On 11 Sep 2005 03:50:19 -0700, "rsegoly" <roni.segoly@gmail.com>
wrote:
>I appreciate your input but look at the attached link, Wimax & TV
>
>http://www.wimaxtrends.com/
>
> September 5, 2005 - Satellite operators continue to take a strong
>interest in WiMAX as a way to enhance their triple play plans with
>two-way communications. According to Reuters, Alvarion is negotiating
>with US satellite television giant DirecTV Group to supply WiMAX
>equipment, and the UK's SkyTV, another Rupert Murdoch company, is
>also investigating the technology as it comes under increasing
>competitive pressure from DSL and cable-based offerings.
Keep reading
|
http://www.wimaxtrends.com/articles/...e/f090505b.htm
in the same article. They go on talking about balloon borne repeaters
for delivering HDTV. The article is written by an employee of a
research group, which derives its revenue from selling science fiction
reports on such exotic technologies. In my never humble opinion, it
won't fly and will have most of the problems and costs associated with
satellites. It's interesting to note that there have been no pilot
installations of such repeaters located on mountain tops, where the
technology and reliability can be more easily tested.
In late 1998, I threw together a web page of alternatives to DSL and
cable for the San Francisco Bay area. I included some of the science
fiction schemes for delivering internet. I left it in place for
historical interest. Most of the companies mentioned in the Sci-Fi
section are gone. However, the ideas keep arising from the dead.
http://www.LearnByDestroying.com/nooze/wireless.htm
At the time, Skystation was pushing tethered balloons. Angel
Technologies was doing airplanes flying donuts at high altitude.
Since then, other companies and consortia have offered similar ideas.
Few have offered anything substantial or economical. Deja Vu.
Whenever you read about some radical new technology adopted by a high
profile company or consortium, always ask yourself "What problem are
they trying to solve?" It's often not obvious. In the case of the
satellite DBS TV vendors, the problem is how to get a piece of the
internet action. DirectWay is fairly close to being saturated, offers
comparatively mediocre performance compared to DSL and cable, and
costs far too much for commodity service. In other words, it works,
but doesn't scale well and is at a competitive disadvantage. So, the
DBS vendors are looking for alternatives and WiMax seems to be a
likely candidate.
In the USA, note that the same DBS vendors have tried to resell DSL,
muscle into sharing CATV bandwidth, re-use their downlink frequencies
for terrestrial internet, and sponsored some rather radical
technologies. In other words, they're desperate.
They're also very conservative bordering on reactionary. Few of these
are sold as technologies to deliver internet access. They're into
delivering "content" which is a reflection of their original revenue
base in the form of advertising. For CATV, it's not internet access
but rather "interactive TV". Delivering the same advertising to cell
phones via WiMax seems to interest everyone except the consumers.
Also remember that all this RF based technology is limited by spectrum
and the various highly political regulatory disorganizations. If some
company suddenly delivered the ultimate bandwidth saving delivery
mechanism, with obvious benefits, and immediate popularity, it would
still take years and more years to politic the FCC, ITU, and WRC into
supplying the frequencies. Years after it was obvious the WiMax was
viable and needed spectrum, the FCC managed to release a non-fabulous
50MHz of spectrum at 3.6GHz, which cannot be used in most populous
areas near both coasts due to sharing with satellite downlink users.
It was also a very bad trade for "deregulating" DSL, where WiMax is
allegedly the direction the displaced ILEC's are suppose to drift.
Without frequencies and politics, nothing in RF-land ever happens.
--
Jeff Liebermann
jeffl@comix.santa-cruz.ca.us
150 Felker St #D
http://www.LearnByDestroying.com
Santa Cruz CA 95060
http://802.11junk.com
Skype: JeffLiebermann AE6KS 831-336-2558