Broadband Wireless Internet Access (BWIA) News

From The Archives: The Many Forms Of NLOS

This article was originally posted on Broadband Wireless Exchange in March, 2002.

The Many Forms Of NLOS

In the last eighteen months, the term “NLOS” has come into semi-common usage in the Broadband Wireless Internet Access (BWIA) industry. NLOS stands for Non or Near Line Of Sight. The term is intended to convey that a particular wireless system has certain characteristics enhanced to make it possible to deliver usable signal where “conventional” BWIA systems cannot.

There is general agreement on the term “Line Of Sight” (LOS)– literally two points that that (weather permitting) have an unobstructed optical path (sight) between them, including sufficient “Fresnel Zone” clearance (the line of sight cannot be too close to ground, or a the radio signal will be severely attenuated).

In contrast to LOS, there is no specific or widely agreed-upon definition for the phrase NLOS, and thus the phrase can be construed to mean whatever is most advantageous to the vendor. In my research on the BWIA industry, I’ve encountered four distinct “meanings” for NLOS.

NLOS Type 1A – “Better Than Average” 2.4 GHz Foliage Penetration
Foliage represents a severe challenge to outdoor / Metropolitan Area Network (MAN) BWIA systems that use license-exempt spectrum. The 2.4 GHz band, by far the most popular choice of spectrum and equipment for BWIA, is almost completely blocked by foliage. A few companies have developed BWIA systems that make use of the North American 902-928 MHz license-exempt band. 902-928 MHz is also attenuated by foliage, but the attenuation is not as sever as with 2.4 GHz signals. Thus, 902-928 MHz systems, in comparison to 2.4 GHz systems, can be claimed to be “NLOS”; in a side-by-side comparison of a 2.4 GHz system and a 902-928 MHz system trying to operate through foliage, all other factors being equal, the 2.4 GHz system will be LOS (doesn’t work through the trees) and the 902-928 MHz system will be “NLOS” (does work through the trees). As with nearly everything in BWIA, such a comparison is not absolute; some types of trees will attenuate 902-928 MHz, and the penetration claimed for 902-928 MHz is a matter of degree. An example of 902-928 MHz systems is WaveRider Communications’ LMS system.

Several vendors claim that, all things being equal, certain “advanced” modulation techniques such as Orthogonal Frequency Division Multiplexing (OFDM) and Code Division Multiple Access (CDMA) will penetrate foliage better than “conventional” modulation techniques. Although the physics of foliage penetration would seem to argue against such claims, something I was told by a WISP owner with a scientific background gave me pause. The owner told me that he had actually measured the attenuation of several kinds of foliage. He found that, in the aggregate, attenuation effects of 2.4 GHz signals were not nearly so severe as he had been led to believe. However, he found that the attenuation effects of 2.4 GHz signals were highly variable in frequency and degree of attenuation. One part of the 2.4 GHz signal might be attenuated only a little, and another part of the signal attenuated severely, and that the attenuation effects changed rapidly. If this is the case, then perhaps “advanced” modulation techniques can deal with foliage attenuation effects somewhat better than “conventional” modulation techniques. Various product lines from Wi-LAN, Inc. make extensive use of OFDM.

What if the paltry power limitations in effect for the 2.4 GHz band were not in effect? That’s somewhat the case for licensed spectrum, where much higher transmit power levels (than in the 2.4 GHz band) are allowed, resulting in noticeably better foliage penetration.

NLOS Type 1B – Through Wall Penetration
Several vendors claim that by using “higher” (in comparison to license-exempt 2.4 GHz power limits) power and advanced modulation techniques, that their Customer Premise Equipment (CPE) does not require an outdoor antenna (thus there is no “optical” LOS- walls are in the way). That is, their CPE can be placed by the customer on a desk, or a bookshelf and with minimal orientation, receive a BWIA signal of sufficient strength. Generally in such systems, the “base station” or other “mesh node” (see NLOS Type 3) must be located relatively close to achieve adequate signal strength. An example of through wall penetration is NextNet’s Expedience system.

