Subject: [NEXTEL-1] Nextel Comm, doesn't have a clear path toupgrade its network to match competitors.

From: Marcelrf <[email-masked]>
Date: Mon, 01 Mar 2004 07:46:48 -0500

Nextel Comm, doesn't have a clear path toupgrade its network to match
competitors.
More room to roam: New technology provides far-reaching wireless
connections

By Nancy Gohring

Special to The Seattle Times
Over the two years since Wi-Fi
emerged, the hype behind it has swung
from one end to the other.

This wireless technology, some pundits said, would cover every inch of
every city, bringing low-cost or free Internet access to laptop users
anytime from virtually any place. Others said the quickly growing
industry built around it was headed for a dot-com bust. So far, the
truth has fallen somewhere in between.

Now an even newer technology is following in Wi-Fi's path and beginning
to command center stage. It's called WiMax and predictions of its future
swing between extremes, too. Some supporters imagine a day when it
replaces the need for Wi-Fi hotspots — locations where Wi-Fi is
accessible — while others offer a more tempered vision of the two
technologies working together.

WiMax would allow an operator to place antennas on just a couple of
towers in a town to offer wireless Internet access just about
everywhere. Customers within two or three miles of an antenna could
share Internet access at speeds of 75 megabits per second (Mbps), likely
receiving 1 or 2 Mbps each. Users as far as 30 miles away would have
access as well, albeit at slower speeds.

By contrast, Wi-Fi connects users to a landline Internet connection at
11 to 54 megabits per second, and a Wi-Fi cloud extends only a few
hundred feet.  And while Wi-Fi is an extension of wired Internet access,
WiMax could be marketed as an alternative to DSL or cable-modem service
for residential users or small businesses. Eventually, proponents
envision a portable service that subscribers could access around town
via laptops or handheld devices.

But it's too early to tell if any piece of that vision will come to
fruition.  Products based on the standard aren't expected to be
available until the end of this year at the earliest, and so far, no
major wireless carrier has pledged to build a WiMax network.
"The industry is getting a bit ahead of itself," said Andy Fuertes, a
senior analyst with Visant Strategies, a consulting and research company
in Kings Park, N.Y.

Backing by Intel

WiMax is in the spotlight partly because of a group called the Wi-Max
Forum, which backs the developing standard and is supported by
chip-making heavyweight Intel.

It wouldn't be the first time that operators tried to deliver high-speed
wireless access, but this time supporters say WiMax can solve the
problems that undermined earlier attempts.

In the mid-1990s, Sprint and WorldCom bought up chunks of spectrum
—airwaves carrying wireless signals — with the idea they would build
wireless networks to offer broadband access to homes and small
businesses.
But expensive, inadequate technology squashed their efforts. "That
market has been a horror story, really," said Phil Belanger, vice
president of marketing at BelAir Networks, a Kanata, Ont.-based
developer of Wi-Fi networks designed to cover large areas. "WiMax will
take a crack at that market, as well and hopefully improve the
economics."

WiMax supporters hope they've solved some of the technological problems
that hampered earlier efforts. Plus, by building products that meet a
standard and encouraging a major chipmaker like Intel to mass-produce
chips, they hope to drive down the price of WiMax equipment in much the
same way the Wi-Fi Alliance promoted Wi-Fi.

Before WiMax networks start blanketing cities, however, many WiMax and
Wi-Fi proponents agree that WiMax could first be used to decrease the
costs of building and maintaining Wi-Fi hotspots.

"We think that in the next three to five years, WiMax will prove to be a
valuable technology for wide-area transport (of data) and will displace
T1s," said David Garrison, chief executive of Salt Lake City-based STSN,
which builds hotspots primarily in hotels.

Hotspot operators such as STSN or Bellevue-based T-Mobile USA, which
builds hotspots in Starbucks coffee shops, use T1 lines — landline links
provided by the phone company — to connect a hotspot to the Internet.
But it can take as long as 45 days for the phone company to hook up a
T1.

"That's an eternity," Garrison said.
Instead of relying on T1s, STSN could build its own WiMax link using the
same unlicensed frequencies that Wi-Fi uses.
AT&T Wireless also thinks that WiMax could be useful in connecting
hotspots to the Internet, said Abhi Ingle, vice president of enterprise
data solutions.

As a wireless carrier builds WiMax, it can decide to upgrade the network
to allow customers access the Internet anywhere the WiMax network
covers.

"As the density of the infrastructure increases due to subscribership,
the technology allows for mobility," said Chuck Riggle, vice president
of business development at Minneapolis-based NextNet Wireless, a
wireless-equipment vendor backed by telecom tycoon Craig McCaw.

