first network in the license-exempt 'white spaces' spectrum,
further expansion by WiMAX pioneer Clearwire, and more plans from AT&T to
improve its capacity with use of Wi-Fi and small cells.
The FCC cleared the white spaces (unused gaps in the TV bands) for use by
mobile broadband last November, but subject to anti-interference mechanisms.
Despite high excitement about the potential of this low frequency band to
support low cost, long range, unlicensed services, many doubts remained over
how best to avoid interference, and how to make a commercial device base.
Last week, some progress was made, with a deployment by two key white spaces
supporters - Dell and Microsoft - working with Spectrum Bridge and the TDF
Foundation. Backed by local Congressman Rick Boucher, the group opened a
network in the rural community of Claudville, Virginia, which had no access to
broadband before, and which is designed to showcase the benefits of this free
spectrum.
Under an experimental FCC license, Spectrum Bridge designed and deployed the
network, while Dell, Microsoft and the TDF Foundation contributed PCs and
software to the local school and the town's computer center. Boucher - who is
chairman of the House subcommittee on communications, Technology and the
internet - said: "I hope that Claudville will become a model for delivering
broadband services to more rural communities in a cost effective manner in the
future." The white spaces network links the wired backhaul and the Wi-Fi
hotspots in Claudville's business area, to provide metro area coverage, and it
also supports last mile connectivity directly to end users out of reach of
Wi-Fi.
Clearwire is increasing the availability of wireless capacity and services in
the US in a very different way, using its huge store of licensed 2.5GHz
spectrum and its modern WiMAX network. It says it will hit its target of going
live in 25 markets by year end (most are new and in major metros, some are
upgrades from its proprietary wireless deployments in suburban or rural areas).
This will involve launching in 11 new markets in the current quarter, and its
progress will be matched by MVNO Sprint Nextel, while its other key
wholesalers/investors, Comcast and Time Warner Cable, are starting to roll out
services too, where their cable territories coincide with Clearwire's live
markets.
Clearwire and Sprint will go live in Philadelphia in the next few weeks; and
then in Chicago plus the North Carolina metros of Charlotte, Greensboro and
Raleigh, and the Texas cities of Austin, Dallas/Fort Worth and San Antonio, in
November. In addition, the two companies will launch in Seattle, and in
Honolulu and Maui, Hawaii, in December. Comcast will follow in Philadelphia,
Chicago and Seattle with its HighSpeed 2go brand. Clearwire has Mobile WiMAX
running in 16 markets to date. The next targets for early 2010 are Boston,
Houston, New York, San Francisco and Washington, DC, and the aim is to cover 80
markets by the end of next year.
AT&T needs to counter disaffection with its creaking 3G network, and respond to
the ambitious 4G plans of Clearwire/Sprint and Verizon Wireless, but rather
than opt for a big-bang LTE roll-out at the first stage, it will be more
cautious, focusing on its HSPA upgrade in 2010 and supplementing its capacity
with increased use of other wireless options. It is now the leading US carrier
in terms of Wi-Fi hotspot traffic and will look to offload more macro network
traffic to Wi-Fi metrozones, and from 2010, to indoor femtocells backhauled by
its residential customers' own DSL lines.
John Stankey, president of operations at AT&T, said in his keynote speech at
last week's Supercomm event that mobile operators will need to adopt a dual
approach, using wide area networks together with shorter range options like
Wi-Fi and femtocells. Most operators agree that small cells in urban areas, and
offloading from the macro network, are the only ways to address the stretch on
capacity caused by mobile broadband.
"I don't think a single macro wireless network is sustainable over time, given
the pace of spectrum availability and what's actually out there in terms of
fixed spectrum," Stankey said. "I think the reality is that there will be macro
and micro networks. We're starting down that path at AT&T, focusing on how we
make Wi-Fi and licensed spectrum a more seamless experience for customers.
Other variants will come up on this over time. But to manage the kind of mobile
experience customers will require and truly have the quality of service they
need will require a multiple approach to network management in the wireless
space. You're going to see micro and macro in terms of licensed and unlicensed
spectrum. This is a key architecture element we're all going to have to come to
grips with."
In some crowded areas he sees 20% of traffic being handled by Wi-Fi. In the
third quarter, AT&T's hotspots recorded 25.4m sessions, up from 15m the quarter
before, a 66% increase. Of those connections, 60% were from smartphones rather
than PCs, boosted by the release of iPhone OS 3, which provided automatic
log-in to AT&T hotspots for US Apple users. This can lead to Wi-Fi connections,
perhaps to perform updates, of which the user is unaware.
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