NLOS Type 2 – Making Use Of Multipath
Multipath is best described as “stray signal bounce”. After being transmitted, Radio Frequency (RF) signals inevitably reflect from objects, and if the reflected signals are sufficiently strong, can interfere with the effective processing of the “direct” signal.

Multipath can theoretically be useful. Perhaps in between a BWIA base station and a potential customer there is a large hill. Because of the hill, there is no LOS… however, there is a water tower on a nearby hill that is “visible” to both the BWIA base station and the potential customer. The reflections from the water tower could possibly allow the potential customer to receive signal from the base station. An example of “make use of multipath” is Aperto Networks’ PacketWave system.

NLOS Type 3 – Mesh Networking
If making use of Multipath can be thought of using “passive” signal repeaters to work around LOS obstructions, mesh networking can be thought of using active signal repeaters to work around LOS obstructions. Typically, a mesh networks consist of nodes that are simultaneously repeat signals for other nodes as necessary and deliver service to the customer. In general, the customer is unaware of the “repeater” function of his node.

Mesh networking not only routes around LOS obstacles, but can also effectively extend networks beyond the range of individual nodes. An example of mesh networking is the Nokia Rooftop system.

NLOS Type 4 – Highly Focused Dynamic Beam Forming
Dynamic Beam Forming transmits a highly directive, tightly focused RF signal to each customer in turn. This has the effect of raising the apparent transmitted power and receiving only the individual customer’s signal (in turn). With the highly focused beam, the apparent transmit power and received signal is much stronger than with conventional antenna systems, and thus may be able to overcome some LOS obstructions such as foliage. An example of highly focused dynamic beam forming is BeamReach Networks’ BeamPlex system.

Used In Combination
In reality, most Broadband Wireless Internet Access systems that claim NLOS capabilities actually use a combination of the above techniques.

Space didn’t permit more of an in-depth technical explanation of NLOS, nor a comprehensive list of implementations of NLOS techniques. Hopefully this article clears up a bit of the confusion when you see claims by one vendor for “NLOS” that don’t seem to be comparable to another vendor’s claims of NLOS.

(End of article)

Author update, March 31, 2007:

• Outdated author information at the end of the article was removed;
• Several minor typos in this article were (finally :-) corrected;
• Overall, I think the information in this article has held up fairly well, even though the Rooftop mesh system has been discontinued by Nokia, Wi-LAN no longer makes actual radio equipment, NextNet Wireless was acquired by Clearwire and then Motorola, and BeamReach Networks and WaveRider Communications are out of business;
• Regarding "Advanced Modulation Techniques" - OFDM, I've learned that what I was attempting to describe is called "Subchannelization" and its effectiveness in dealing with path obstructions and multipath are two of the primary reasons OFDM has become widely adopted.

by Steve Stroh

Copyright 2002 © by Steven K. Stroh

WISP Industry Rollups

A new article by Steve Stroh - WISP Industry Rollups has been posted on Wireless Internet Service Provider News - WISPNews.

By Steve Stroh

This article is Copyright © 2007 by Steve Stroh. Excerpts and links are expressly permitted (and encouraged.)

I Wasn't At CTIA, But...

I didn't attend CTIA Wireless 2007 March 27-29, 2007. I wanted to attend, but couldn't this year.

So I've been looking over press releases, blog posts, and any other online information I could find (though, I confess, I couldn't quite generate enough enthusiasm to watch two former US Presidents give a keynote).

I didn't see much that was exciting or relevant to Broadband Wireless Internet Access except for a small smattering of announcements of new devices to access the growing deployments of wireless telephony broadband capabilities - for CDMA, 1xEVDO Revision A (and now Qualcomm has begun beating the PR drums for Revision B) and for GSM - HSDPA.

