2 ms·

This is correct, but you do need to understand that there are technical limitations to twisted pair. Even if AT&T or $TELCO runs fiber to the node everywhere, t

This is correct, but you do need to understand that there are technical limitations to twisted pair. Even if AT&T or $TELCO runs fiber to the node everywhere, twisted pair has gigantic line loss issues over long distances. We really need fiber to the prem or frankly we're just messing around. There's no financial model that will support building fiber networks except the obvious societal benefit. Having fast fiber everywhere is incredibly valuable from both a social and economic perspective. To put it bluntly, GDP goes up when internet gets faster. Now, the costs will always be wrong for a fiber network. I question why LA would do this instead of building a WISP (wireless ISP) that would deliver speed over radiowave. Forget tearing up all the streets, just put radio towers on the buildings! The costs are lower, the bandwidth is fast and the rollout is asynchronous (you roll the radio towers as you sign people up). Source: I come from the Internet and stuff. My credentials: Comcast fiber rollout, AT&T sales, Avaya consulting and 2600hz (open-source telco infrastructure).

dakrisht 13y ago
I completely agree with you - twisted pair has go to go and fiber needs to terminate in the home. It's actually a embarrassing that this country can neither build a somewhat simple healthcare website and has some of the slowest access speeds in the world. I remember going to Bulgaria over the years for business and you can get a 100Mbps symmetrical connection for - wait for it - $40 USD. WISP is an interesting concept and has a better economic model. If you look at proposed 5G wireless speeds, you're looking at 10Gbps+ Even LTE today at 30-50Mbps is better than any non-Gig Fiber to the home (aside from the FIOS service available to maybe 10,000 people in LA) The biggest problem is and will be AT&T and TWC with their collusion. Government regulation needs to intervene here otherwise private sector simply stands no chance. Trust me - I want even 100Mbps connection. It's frustrating. Going back to the concept of a WISP - now that's some innovation if you could make it happen. There was a company on HN a few months back that made long-range WiFi domed Tx/Rx units that could be mounted on poles, etc. Anyone have that link?
- jauer 13y ago
  The problem with WISP deployments is without exclusive use of spectrum (which you have to win at auction from the FCC vs Verizon/at&t/etc) you can't do LTE-type deployments where you can count on a low noise etc. Beyond that, keep in mind that LTE 30-50Mbps is dependent on the spectrum set on a sector. If everyone ditched the local MSO & Telco for LTE it would get so overloaded that everyone would be saying it sucks and switching back to the MSO. Generally speaking you are left to deal with licensed microwave in the ~$10k per link for ~260Mbps or unlicensed microwave in 2.4/5.8Ghz where you have to deal with noise from every WiFi router and other random junk. Depending on how many other devices are out there you get less than 1 Mbps to 200 Mbps depending on spectrum availability. The technology for WISP deployments is fairly mature, to the point that if you are using straight-up WiFi you are doing it wrong. If you want to learn more, the current market leaders in the US for unlicensed microwave are Cambium (former Motorola)'s PMP series and Ubiquiti's AirMax series. Check them out. Anyway, there just isn't enough spectrum available to do a robust city-wide WISP network with significant uptake.

dakrisht 13y ago

I completely agree with you - twisted pair has go to go and fiber needs to terminate in the home. It's actually a embarrassing that this country can neither build a somewhat simple healthcare website and has some of the slowest access speeds in the world. I remember going to Bulgaria over the years for business and you can get a 100Mbps symmetrical connection for - wait for it - $40 USD. WISP is an interesting concept and has a better economic model. If you look at proposed 5G wireless speeds, you're looking at 10Gbps+ Even LTE today at 30-50Mbps is better than any non-Gig Fiber to the home (aside from the FIOS service available to maybe 10,000 people in LA) The biggest problem is and will be AT&T and TWC with their collusion. Government regulation needs to intervene here otherwise private sector simply stands no chance. Trust me - I want even 100Mbps connection. It's frustrating. Going back to the concept of a WISP - now that's some innovation if you could make it happen. There was a company on HN a few months back that made long-range WiFi domed Tx/Rx units that could be mounted on poles, etc. Anyone have that link?

jauer 13y ago
The problem with WISP deployments is without exclusive use of spectrum (which you have to win at auction from the FCC vs Verizon/at&t/etc) you can't do LTE-type deployments where you can count on a low noise etc. Beyond that, keep in mind that LTE 30-50Mbps is dependent on the spectrum set on a sector. If everyone ditched the local MSO & Telco for LTE it would get so overloaded that everyone would be saying it sucks and switching back to the MSO. Generally speaking you are left to deal with licensed microwave in the ~$10k per link for ~260Mbps or unlicensed microwave in 2.4/5.8Ghz where you have to deal with noise from every WiFi router and other random junk. Depending on how many other devices are out there you get less than 1 Mbps to 200 Mbps depending on spectrum availability. The technology for WISP deployments is fairly mature, to the point that if you are using straight-up WiFi you are doing it wrong. If you want to learn more, the current market leaders in the US for unlicensed microwave are Cambium (former Motorola)'s PMP series and Ubiquiti's AirMax series. Check them out. Anyway, there just isn't enough spectrum available to do a robust city-wide WISP network with significant uptake.