Why are some operators (like Verizon) rushing forward with LTE while others are content to wait? One simple explanation is the distinction between CDMA and UMTS service providers: CDMA operators, with no migration path remaining on their 3G networks, are proceeding immediately to 4G, while UMTS providers, with plenty of upgrades left for their high-speed packet access (HSPA) networks. That’s only a partial explanation, though. It’s true many CDMA providers—Verizon, Sprint (NYSE:S), KDDI, MetroPCS (NYSE:PCS)—have been quick to adopt LTE, but in Canada Telus (NYSE:TU) and Bell Mobility (NYSE:BCE) have opted to deploy HSPA networks to compliment their CDMA networks. Meanwhile, HSPA operator DoCoMo will have one of the first LTE launches in the world, followed by Nordic operators TeliaSonera, Tele2 and Telenor.

http://telephonyonline.com/wireless/news/3g4g-mobile-broadband-economics-0630/

How does this square with Intel licensing HSPA technology from Nokia, for use in mobile computing devices?

“Despite the rollout of HSPA networks gathering pace around the world, with the top-end of the HSPA range (without MIMO) offering peak downlink rates of 14.4Mbps, it does not unduly concern Siavash Alamouti, CTO of Intel’s Mobile Wireless Group.”

“HSPA comes from the cellular model, while WiMAX is about the consumer electronics and internet model,” adds Alamouti. “If you look at the protocol stack for WiMAX, you see Layer 1 and Layer 2 followed by IP on all the nodes. In 3GPP, you have elements of the legacy circuit-switched protocol stack, which were inserted as a compromise between telephony-driven and IP-friendly companies. HSPA is more for smartphone-like applications and will not be able to meet the demands of bandwidth-rich devices, such as PCs, MIDs and netbooks. These devices will put a lot of strain on HSPA networks.”

http://www.telecoms.com/11909/hspa-no-threat-to-wimax-says-intel

We offer news, comment and analysis on Sprint’s new legal dilemma and financial problems. Please read it all at:

http://www.wimax360.com/profiles/blogs/legal-challenge-to-merger

Having expressed our opinion on preserving Clearwire’s WiMAX build-out plans, what’s your take?

With this strategy the WiMAX device roadmap will look like the Wi-Fi roadmap: WiMAX-enabled laptops and data devices will come first, followed by consumer electronics. Where Wi-Fi is today, WiMAX should be in the future.”

http://gigaom.com/2009/04/25/wimax-can-win-%E2%80%94%C2%A0if-its-not-playing-against-cellular/

In the unprecedented global economic meltdown and still frozen credit markets, there won’t be sufficient funds available to fund the massive infrastructure required for any new wireless network. That includes WiMAX and LTE. We expect LTE to be delayed for many years and WiMAX roll-outs to be much slower than previously anticipated. We firmly believe that the economic and financial meltdown/crash favors WiMAX over LTE, but not to the extent that the former will experience 4,500+% growth in 2009.

With developed countries investing in 3G and 4G networks, WiMAX will be a strong player in developing countries. According to the study, WiMAX will come of age this year and will be popular in emerging markets such as India, where Internet access is hobbled by lack of wireline broadband infrastructure. In developed markets, WiMAX will be viable in rural areas that don’t have broadband access or are underserved.

“These are two technologies that serve different functions,” Bakhshi said of LTE and WiMAX. “These are not competing technologies. Anyone who says so is overstating the case. People should give it up.”

“In developed markets, WiMAX faces challenges because there is other competing broadband technology in place,” he said. “In developing countries, there are no competing technologies.”

Bakhshi called WiMAX a niche technology that will serve certain segments of the market. According to the study, WiMAX will gain some traction in the U.S. as Clearwire Corp. “regroups to take clear control of the Xohm initiative and refocuses itself on building out its network.”

Sprint Nextel Corp. launched Xohm late last year in Baltimore; through its new joint partnership with Sprint Nextel, Clearwire has re-branded the WiMAX offering as “Clear” and has expanded it to Portland.

http://www.rcrwireless.com/article/20090226/WIRELESS/902259975/1083/the-state-of-the-industry-is-strong-despite-this-year-s-travails#

Further, there is no mobility capability of long range WiFi. In contrast, Mobile WiMAX (802.16e) can operate in fixed, nomadic or mobile modes.

http://developing-telecoms.blogspot.com/2009/02/views-from-mwc-wimax-to-gain-traction.html

“if WiMAX is DOA, it will not be long range WiFi that killed it!”

