Lucent's Wireless Networks Get Smarter
Lucent is unveiling some new work they've done on a smart antenna, which is designed to add network capacity while decreasing the likelihood of dropped mobile phone calls. While others have come out with smart antennas, Lucent's has a few crucial differences. First, it focuses the connection on the specific phone being used giving stronger results than other antennas that just focus on the specific geographic area where the phone is. Secondly, the technology fits directly into the various base stations, as opposed to being entirely separate equipment that needs to be added to the network. Lucent's PR hype around this product says that it will double network capacity and reduce dropped calls. While it's good to see new technology being worked on to solve these basic problems (which really anger end-users) that don't get nearly enough attention, it still needs to be seen how well this technology actually works in practice.
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