While WiMAX vendors were present at CTIA... they certainly weren't dominant, or perhaps even significant in this conference which was almost entirely about the well-established wireless telephony industry, deployments, business models, vendors, service providers, etc. WiMAX, though it's designed specifically to the requirements of carriers, may well be too radical for (wireless) telephony service providers used to vendors providing a technology evolution path stretching out a decade or more.

I was amused to read that the appearance of the Apple iPhone seemed to have the same effect at CTIA Wireless 2007 as it did, remotely, to the Consumer Electronics Show in January (from the concurrent, Apple-centric Mac World trade show in San Francisco). That is, the mere presence of the iPhone has the effect of rendering lesser wireless telephony handsets into also-rans.

 

One thing I did expect to hear about, but ended up hearing very little about was dedicated, single-function Voice Over Internet Protocol Over Wi-Fi phones. If such units were being exhibited at Wireless 2007, the vendor(s) must have had a great time scaring the heck out of the attendees, explaining that you don't need expensive infrastructure (and spectrum) for wireless telephony any more... just pull out your VOIP Over Wi-Fi and access the nearby Wi-Fi nodes that are (typically) mounted on streetlights. Not only are you not paying (much, if anything) for the infrastructure, or the spectrum... VOIPoWi-Fi users aren't even paying for call completion in many cases, and are using Skype. VOIPoWi-Fi really is a nightmare scenario for the Wireless Telephony Industry.

I think the time may be right for a trade show for Broadband Wireless Internet Access that's agnostic about technology. The largest wireless trade shows have huge gaps in what they cover. The CTIA audience doesn't generally want to hear about Metropolitan Wi-Fi; at least they have that in common with the WiMAX World audience, but little else given that the focus of WiMAX World is... WiMAX! (Did you think it was a trick question? :-) WCA doesn't cover wireless telephony broadband. Etc.

Wireless telephony technology, WiMAX, Metropolitan Wi-Fi, proprietary systems, license-exempt spectrum, licensed spectrum, Free Space Optical point-to-point links, 2.4 GHz, 2.5 GHz, point-to-point, point-to-multipoint, mesh architecture, cellular architecture, satellite... it's all good.

By Steve Stroh

This article is Copyright © 2007 by Steve Stroh

WildBlue-1 Launched... Maybe Not So Easy for WISPs to Sell Against Now

A new article by Steve Stroh - WildBlue-1 Launched... Maybe Not So Easy for WISPs to Sell Against Now has been posted on Wireless Internet Service Provider News - WISPNews.

By Steve Stroh

This article is Copyright © 2007 by Steve Stroh. Excerpts and links are expressly permitted (and encouraged.)

Wi-Fi Network On Las Vegas Strip

In my work here, I read a lot of press releases. The vast majority I deem not very relevant to Broadband Wireless Internet Access, but the few that do are are posted at Broadband Wireless Internet Access Press Releases.

Reading today's batch, I was struck with a particular press release - Cheetah Wireless Technologies And BelAir Networks Light Up The Las Vegas Strip With High Performance Broadband Internet Service. What struck me was that this one announcement involving Broadband Wireless Internet Access will probably make more difference, overall, in the lives of more people, than the collective deployment of dozens of upgrades in Verizon's BroadbandAccess 1xEV-DO / Rev. A service around the country (which are breathlessly reported by Verizon in press releases... lots... and lots of press releases.)

Cheetah's press release breathlessly states that "... an estimated 40 million visitors and business travelers per year can now take advantage of Cheetah Wireless’s high speed Internet service." That wouldn't surprise me at all... and given that a large percentage of that number are laptop-toting business professionals in Las Vegas for work, especially the Consumer Electronics Show and a number of major wireless-industry events, that one network has the potential to make a huge difference day-to-day to people that want to be able to use their laptops to check email, stay in touch with family via Skype, and many other what-have-become-mundane activities given the presence of reasonably-priced Broadband Internet Access and laptop computers.

