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Unit 9: The Wireless Revolution

Introduction Notes

Wireless is everywhere these days from federal disaster areas to less-troubled climes like
Philadelphia and San Francisco, both of which are planning low-cost or free city-wide wireless
networks. And in fact, we’re actually just at the beginning of the true wireless revolution as
three technologies WiMAX, mesh networks and smart radios – converge to create a new
generation of seamless networks that extend from your pocket and living room to your
automobile and beyond.
The first big game-changer will be WiMAX, which can reach thirty miles or more, blanketing an
entire region with an Internet connection as fast as or faster than currently available over
telephone or cable lines.
WiMAX has competition, of course. Companies like Verizon, Sprint and Cingular are already
rolling out high-speed Internet networks across the country and other telephone companies
providers won’t be far behind. The telephone folks have a head start – they’ve been planning 3G
(third-generation) technology for years now. But they also have a big disadvantage: in the U.S.,
the carriers are adopting incompatible systems – Verizon broadband.

Example: Can’t use the same equipment as Sprint broadband. WiMAX, on the other
hand, is like Wi-Fi: a single standard supported by many brands of hardware.

9.1 Wireless Revolution

Mobile phones have become mobile platforms for delivering digital data, used for recording
and downloading photos, video and music, Internet access, and transmitting payments.

An array of technologies provides high-speed wireless access to the Internet for PCs and other
wireless handheld devices and cell phones.
Businesses increasingly use wireless to cut costs, increase flexibility, and create new products
and services.
Small entrepreneurs provide Internet and voice services within their own communities by
purchasing inexpensive basic radio equipment and transmitting on unlicensed frequencies.
Collections of these local operators, collaborating (and interconnecting) with larger Internet
and basic service operators, begin to weave together a patchwork of universal access where
little or no telecommunications services existed before. This access patchwork would be cheap,
robust, and extremely responsive to innovation. While more has to be done to prove this model
will be sustainable, recent experiments in India and elsewhere have been demonstrating that
the basic approach is sound.

Figure 9.1: Mobile Versus Fixed-line Subscribers
Worldwide

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