Can Wireless Compete with Fixed Lines?

If the fixed lines assume fibre optic cables, then take it as a given that wireless connectivity still lags fixed lines in terms of speed/bandwidth availability, service level (link availability i.e. environmental effect on microwave) and quality of service.

LTE or wireless connectivity in general will always have wide spread adoption and will not fail for these reasons;

1. Difficult terrains that make fixed lines impossible and cost prohibitive.

2. Quick and ease of deployment.

3. Estimated number of end users of the service.

and so on.

cheers,

ethobil

in answer to #1.

Yeah and mobile phones and wireless work perfectly everywhere...jeez my wireless modem with a 'range' of over 100m couldn't even tx/rx to my Son's bedroom, up one floor and along 10m.
Cable does it for me...I would nt trus wir l ss as t e r liabi ity is c ap....

sorry gotta go you're breaking up.
Del

I agree. Breaking up in service or difficult to connect are synonymous with wireless. That is poor service level and poor quality of service when compared to wirelines.

These characteristics can be reduced but may not be completely eliminated from wireless connectivity.

Cheers,

ethobil

As I see it, mobile broadband will probably make significant gains in personal/recreational use, especially as more and more households are getting rid of their old land line phones... really, who needs to have a cell phone for everyone in the house AND a landline that's just wasting money for no good reason. Fixed lines will be a significant part of our communication infrastructure for years to come as wireless will always be at least moderately inconsistant

In my recent cable shopping expedition I chose to go with Cricket's 3G Wireless plan since it is at least as fast as the comparably priced packages from my local providers and I can take it with me and I didn't have to sign a two year contract to get a decent deal (or sign up for cable service I don't want or phone service I don't want)... Since my reception at home isn't great (1-2/4 bars typically) and my computer dates from the paleolithic era this is not quite a fast enough connection to watch a movie without a 2 - 5 minute break every 15 minutes or so, but for anything else it is certainly quick enough for my purposes.

If I was wanting to use my internet connection for business though I would definitely want a landline to insure consistent connectivity, of course as a business expense this can be written off, which my personal use can not.

I have been Using Clear Wireless at home for about 6 months now. It is a Cell Phone based 4G Mobile/Home Internet solution. At first it only got good reception on one end of the house, but recently they must have put in a new tower somewhere, cause I consistently get near full strength everywhere in the house (I have yet to take it on the road). I have been quite happy with the speed, and reliability. It has never not worked. I use the internet at home primarily to watch TV. We don't have any cable, or antenna hooked up to the TV, Just a S-video cable from the computer, and Audio to the stereo. So far the Mobile Internet has provided me with great viewing of any show/movie I wish to see (Even in HD on occasion).

I have no use for any land lines whatsoever at this point. My internet connection can be taken anywhere I go, and is quite fast (6Mbps). All in all I have no problem thinking wireless will be to Landlines, what E-mail is to snail mail.

There is no cell phone coverage where I live. I do not own a cell phone. My Luddite tendencies appreciates this.

Land lines definitely have one major advantage over wireless currently. Consistency. My cell phone drops the net and calls at the worst times. How much of this issue is coverage and how much is interference?

Could someone make a signal jamming device to disable all internet like they have in the movies?

Do I prefer my wireless laptop or my computer? Lets just say the PC collects dust and I go through laptops.

Due to National Security we may always have landlines.

Well, if wireless technology really were the end-all, then Microwave and WiFi would have replaced all cables several years ago.

As several people have remarked on this blog -- they can trust wire, but they aren't sure how much they can trust wireless.

LTE has great promise, but it isn't going to be available for at least one, possibly two years. WiMAX (the Clear Wireless network RVZ717 mentioned) is here today and being built out. It can serve as a "last mile" solution or as back haul.

But the fact is, that devices and network elements have to get much smarter and more powerful before they can match the speeds of a terrestrial network. Right now, you can only get so many 0's and 1's across that RF interface at a given time. The amount of 0's and 1's you can get across a wire or fiber optic cable in the same amount of time is still greater. Sometime they match, but wired is usually faster.

then Microwave and WiFi would have replaced all cables several years ago.

costs are coming down, and performance is increasing

You are correct -- and some day, the performance and cost may match wireline, but for now, they don't. when you think about it, it isn't that surprising. we have been tinkering around with wired connections for well over a hundred years, but we have only been tinkering around with wireless communications -- in the sense of a cellular network -- for 30 or 40 years. We've come a long way, baby, but we ain't there yet!

WiMAX may be a good first step in the development of a reliable wireless network. As mentioned in another post on this blog (Guest) once the signal hits the tower, it goes into a terrestrial network. From this point on, it goes over at least a T1. The deeper into the network it goes, the bigger the pipe it is carried on. With a WiMAX network the are really two standards in play -- 802.16e for the wireless mobility piece (the connection to the tower) and 802.16, which contains standards for fixed wireless -- which could also be backhaul. Ultimately, it will go into a wire, but the actual wireless distance could be longer.

Of course, because towers are an important part of any wireless network, wireless networks will always be more vulnerable to natural disasters than buried cable.

Someday, when we've tinkered around with wireless networks for a hundred years or so, they will hopefully be as reliable and efficient as wired networks are today!

I would have to say that a wireline service will always offer more bandwidth therefore making it better hands down. With more bandwidth the capabilites are endless specially if a fiber (FIOS) optic network is involved.

If you think about it at any particular cell site you may have a few T1's that are used to deliver both voice and data (depending on the config) therefore your speeds will never be even close to T1 speeds since it is a shared circuit with other users.

If you look at the infrastructure, wireless only goes to the next TRX and then ends up on the wired network, so this is just a discussion for marketers.

We can survive without wireless, not without fixed lines.

regards

Wireless as a medium has its limitations just as any other medium. The avalilability of licensed frequencies are one big limitation. The focus should be on the technology deployed to transmit and recieve the signals. If the end user devices were capable of relaying signals in an intelligent fashion (would have to develop and advanced data transfer protocol) and super nodes were set up along logical geographical lines then high speed data transfer is perfectly feasible.

applying the KISS formula, I would say hard wired will go the way of paper money! Thirty years ago, man, set foot upon the moon, I didn't see a telephone line, let alone a fiber optics cable! We must think like the "Borg", albeit not square or cubed, but more spherical and ever growing. Tesla dreamed of sending electricity wireless and it still may happen. Imagine a world without telephone posts, hydro poles, and the only thing above, are the gravitating L.E.D. lights that illuminate the paths of closed minded carbon based units...and in the words of Forrest Gump "thats all I have to say about that"