Not to take anything at all away from Verizon's efforts at upgrading its networks around the country, one of which I highlighted, but the numbers argue that Wi-Fi is far more useful, for the vast majority of people, than having to sign up more-or-less permanently for an expensive ($60 and up per month) service plan with a cellular company. Not to mention that in areas like Las Vegas... Orlando comes to mind as a similar destination... Wi-Fi is more usable. More and more devices work with Wi-Fi like handheld gaming devices, the new Nokia N800; we're simply not seeing those sorts of devices coming out with cellular broadband support... or even Mobile WiMAX support.

It's a tough business, betting against the creeping ubiquity and overall usability of Wi-Fi in the long run.

By Steve Stroh

This article is Copyright © 2007 by Steve Stroh

Steve Stroh's Line Of Sight / Listening To The Technology

Steve Stroh's Line Of Sight
Perspectives On The Broadband Wireless Internet Access Industry
Friday, March 23, 2007

Listening To The Technology

This article is original content, written exclusively for
Broadband Wireless Internet Access / WiMAX News
http://www.bwianews.com.

Earlier this week I had a discussion with a Wireless Internet Service Provider (WISP). Part of the conversation was about Metropolitan Wi-Fi Networks and went something like this (I am paraphrasing, heavily, purely from memory):

WISP: "So what do you see happening in the WISP industry?"

Stroh: "Technology is changing the WISP / BWIA industry rapidly. Right now, in my opinion, the technology isn't quite good enough for Metropolitan Wi-Fi Networks to deliver consistent, reliable services to users in residences and business that are trying to use ordinary Wi-Fi devices to connect. But that's about to change. For example, Wavion Networks is about to deliver an outdoor Wi-Fi Access Point that uses phased-array technology to focus its transmit energy and receive sensitivity on individual users. Couple that with cheap, high-power, directional Wi-Fi client devices like those made by Tranzeo Wireless Technologies, and what you can end up with is an highly cost-effective network that does provide consistent, reliable services with easy-to-install customer premises equipment, very similar to the way Clearwire operates."

WISP: "Well, we're not worried about that; we don't consider people that use [Metropolitan Wi-Fi] to be our [target] customers."

Stroh: "Here's the thing... the ones being enabled the most by this new technology are the users. Moore's Law is in full force for digital broadband radios too, so it's all getting better / cheaper / faster every year. So, if you do choose not to try to market your services to a particular customer segment, the technology is making it possible for them to simply do it themselves. Look at what Meraki is doing, for example. Very inexpensive devices that do peer-to-peer mesh networking, making it possible for an individual, let alone small groups, organizations, or neighborhoods to build Broadband Internet Access networks purely out of their pocket!"

WISP: "But it's tough to make money from that customer base."

Stroh: "True... but what's going to happen is that the technology is going to continue to improve. Right now those Meraki units are pretty short range, 2.4 GHz Wi-Fi only. What will happen as the Wi-FI chipsets continually get cheaper and better is that the Meraki units will continue to get better, for the same price. Meraki already makes it possible to become a "Micro ISP". These networks get bigger, more capable, more reliable, more sophisticated. Couple what you can do with Meraki with Wavion's technology and/or a Metropolitan Wi-Fi network and gradually your WISP starts to lose business to these "amateur" networks."

"There is a very, very good book that I recommend highly called "The Innovator's Dilemma" that explains very well the "come from below, get better, become dominant" cycle that describe above and I'm observing now in the Broadband Wireless Internet Access industry."

"You can certainly choose to not serve certain customer segments. But by doing so, I believe that you're merely creating your own competition, because the demand for cost-effective / reasonably-priced Broadband Internet Access is pretty universal now. You can either try to get them as your customers, somehow, like offering them a good deal on the backhaul that they'll ultimately need to buy from some entity (like, perhaps, a local college), or they'll eventually figure out how to do it themselves using devices like Meraki. Over time, business customers that are your customers now are going to "defect" to these user-built networks... because in many cases those customer-built networks will end up being better, cheaper, and faster... and reliable enough."

