5 ms·

Fiber is great. But... in my view, the key to omnipresent BB is wireless, yes 5G, sorry to grind this ax but, I do believe that is the key, particularly in a co

Fiber is great. But... in my view, the key to omnipresent BB is wireless, yes 5G, sorry to grind this ax but, I do believe that is the key, particularly in a country like the USA where there are large geographic areas, it is simply not economic to cover the entire area with fiber. mm-wave is part of the equation but also, lower frequency bands (sub-6Ghz) are key. FCC opening up more spectrum (all bands) is key to wide spread BB access.

orev 8y ago
Hoping wireless will solve the B.B. problem is laughable. It doesn’t matter what technology you use, the airwaves are a single shared medium while wires are essentially private sanctums of bandwidth within their own little environment with essentially the same bandwidth in each wire. Wireless companies are still charging per Gb, while wireline companies charge per 100s of Gb. People use streaming all the time, and that’s only increasing. Wireless is not going to be viable for the streaming future of 4K, etc for a very long time, and even when the tech is ready, the providers are still going to charge huge sums for that access. If wireless really is cheaper to build out, then why the huge disparity in price per Gb?
- leetcrew 8y ago
  i can see that there is a public benefit in having accessible broadband for every citizen. it is important that people out in the sticks still have access to the news, for example. but is it really of critical importance that everyone have access to 4K netflix streams?
- zw123456 8y ago
  One of the keys here that a lot of people miss is that mm-wave alone will not fill the BB need. It is the combination of sub-6ghz and mm-wave. 5Gnr works in high band, mm-wave and low/mid-band. This is the key, using each in the appropriate situation. mm-wave in dense urban, fiber rich areas, sub-6 in more rural and xburbs.
madengr 8y ago
RF guy here doing mnWave circuitry. Don’t count on it. A simple tree will ruin your link, as will rain. 6 GHz doesn’t have near the capacity. One DWDM fiber channel has +100 GHz bandwidth; that’s where it’s at. Leave wireless for what it’s good for; mobility. It sucks for real capacity.
- walrus01 8y ago
  It is still pretty amazing that we now have 10Gbps e-band radios good for 2 to 3 km bridges between rooftops. For $15k can be a lot better than a $200k fiber build. The the total bps/hz capacity of single mode is truly astounding compared to what it's possible to push through the air, FDD style, even with 2000MHz channels.
  - madengr 8y ago
    Definitely, and I think there are even 30 km links at E-band. What concerns me is fiber build-outs are stalling, thinking that wireless is going to save costs. It’s not going to happen, at least not the performance of a fiber to every home. Electricity and twisted pair could be run to every home, but now it’s too costly.
    - walrus01 8y ago
      Realistically you can't go even 8km reliably in e-band, no way for 30... 30 at traditional frequencies like 11GHz, sure. But the atmospheric attenuation is extreme at 71-86GHz, as is the rain fade. Even with +15-18 tx power and 52db gain antennas.
      - madengr 8y ago
        I swear Facebook claimed 10G at 30 km, and recently Bridgewave was claiming the same. Facebook was using a custom 33 dBm PA MMIC. Quorvo (or maybe HRL) presented a 33 dBm GaN MMIC a couple years ago, but it was ~90 nm GaN process which isn’t out yet. Once that’s out, I’d expect >1W at 80 GHz to allow some cool stuff.

orev 8y ago

Hoping wireless will solve the B.B. problem is laughable. It doesn’t matter what technology you use, the airwaves are a single shared medium while wires are essentially private sanctums of bandwidth within their own little environment with essentially the same bandwidth in each wire. Wireless companies are still charging per Gb, while wireline companies charge per 100s of Gb. People use streaming all the time, and that’s only increasing. Wireless is not going to be viable for the streaming future of 4K, etc for a very long time, and even when the tech is ready, the providers are still going to charge huge sums for that access. If wireless really is cheaper to build out, then why the huge disparity in price per Gb?

leetcrew 8y ago
i can see that there is a public benefit in having accessible broadband for every citizen. it is important that people out in the sticks still have access to the news, for example. but is it really of critical importance that everyone have access to 4K netflix streams?
zw123456 8y ago
One of the keys here that a lot of people miss is that mm-wave alone will not fill the BB need. It is the combination of sub-6ghz and mm-wave. 5Gnr works in high band, mm-wave and low/mid-band. This is the key, using each in the appropriate situation. mm-wave in dense urban, fiber rich areas, sub-6 in more rural and xburbs.

madengr 8y ago

RF guy here doing mnWave circuitry. Don’t count on it. A simple tree will ruin your link, as will rain. 6 GHz doesn’t have near the capacity. One DWDM fiber channel has +100 GHz bandwidth; that’s where it’s at. Leave wireless for what it’s good for; mobility. It sucks for real capacity.

walrus01 8y ago
It is still pretty amazing that we now have 10Gbps e-band radios good for 2 to 3 km bridges between rooftops. For $15k can be a lot better than a $200k fiber build. The the total bps/hz capacity of single mode is truly astounding compared to what it's possible to push through the air, FDD style, even with 2000MHz channels.
- madengr 8y ago
  Definitely, and I think there are even 30 km links at E-band. What concerns me is fiber build-outs are stalling, thinking that wireless is going to save costs. It’s not going to happen, at least not the performance of a fiber to every home. Electricity and twisted pair could be run to every home, but now it’s too costly.
  - walrus01 8y ago
    Realistically you can't go even 8km reliably in e-band, no way for 30... 30 at traditional frequencies like 11GHz, sure. But the atmospheric attenuation is extreme at 71-86GHz, as is the rain fade. Even with +15-18 tx power and 52db gain antennas.
    - madengr 8y ago
      I swear Facebook claimed 10G at 30 km, and recently Bridgewave was claiming the same. Facebook was using a custom 33 dBm PA MMIC. Quorvo (or maybe HRL) presented a 33 dBm GaN MMIC a couple years ago, but it was ~90 nm GaN process which isn’t out yet. Once that’s out, I’d expect >1W at 80 GHz to allow some cool stuff.