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The thing you have to understand about "wireless" systems like CDMA/GSM/HSPDA/LTE is that there is little diversity in the vendors of these types of systems and
by Nrsolis 15y ago
The thing you have to understand about "wireless" systems like CDMA/GSM/HSPDA/LTE is that there is little diversity in the vendors of these types of systems and there are a bunch of relatively closed protocols that govern how things like the base stations authenticate subs and do provisioning of stations. It's not like IP; it's more like Novell IPX.
So even though LTE is ostensibly an IP-based system, there are a host of dependencies on single vendor closed management systems and protocols that could be the cause of any outage. A nationwide outage points to the failure of one of these systems to properly handle letting subscriber stations onto the network, not something simple like getting packets from here to there.
Think failure of the RADIUS/DNS like systems, not the routing infrastructure.
- Maven911 15y agoYour premise is more accurate, you just need to replace IPX with 3GPP standard protocols (vendors dont make their own protocols - everything is standardized), and instead of radius/dns (which are used in telcos nonetheless), its more likley HLRs,CSCFs, MMEs, or PDN gateways that can bring an entire network to its knees, or a poorly implemented mobile backhaul solution
- deleted 15y ago[deleted]
- Nrsolis 15y agoCorrect. There are standards, but the standards are relatively proprietary (at least compared to the RFCs from the IETF) and the standards bodies that certify solutions as "compliant" are controlled by the vendors themselves. But your point stands. The last time I got a look at a major wireless data network (3G) I was floored by how damn complicated it was relative to how a similar solution would be implemented if you used "pure" IP technologies rather than the over-engineered versions them implement in order to constrain the number of competitive solutions they'll find in the marketplace. Its WiMax vs LTE.