WISP: "You've given me a lot to think about."

(end of Stroh / WISP discussion)

George Gilder, quoting Carver Mead, once offered this profound advice: "Listen to the technology; find out what it's telling you" (emphasis mine).

I think that what the technology underlying Broadband Wireless Internet Access is "telling" every  Broadband Internet Access Service Provider that they are ultimately faced with The Paradox Of The Best Network. They can either embrace it and adapt, becoming ruthlessly cost-effective and efficient at providing commodity Broadband Internet Access service and build their business for the long term on that model, or they can remain in denial that rapid technological evolution is indeed fueling The Paradox Of The Best Network... that will ultimately kill their business-as-usual.

Imagine... a future Meraki radio that:

• Used directional antennas;
• Could combine multiple radios by "meshing" across their Ethernet connections;
• Used the 5 GHz band for backhaul, all 550 MHz of it (now that the 5.4 GHz band can, at long last,  finally be used in the USA);
• Implements the low-power techniques and technologies of Green WiFi
• Could be powered by a small, inexpensive solar panel and battery for nighttime operations, which then allows Meraki "relay-only" nodes to be positioned wherever they are needed instead of worrying about whether power is available;

Rober Berger all but predicted this "disruptive", rapid evolution of Wi-Fi in late 2004, saying (excerpted):

IMHO, 802.11 is recapitulating the evolution of Ethernet into the Wireless realms.

Ethernet was originally considered a “toy” technology by many of the industry leaders of the time. The manly technologies at that time were first Token Ring, then 802.12 AnyLAN VG, then ATM.

Wi-Fi is currently considered useful only for the home and some enterprise applications and a “toy” for outdoor Municipal Networks.

But Ethernet out evolved and kept delivering just enough functionality, at much lower cost than the too sophisticated QoS laden and expensive “heavyweights”.

Wi-Fi/802.11 has taken on the mantle of Ethernet’s Manifest Destiny (it uses almost exactly the same packet frame as Ethernet) and brings it into the wireless realms. There are many more companies, universities and hackers pushing the boundaries of what 802.11 can do and the volume is growing at an accelerating pace.

Today 802.11 is at a similar phase of evolution as early Ethernet was when there were only a shared contention medium via hubs and bridges. Ethernet really took off when switches became available and allowed the contention realm to be broken up to support parallel data flows. And that is what we can expect in the next stage of 802.11 evolution. This is what is needed to make mesh wireless networks viable with 802.11. There are already several companies developing mesh (though only a few are doing it in a way that will scale). There is also an 802.11s working group developing a standard for wireless mesh. And mesh is what will allow 802.11 to eventually cover municipal areas.

...

In conclusion, Wi-Fi will out evolve and deliver connectivity at costs dramatically lower than WiMax. WiMax / 802.16 is just starting on its path to evolution, has a much smaller base of innovators and chipset growth volume. Wi-Fi is already far along on its core learning curve, has an easy order of magnitude larger base of innovators / investors and chipset growth volume. WiMax hype will sputter out to reality of a niche backhaul and rural marketplace, Wi-Fi/802.11 will evolve and grow into many more realms and dominate the Local Area Network (LAN) / Neighborhood Area Network (NAN) / Metro Area Network (MAN).

Another piece of relevant history is that in 1995, Timothy Jason (Tim) Shepard wrote what I consider to be a seminal Doctoral Thesis titled Decentralized Channel Management in Scalable Multihop Spread-Spectrum Packet Radio Networks (PDF). In 81 pages, Shepard explains how wireless mesh networks really can scale. I got to know Shepard a bit as Amateur Radio Operator KD1KY, and in discussing his paper, Shepard was asked how much spectrum did he estimate that his proposed scalable-to-urban-density network would require? My memory of that discussion is that Shepard replied "In total, about 1 GHz". Just with the license-exempt 5 GHz band, we're more than half way there - 550 MHz. If 60 GHz radios could be made cheaply, we'd be there seven times over - the 60 GHz band extends from 57-64 GHz.