Long Range Wi-Fi Per Wikipedia:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Long-range_Wi-Fi

Since the development of the Wi-Fi radio standard, great leaps in the technology’s abilities have been made. In one area, range, Wi-Fi has been pushed to an extreme, and both commercial and residential applications of this Long Range Wi-Fi have cropped up around the world. It has also been used in experimental trials in the developing world to link communities separated by difficult geography with little or no connectivity options. The longest unamplified Wi-Fi link is a 279 km link[3] achieved by Fundación Escuela Latinoamericana de Redes (Latin American Networking School). As far as we know, this is the longest range attained with this technology, improving on a previous US record of 125 miles (201 km)

Applications:

Business
Provide coverage to a large office or business complex or campus.
Establish point-to-point link between large skyscrapers or other office buildings.
Bring Internet to remote construction sites or research labs.

Residential
Bring Internet to a home if regular cable/DSL cannot be hooked up at the location.
Bring Internet to a vacation home or cottage on a remote mountain or on a lake.
Bring Internet to a yacht or large seafaring vessel.
Share a neighborhood Wi-Fi network.

Large-scale deployments
The Technology and Infrastructure for Emerging Regions (TIER) project at University of California at Berkeley, in collaboration with Intel, utilizes a modified Wi-Fi setup to create long-distance point-to-point links for several of its development projects in the developing world. This technique, dubbed Wi-Fi over Long Distance (WiLD), is used to connect the Aravind Eye Hospital with several outlying clinics in Tamil Nadu state, India. Distances range from five to over fifteen kilometers (3–10 mi) with stations placed in line of sight of each other. These links allow specialists at the hospital to communicate with nurses and patients at the clinics through video conferencing. If the patient needs further examination or care, a hospital appointment can then be scheduled. Another network in Ghana links the University of Ghana, Legon campus to its remote campuses at the Korle bu Medical School and the City campus; a further extension will feature links up to 80 km (50 mi) apart.

Note: EtherLinx during 10 years deploying Long range WiFi has found NO major disadvantages when compared to WiMAX, in fact quite the opposite.

1. Different duplexing methods used by WiMAX and LTE, imply separate base station platforms for these IP based, broadband wireless networks:

Mobile WiMAX (802.16e) compliant networks use Time Division Duplexing (TDD), while most LTE deployments will initially use Frequency Division Duplex (FDD) to achieve duplex operation on a given frequency band. [Ericsson claims it is the first company to demonstrate LTE in FDD as well as TDD mode on a single base station platform.]
For more information on duplexing methods please refer to:

Settling the confusion of WiMAX duplexing method: TDD or FDD or both?
http://www.wimax360.com/forum/topics/settling-the-confusion-of

As a result, it is unlikely that both WiMAX and LTE will be implemented anytime soon on the same base station platform- even by companies planning to offer both technologies (to my knowledge, Motorola and Alcatel are the only companies planning to do so and they are using different base station platforms).

2. Sprint spun off all their WiMAX operations to the new Clearwire. They are not building any more WiMAX networks (they’ve built out Xohm in Baltimore, MD and that’s it). They plan to buy CLEAR service (wholesale rates) and resell it in selected markets as a MVNO.

3. Long range WiFi has several major disadvantages when compared to WiMAX (standardized by IEEE 802.16 with profiles and certification from WiMAX Forum:
-contention based MAC can never offer a minimum bandwidth guarantee
-best effort only- no QOS
-speed will decline sharply with increased distance and number of users
-inferior signal propagation (especially compared to OFDM/OFDMA based WiMAX)
-unlicensed operation is very prone to interference (vs licensed WiMAX with no interference)
-fixed/stationary operation in IEEE 802.11x standard vs full mobility/portability/nomadic operation with IEEE 802.16e

So if WiMAX is DOA, it will not be long range WiFi that killed it! There are no major carriers that are deploying a metro BWA network based on long range WiFi.

4. Do not expect a mobile WiMAX based iPhone any time soon. The only WiMAX smart phone that might come to market would be from Samsung (and then for likely use only on KT’s WiBro network in South Korea).

5. VoIP is supported in the majority of fixed WiMAX deployments. But VoIP over mobile WiMAX has yet to take off. Scartel in Russia is aggressively building out a mobile WiMAX service that uses a dual mode GSM/WiMAX phone from HTC.

References:

http://www.gadgetell.com/tech/comment/htc-russian-carrier-scartel-intro-worlds-first-gsm-wimax-phone/

I believe KT already supports VoIP over mobile WiMAX/ WiBro in South Korea.

-YuKyung Technologies launched their viliv S5 Mobile Internet Device (MID) for WiBro in Decemeber 2008.

-UMID announced the release of its MID- called ‘M1?- this month, for the Korea market.

-Samsung is rumored to be working on a WiMAX enabled smart phone for KT’s WiBro.
http://www.wimaxday.net/site/2008/09/03/scartel-selects-samasung-for-mobile-wimax-in-russia/

Alan J Weissberger
alan@viodi.com
http://www.viodi.com/weissberger