Reach is key to broadband-based innovation
You don't have to be far from the heart of Silicon Valley to find yourself without broadband coverage.
By Maury Wright, Editorial Director -- EDN, September 27, 2007
Watch the popular press, and you will constantly hear about how far behind the United States is when it comes to broadband deployment and the more recent move to 100-Mbps and faster data rates. The follow-on assertion typically suggests that the lack of such broadband access will cripple innovation in the United States. But such assertions seem always to pinpoint speed/bandwidth as the issue. Actually, we have a more critical access problem with much of our rural or semirural population.
An article I just read, “Japan's bullet-train ride to Internet future,” prompted me to write this column. The article originated at The Washington Post, although I read it in the San Diego Union Tribune.
The article made the typical point that Japan and other places such as Korea and Europe have far superior broadband performance to that of the United States. It also offered some interesting examples of broadband-enabled innovation. For instance, it described a remote telemedicine application whereby a pathologist could directly connect to remote microscopes in real time to examine tissue. Presumably, patients that live far from a fully equipped medical facility could still receive top-notch care—assuming the remote facility had the requisite microscope and broadband link. I'm sure there is some validity to that example.
Still, I felt that the article really glossed over the issues that we face in North America relative to a country such as Japan. Moreover, the article was too quick to suggest a government-subsidized fiber build-out such as the one that has taken place in Japan.
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The real problem in North America isn't data rate. Sure, it would be great if we could receive any video that we desire in high-definition quality in real time over the Internet. But for the most part, people who have broadband are pretty happy with the performance. Indeed, the always-on nature of the service remains more attractive than the data rate. Try a session of Xbox Live multiplayer gaming, and you will discover that a cable modem or a DSL link handles such interactive applications very well—including the inherent VOIP (voice-over-Internet Protocol) conferencelike call that allows players to talk during a session.
Our problem really centers on the fact that too many people just can't get broadband, even today. Two of our EDN technical editors are limited to satellite Internet service, and both live fairly near well-populated areas. The satellite service is better than dial-up service, but it doesn't run our corporate VPN (virtual private network).
The broadband situation is somewhat analogous to the home-wireless-network situation. I've long argued that range in 802.11 wireless LANs is more important than data rate. We also need to get a truly functional broadband link to those network-enabled homes. The United States is much larger than Japan, with a geographically diverse population and a bent toward single-family homes. And you don't have to be far from the heart of Silicon Valley to find yourself without broadband coverage.
With any luck, WiMax technology will close the broadband gap in semirural settings. Where I live in San Diego, a service provider, Skyriver Communications, is advertising heavily on local radio. The company's price is about double that of my cable-modem-service price but still reasonable. I hope that we at EDN will have some hands-on testing of Skyriver or another WiMax service in the near future.
I'm also encouraged that Sprint and Clearwire have agreed to partner on WiMax deployment. The companies have been the largest service providers to publicly support WiMax and start a broad network build-out. For background on WiMax and these companies, see WiMax gains in mobile-broadband game, but 4G lurks. In June, Sprint and Clearwire agreed to build interoperable networks and to allow roaming between the two networks.
As much as I like the idea of fiber to the home, and I've written extensively on the subject, I'd hope we first figure out how to get a functional broadband link to everyone that wants one. Perhaps WiMax will deliver those links in the coming year.
Contact me at mgwright@edn.com.
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Many of us have been providing that range for years. Argon Technologies Inc. installed its first Wireless Broadband communications tower over 10 years ago. We started offering data rates of 256Kb/s. As technology and our equipment permitted, speeds increased to 1-3 Mb/s for residential. We can typically serve customers within a range of 10-15 miles from each tower.
If the US wants real bandwidth and universal broadband availability, the FCC needs to allot more bands to the Wireless ISPs (WISP) instead of selling it to the same two companies that already are doing nothing with the spectrum they have.
I would like to see a policy by the FCC that would push the technology further. By allowing real power levels (Watts, not mWatts) and requiring electronically steered base station antennas to mitigate interference in these new bands.
Marco Coelho - 2008-18-7 07:48:00 PDT -
Please continue to argue that, in many applications, range is more important than data rate. Sending burst data over a long distance is very common, and the data rates are typically enough so that latency (waiting until the entire message/packet is transmitted) is not an issue.
The fact is, BER (bit error rate) decreases with data rate. Distance increases at lower frequencies. There is a foolhardy rush to 2.4Ghz and video streaming rates for applications that need to communicate important information briefly, reliably, and over long distances.
Intriguingly, after years of higher resolutions and larger bandwidths, for the first time the newest fads are going in the reverse direction - text messaging, YouTube-quality video, MP3s. None of us would have predicted this, we were all wondering when we'd transition to High-Def TV and blue lasers. Instead of all of the work on prioritizing VoIP and video streams to minimize drop-outs, we should be working to prioritize emergency text messages and important e-mails. At least the flight to higher carrier frequencies may leave more room and less interference for those of us staying down in the ISM band!
Great wireless issue, keep up the good work.
Barry Drogin - 2007-3-10 10:51:00 PDT
