PCCW Wants To Switch To WiMax When Mobility Is Here

Wed, Sep 15th 2004 10:24am — Mike Masnick

In a story that fits well with the one below about Nextel's Flarion trials, Faultline has some details about PCCW's UMTS TDD offerings in the UK. You may recall that PCCW wireless broadband in the UK back in May, and some reporters claimed it was WiMax, when the reality was that it was IP Wireless' UMTS-TDD technology instead (something IP Wireless later scrambled to have mentioned after the fact). However, PCCW is apparently now telling reporters that they're being quiet about TDD because they want to switch to WiMax -- but realize that TDD is a better solution right now, mainly because of the mobility component. So, until WiMax 802.16e (the mobility version of WiMax) comes around, they're sticking with TDD. Once again, it's the mobility that matters. Of course, it's also interesting to note that Vodafone is suggesting they may complain if PCCW were to offer mobility services with the spectrum they now own, as they believe it would be competitive with the various 3G services they plan to offer. PCCW basically responds by saying "it's our spectrum, and we'll do what we want with it," which is probably the right response. Derek: This sounds a little off...OFTEL, the British regulator, forbids the use of the mobile capability of the PCCW UK Broadband Netvigator network. Mobility, therefore, cannot be the motivator to use UMTS TDD over WiMAX. The motivator is that WiMAX simply does not yet exist, while UMTS TDD has already worked through the bugs, and has commercial equipment available. Also, I have to say that the article by Faultline has its own faults: some sentences are started on the subject of WiMAX and ended on the subject of TDD, apparently without the writer's intention. The quotes from "Berriman" of PCCW contradict themselves, for example where he says PCCW has to wait until 802.16e enables mobility before offering mobility, but also says PCCW is using TDD which is mobility-ready. They actually have to manually "turn off" the mobility of UMTS TDD to meet the requirements of OFTEL. There's more digging to do here...

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Filed Under: wimax

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alaric, 15 Sep 2004 @ 10:24am

WiMAX mobility
I would not assume that WiMAX will support mobility. There are some powerful players working to ensure that that never happens. Portability is realistic though.
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Alaric, 15 Sep 2004 @ 10:24am

WiMAX mobility
Andrew, Good point about self install but lets challenge that. Self install is ultimately a function of cell size, output power (remote and base), antenna size (remote and base), Height of antennas, operating frequency etc. There is nothing stopping 802.16d from supporting indoor install provided it meets the above conditions. There is nothing keeping vendors from producing an 802.16d user devices with an integrated antenna for indoor install. There is also no inherent feature in 802.16e vs. 802.16d that might improve ability of indoor penetration. Smart antennas or at least antenna diversity is the key for improved indoor reception that or small cells. 802.16e may never happen in the way intel is telling the world it will.
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Alaric, 15 Sep 2004 @ 10:24am

WiMAX mobility
just wanted to clarify something. 802.16e may use a high FFT OFDM or OFDMA. That would provide a gain advantage and facilitate indoor install. It may not though. 802.16d is 256 FFT ofdm and some people are resistant to replace that due to concerns over backward compatibility.
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