The Wireless Telephony (Cellular) Industry, despite its current success and enormous profits, is also ruthlessly subject to the trends I describe. To wit, Earthlink announced:

EarthLink Wi-Fi phones will allow consumers to save money by making high-quality phone calls over the Internet using a wireless handset. EarthLink is beta testing phones on the company's municipal wireless network in Anaheim, Calif.

"What separates our Wi-Fi phone from others is its ability to work over EarthLink's municipal Wi-Fi networks," said Steve Howe, EarthLink's senior vice president of voice. "This means that EarthLink is now bringing cheap phone calls using the Internet to the world of mobile – a major breakthrough.

There's no fundamental difference in the level of technology of a current, typical cell phone and a similar device that uses "Voice Over Internet Protocol over Wi-Fi". Imagine what happens in a few years, as this new type of phone gets cheaper, better, faster. Think it can't happen? It can - look at how cheap and how sophisticated "cordless" telephones are.

In conclusion,George Santayana said it well: "Those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it." In my opinion, The Innovator's Dilemma provides ample evidence that radical changes, led by Broadband Wireless Internet Access technology, are underway for the telecommunications industry, and Wireless Internet Service Providers, innovative though they are, are by no means immune, protected, or any kind of exception to this trend.

By Steve Stroh

This article is Copyright © 2007 by Steve Stroh

 

Apple TV Now Shipping

Apple TV is now shipping. Walt Mossberg of the Wall Street Journal thinks it's pretty cool.

Apple TV presages a paradigm shift for Broadband Wireless Internet Access Service Providers that have, to date, imposed "transfer limits" on the amount of data that users can download as part of base service fee.

Apple TV and similar video download services such as the recent deal between Amazon.com and TiVo that have the potential to go mainstream (users watching videos in a "normal" manner on a television rather than a computer) will have BWIA users unknowingly exceed "typical" limits such as 1 Gigabyte transfer per month.

It's a brave new world for BWIA Service Providers - brace for impact!

By Steve Stroh

This article is Copyright © 2007 by Steve Stroh

I'm A Clearwire Customer

As of Wednesday, March 14, 2007 - approximately 3:10 PM Pacific Daylight Time, I am a functioning Clearwire customer from my home in Woodinville, Washington (a suburb of Seattle, just North of Redmond).

It's good to actually be using Broadband Wireless Internet Access service once again.

I purchased my Clearwire service at Clearwire's retail store in downtown Woodinville, Washington over-the-counter. I am a retail customer, paying full price (and then some, but that's for a future post), with no "Press" benefits or other discounts or special deals or treatment from Clearwire.

In upcoming posts, I'll be detailing my real-world experiences with the purchase, setup, and usage of Clearwire, as well as analyzing the bigger picture of Clearwire's activities and its role in the greater Broadband Wireless Internet Access / WiMAX industry.

Here are some of my initial experiences as an ordinary Clearwire customer:

