Thoughts On Next-Generation Broadband Wireless Internet Access

This post was triggered by a slow day of significant news about Broadband Wireless Internet Access / WiMAX. So I dug into my archives of "things I should write about" and found mention of these two press releases from BelAir Networks (press release 1, press release 2). That triggered a still-frustrating memory of something a colleague said to me recently to the effect that "Remember, I told you that city Wi-Fi networks wouldn't work".

First, I'll discuss the latter point. Yeah, the EarthLink-funded Metropolitan Wi-Fi networks did fail. I think that was mostly a failure of technology - that the technology employed was nowhere near adequate to the challenge. My main criticism of that technology, and in particular a criticism of Tropos Networks' systems is that using omnidirectional antennas to provide coverage on that scale just wasn't going to work. A close second major criticism of Tropos was that trying to do backhaul "in band" with your access was competing with your users - bad design. So yeah, if the technology simply isnt' up to the business model, you're gonna fail.

But what my colleague... and just about everyone else in the entire wireless and Broadband Wireless Internet Access / WiMAX industry doesn't understand was that "Metropolitan Wi-Fi" was about a lot more than just that particular implementation, business model, etc. Wireless was fundamentally changed as a result, but that change was subtle and almost entirely unnoticed. But the press releases cited above help illustrate the following observations about "Next Generation BWIA":

Metropolitan Wi-Fi systems illustrated a new network architecture - outdoor microcell deployment. Put a "cell site" on a streetlight, for example, and cover an area not much bigger than a city block. This idea was pioneered by Metricom in their Ricochet system and is now being quietly adopted for a number of networks - for power monitoring, Metropolitan Wi-Fi systems, etc.
Lower power wireless subsystems (don't need to "blast" when you're covering smaller areas) means that it's become practical to "self-power" via solar panels and batteries. That lowers the cost of deployment radically.
Mesh backhaul is entirely practical and well-proven now beginning with Metricom Ricochet and proceeding through current-day Metropolitan Wi-Fi systems that use focused, not omnidirectional, antenna systems to assure reliable mesh backhaul.
Spectrum choice isn't limited to cellular, Wi-Fi, or anything at all. One of the most impressive things about BelAir Networks is that their systems built around the idea of interchangeable / multiple radios and antennas, all managed by a central antenna switching system and router / switch. BelAir units have already been deployed to provide cellular coverage, and (deliciously, ironically) providing backhaul to that cellular node via license-exempt spectrum (yeah, it IS that reliable).
The microcell network architecture means that you can reuse spectrum very efficiently, and make good, reliable use of license-exempt spectrum. When you combine it with better antenna technology, the results are amazing. BelAir uses switched panel antennas - that's relatively cheap, practical, and effective. But even better is the phased-array technology developed by Wavion Wireless Networks.
The sum total of all of this is that we haven't seen ANYTHING yet in Broadband Wireless Internet Access / WiMAX / Wi-Fi / Zigbee, etc. Someone is going to get it right and implement BWIA using all of this - multitude of spectrum choices, saturation coverage using microcell network architecture and phased-array antenna systems, opportunistic use of licensed and license-exempt spectrum, and a business model that takes full advantage of all of it. I haven't seen it quite yet (all together), but I'll know it, and write about it, when I do finally see it.

Perhaps more importantly, the future of BWIA certainly doesn't "belong" to wireless telephony technology, including "LTE / 4G"... or Mobile WiMAX... or Wi-Fi... or any one particular technology. We're going to see a confluence, and continued diversity of systems, and continued experimentation, evolution, and revolution in BWIA.

Yes, I'm totally confident that I will see systems (plural!) like what I describe. One thing my more than a decade of writing about BWIA has taught me is that when I notice a confluence of factors like the above, much smarter people than me have noticed them years before and have already been quietly putting money and talent into such an idea behind the scenes.



By Steve Stroh

This article is Copyright © 2008 by Steve Stroh except for specifically-marked excerpts. Excerpts and links are expressly permitted (and encouraged).

This article was written and posted via Broadband Wireless Internet Access (BWIA) ; Sprint Mobile Broadband service using a Sierra Wireless 595U USB modem - 1xEV-DO Rev. A on a MacBook Pro laptop.