He says coverage throughout a city is the future of WiMax. "I believe
mobility is inevitable," said Riggle.
End to cafe culture?

Some vendors are so bullish that they say if a WiMax network covers a
whole city, the need for Wi-Fi hotspots in venues such as cafes may
disappear.

"As the coverage reaches the same as cellphone coverage, you may not
have a need for Wi-Fi," said Sayez-Amr El-Hamamsy, president and CEO of
Wi-Lan. "I think that's a long-term outlook, but it's definitely a
distinct possibility."

The more prevalent thinking, however, is that Wi-Fi and WiMax will each
fill a need in the market. WiMax was built for reaching across wide
distances but not necessarily for what Wi-Fi does best: network
different devices within a building.
"It's always more efficient if you have a product that's designed for
inside," said Dean Chang, a WiMax Forum board member and director of
product management at Aptero Networks, a Milpitas, Calif., vendor
working on WiMax gear. "As you go indoors you lose some performance
(with WiMax)."

In addition, because Wi-Fi focuses on a shorter range, the networks can
deliver faster connections. "The speed of WiMax will never be like
Wi-Fi," said Mohammad Shakouri, a WiMax Forum board member and vice
president of business development at Alvarion, also a developer of WiMax
equipment. "You cannot build a wide-area network that will compete with
the local area network."

But despite potentially slower speeds, a WiMax network would be valuable
because it would be available in more locations than Wi-Fi hotspots are.

Intel is pursuing a strategy to combine Wi-Fi and WiMax onto a single
chip so that users may switch from network to network. Plus, it would be
hard for just about any technology to displace Wi-Fi. The number of
hotspot users worldwide is expected to grow from 9.3 million last year
to 30 million in 2004, according to the Gartner Group. More than 50
percent of laptops used by business people will have built-in Wi-Fi by
year's end. Also, the number of hotspots has grown from a few hundred
locations worldwide in 2000 to 40,000 in 2003, according to research
from In-Stat/MDR.

Meanwhile, WiMax backers can still imagine plenty of reasons to build
their networks. "Smaller telcos like rural operators are looking at
this, as are energy players, cable operators, cellular carriers and
ISPs," said Fuertes.

Municipal governments could also build WiMax networks for use by the
police force and city workers. Such groups are currently using Wi-Fi
gear to blanket cities.

Take Boardman and Hermiston, towns in eastern Oregon that boast one of
the largest Wi-Fi networks, covering 600 square miles and aimed
principally for use by emergency and law-enforcement officials. As a
technology designed to cover wide areas, WiMax could offer a better
solution.

Some say that the next generation of the Wi-Fi standard, known as
802.11n, may encourage builders of some Wi-Fi networks, such as the one
in Oregon, to use WiMax instead. That's because 802.11n, still in
development, may require existing Wi-Fi users to replace all their
hardware.

"At that time, if they're considering doing something that drastic, they
well might want to consider a complete alternative, like WiMax," said
Belanger of BelAir Networks.

Cellular competition
In fact, WiMax was designed with mechanisms to support voice, so some
say a network could compete directly with next-generation cellular
networks, known as 3G.

Wireless carrier Nextel Communications, which doesn't have a clear path
to upgrade its network to match competitors' promises, recently bought
much of the spectrum once owned by WorldCom and has declared an interest
in WiMax. For now, however, it's using a slightly different technology
to test a network using that spectrum in Raleigh, N.C.

But analysts doubt that WiMax could be used to compete directly with the
cellular carriers. "It would be a big jump to build an entire network
that competes with Wi-Fi and 3G," said William Clark, a research
director with Gartner Group. "The cellular guys already have tens of
millions of customers. They'd crush WiMax in a heartbeat."

The consensus is there will be a place for all the wireless
technologies. "We think there are enough interesting mobile applications
and enough demand for mobile applications that a variety of wireless
networking technologies will fly over the long term," said Clark.

Nancy Gohring is a freelance writer in Seattle who reports frequently on
telecommunications and technology.
Wi-Fi vs. WiMax

Here's how the two technologies compare.
Wi-Fi
WiMax
Range
100 to 300 feet
2 to 30 miles
Data rate
11 to 54 megabits
per second
75 megabits per second shared; likely
1 to 2 megabits per second per user
Networks
available
As many as 40,000
worldwide
None currently; network equipment to
appear later this year
Cost of PC card
As low as $40
May not be available for years
Source: Vendors, analyst reports

http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/businesstechnology/2001868174_wimax01.html

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