FCC To Vote On Spectrum For 5G Wireless Networks (reuters.com) 38
5G has been in the news for years, but it's not available for commercial use just yet. Things will become clearer this week. The Federal Communications Commission will vote on July 14 to decide new rules to identity and open spectrum for next-generation high-speed 5G wireless applications. Reuters reports: FCC Chairman Tom Wheeler said if the FCC "approves my proposal next month, the United States will be the first country in the world to open up high-band spectrum for 5G networks and applications." He said the FCC also will seek comments on opening other high-frequency spectrum bands. Policymakers and mobile phone companies say the next generation of wireless signals needs to be 10 to 100 times faster and be far more responsive to allow advanced technologies like virtual surgery or controlling machines remotely.
10 to 100 Times Faster (Score:2)
Re:10 to 100 Times Faster (Score:5, Funny)
Won't somebody think of the data caps?
4G is fast enough (Score:2)
Re:4G is fast enough (Score:4, Informative)
It isn't just about speed. 5G also brings better ways to share existing spectrum without interference, adding capacity to the system.
Re: (Score:2)
I'm sure this comment will sound monstrously dated before the end of the decade, but in my opinion 4G LTE is fast enough. I'd rather have better network coverage (I'd be truly festive for my cellular data to not cut out when I'm on the subway) and larger/cheaper data caps than better speed.
Smaller cells (think in building/in room) = more cells = greater capacity/m^2.
It's not about the data rates per connection (they could already be faster if they wanted to be). It's about the cell density and killing WiFi which makes no revenue to carriers.
Re:4G is fast enough (Score:5, Informative)
Seriously, whatever happened to WiMax? It sure would be nice if phones had three major ways to handle data: cellular network (4g or whatever), WiMax, and WiFi. That way you would have a third option in-between "in my own home or at a cafe" and "nearly anywhere". Supposing WiMax were actually available that is.
It worked fine when I had WiMax. LTE would not be available today if it were not for WiMax lighting a fire under the rear ends of the 3G people. They did an effective job of tying up the carriers in order to kill WiMax (in the US and Europe at least). This is why LTE falls so short of its design targets. It was rushed out to crush the threat from WiMax.
I was one of many authors of the WiMax spec (I'm primarily responsible for the security protocol PKMv2) and worked on the design of WiMax chips, so my views have the jaded properties you might expect from an insider.
The world with wireless data as an 802 protocol with voice running on top of it, rather than the other way around, would have been simply better.
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Yep. WiMax started out as 802.16 and 802.16a, which described a fixed wireless access arrangement - fixed antennas at both ends. WiMax as it was pushed a few years ago (gaining the WiMax name) was 'mobile' WiMax which involved a number of extensions in 802.16e for mobile stations, much like a cell phone protocol with handovers and all that that entails. However it remained an 802 protocol. So it could bridge with ethernet and 802.11 just like any other 802 protocol. It had QoS to carry voice traffic over th
Re: (Score:2)
and can achieve up to about 10 Mbit for around 80-90 dollars per month (unlimited bandwidth). Not great, but usable.
And that is a big reason WiMax failed. The WiMax forum was promising years ago that we would see speeds of 1gbps by the end of 2011. That of course never materialized. Of course the WiMax forum was always promising this and that. The actual speeds were massively less than promised.
My company also spent a lot of resources on WiMax in the early days. We even had a couple of test systems in house. Luckily they were on loan only. When the time came to buy or not, we chose not to spend the 1.2 million USD on the
Re: 4G is fast enough (Score:2)
Niggle: that ubiquiti gear won't be Wimax. It uses standard Wifi chips and proprietary drivers to do point to multipoint TDMA. This approach was pioneered by Mikrotik and there are now quite a few vendors with similar systems.
The gear is now fantastically cheap. You can get outdoor units with radio, antenna all in one for under 100USD. Posted by PoE. Runs in the same unlicensed spectrum as normal wifi.
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It worked fine when I had WiMax. LTE would not be available today if it were not for WiMax lighting a fire under the rear ends of the 3G people. They did an effective job of tying up the carriers in order to kill WiMax (in the US and Europe at least). This is why LTE falls so short of its design targets. It was rushed out to crush the threat from WiMax.
Well, I think you're probably a bit too coloured by your background. I was at the other side, i.e. the telecoms side, and while it is true that 3G+ and 4G standards were affected by WiMax, and while WiMax was initially very scary, when we learned of the standard we all let out a collective sigh of relief.
The main thing we were "afraid" of was cost, i.e. that WiMax would come out much cheaper, and sweep away the high margins of telecoms over night. The way to do that would have been the same way that datacom
Re: 4G is fast enough (Score:1)
Re: (Score:1)
I'm sure this comment will sound monstrously dated before the end of the decade, but in my opinion 4G LTE is fast enough. I'd rather have better network coverage (I'd be truly festive for my cellular data to not cut out when I'm on the subway) and larger/cheaper data caps than better speed.
I don't know if it actually works this way ... but one might suppose that a faster tech utilized (by you) at a fraction of its capacity might lead to reduced costs. So if you don't need the full 5G speed perhaps you could have a speed cap instead of a data cap, or a speed cap with a larger data cap, allowing the carrier to market the remaining bandwidth to people who do want the speed.
Of course that would require the carriers to show an interest in giving their customers what they want. As long as the aver
Re: Open Spectrum Blocks (Score:4, Informative)
The things I learn about that I never need to know...
https://www.ntia.doc.gov/files... [doc.gov]
Um (Score:4, Interesting)
"wireless signals needs to be 10 to 100 times faster and be far more responsive to allow advanced technologies like virtual surgery"
Can I pre-emptively opt-out of remote wireless surgery on my medical records please!
That said, I've looked at gaming over 3G+ networks and generally the latency was abhorrently bad, so any innovation in that arena would be grand.
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"wireless signals needs to be 10 to 100 times faster and be far more responsive to allow advanced technologies like virtual surgery"
Can I pre-emptively opt-out of remote wireless surgery on my medical records please!
Greeting and salutations, Citizen of the world! Please to send 150 bitcoin to this address, and we will make certain your wireless operation goes well. You never know what could happen when you don't take precautions like paying us 150 bitcoin! As well, we reset your password, but good news! It is only 5 bitcoin to tell you what the new one is.
Innovation (Score:1, Insightful)
Innovation isn't stifled naturally by anything but time. The problem is your 5g network will have government agencies and corporate co-conspirators salivating on how to spy on you more. To even access their precious network that they may manage but did not necessarily invent they will deep inside want your whole life story, and who you know, for "your safety".
wake up.