1. Upon purchase, make sure your Clearwire modem doesn't rattle. The modem I was initially given had a broken power jack - the power jack was loose inside the case of the modem - clearly defective. Upon discovering this as I was trying to install it, I took it back to the Clearwire retail store that I had purchased it from less than an hour before and I was simply handed a new modem; my salesperson handled the change of serial number. Also... there are apparently more than one model of modem with different power jacks. The modems on display at the Clearwire store had smaller power jacks than the second unit that I was given.
2. The modem certainly does work through trees - surprisingly so given that Clearwire is operating on 2.5 GHz. The second (working) Clearwire modem synched up immediately (solid 4 bars within the 30 seconds between plugging in power and Ethernet under the desk and settling back into the chair.) I suspect my signal path is shooting from my house on the side of a hill, across a valley, to a Clearwire base station at the top of a ridge on the far side of the valley - perhaps three miles (which I'll verify soon with my GPS receiver.)
3. The Clearwire modem doesn't seem to be an IP router capable of giving multiple IP addresses, at least in the retail version of the service. Previously, my office used a 4 port 100 Mbps switch under my desk. The DSL modem and router in the basement was plugged into the Upstream port of the switch, and my Mac Mini and a network laser printer were connected to two of the four Downstream ports. I disconnected the Ethernet line from the DSL router and plugged in the Ethernet line from the Clearwire modem, and I could not connect to the Internet. I'm guessing what happened is that the network laser printer "grabbed" the single IP address that the Clearwire modem made available, and the Mac Mini retained its non-routable address which the Clearwire modem wouldn't deal with. To be fair, from what I've seen of the  Clearwire literature, and overhearing a sales rep deal with another customer, Clearwire tells you to plug the modem directly into the computer, which I'm sure works fine... for those rare households these days that only have one computer. If you want to use mulitple computers... that's probably up to you to figure out, and over the next few days I'll be reconfiguring my home network to use the Clearwire modem as primary Internet.
4. Trying the first speed test that came up on Google, Speakeasy, Seattle, Washington resulted in 3.367 Mbps download, 310 Kbps upload speeds. If accurate... nice (though the Clearwire service doesn't feel twice as fast as 1.5 Mbps DSL.)

By Steve Stroh

This article is Copyright © 2007 by Steve Stroh

Stories In Development This Week

I was traveling for a consulting job last week so I have some catching up to do, and this week is short due to a road trip on Friday to do an in-person interview.

Here are stories I'm working on for this week:

• New Product story about Proxim MeshMax from an interview;
• Interview with NetfreeUS;
• New Product story about Dragonwave Horizon Compact, hopefully from an interview;
• Some high-level perspectives from last week's consulting trip;
• Launch of another Stroh Publications LLC site

Sam Churchill of DailyWireless.org had some nice things to say about what I do here.

As is the norm for March in the Seattle, we're experiencing widely-scattered sunbreaks which is distracting, seeing those fifteen-minute-or-so bursts of bright sunshine.

Thanks,

Steve

WCA Opposes M2Z Proposal For National, No-cost Broadband Wireless Internet Access Network

This was predictable - the Wireless Communications Association (WCAI) is formally opposing (PDF link) the proposal of M2Z Networks to provide a no-cost-to-use Broadband Wireless Internet Access network that would be deployed nationally.

Predictable because the WCA's primary backers are now in the throes of trying to deploy Broadband Wireless Internet Access networks with conventional business models similar to the wireless telephony industry - sell monthly-fee (plus whatever ancillary charges they can sneak in) Broadband Wireless Internet Access to individuals and groups.

WCA's document asks the question (to the FCC):

Is  this is the highest and best use of the 2155-2175 MHz band (notwithstanding the Commission’s prior assignment of the band to AWS)?  Under M2Z’s proposal, the Commission would never know. By pressing for an immediate license grant without an evaluation of its business model against competing proposals in the crucible of a rulemaking proceeding, M2Z would preclude the Commission from even considering the possibility that other potential users of the band might have a better idea or, alternatively, that others might be willing to pay the Treasury more for the right to do what M2Z is proposing to do.

It seems as this point was answered yesterday with the announcement of NetfreeUS' proposal for the same portion of spectrum with a different business model, but the same goal of providing free, nationwide Broadband Wireless Internet Access.

The WCA document goes on... for eleven pages, but it seems plain that the WCA's main opposition to M2Z is against their considerably different business model - an initial grant of spectrum, and a back-end series of payments to the government in perpetuity, and the ability to offer at least basic Broadband Wireless Internet Access, nationwide, for free. That's certainly a scary prospect for Clearwire, AT&T, Sprint/Nextel whose infrastructure and business model precludes "competing with free".

By Steve Stroh

This article is Copyright © 2007 by Steve Stroh