[3GScottishUser]

Just when you thought that 7.2Mb/s was pretty amazing over UMTS the BBC highlighted a new technology that is currently undergoing trials and is being supported by T-Mobile, Vodafone and France Telecom.

LTE (Long term Evolution) makes wireless a real compeditor to wired data services. It can offer downloads at speeds of up to 326 Mb/s and Uploads at 86 Mb/s.

This new technology can offer cost effective mobile TV and is intended as the first VOIP integrated mobile service.

LTE chipsets will be less power demanding and smaller than currnent UMTS HSDPA ones and could easily fit on a USB dongle or be integrated into laptops and other computing devices.

Whet your appitiate here: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/3GPP_Long_Term_Evolution

The future's bright......:)

[Hands0n]

This is exactly what is needed as the next step forward. But I suspect that we will not see very much within the next 3-5 years. The legacy of those 3G licences will continue to haunt for a while yet. That and the entire Tariff model which is prohibitive to mobile data right now.

As I predicted 2008 as the year mobile data comes of age, I likewise suggest that 2012 will be the year of LTE.

[Ben]

LTE is the agreed roadmap of the 3G/WCDMA/UMTS camp. It's always good to have a plan, Stan!

[getti]

Just when you thought that 7.2Mb/s was pretty amazing over UMTS the BBC highlighted a new technology that is currently undergoing trials and is being supported by T-Mobile, Vodafone and France Telecom.

LTE (Long term Evolution) makes wireless a real compeditor to wired data services. It can offer downloads at speeds of up to 326 Mb/s and Uploads at 86 Mb/s.

This new technology can offer cost effective mobile TV and is intended as the first VOIP integrated mobile service.

LTE chipsets will be less power demanding and smaller than currnent UMTS HSDPA ones and could easily fit on a USB dongle or be integrated into laptops and other computing devices.

Whet your appitiate here: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/3GPP_Long_Term_Evolution

The future's bright......:)

the futures magenta lol!!

[Hands0n]

Clipped from the Wikipedia link above

Timetable

The LTE standard reached the functional freeze milestone in March 2008. Stage 2 Freeze is scheduled for mid 2008 and official ratification in December 2008. The standard has been complete enough that hardware designers have been designing chipsets, test equipment and base stations for some time. LTE test equipment has been shipping from several vendors since early 2008 & Motorola demonstrated a LTE RAN standard compliant eNodeB and LTE chipset at Mobile World Congress 2008.

2012 for a full roll out and availability it is then. It did take 3G to get from 2003 to where we are today. Assume 2009 for the mobile networks to start their test rigs up. 2010 for a build out of the basic infrastructure, 2011 for the first commercial trials and launches, the usual problems that we saw with 3G and PCN before it. Then 2012 for stability and confidence, market share growth, sales on the back of the Olympics (catch all the action on the move). And Robert is your father's brother.

[gorilla]

That may will be the final excuse to get rid of the landline. We've talkied about that before and all predicted that we'd all be wireless at one stage. 2012 it is then!

I bet there'll be all sorts of restrictions like no P2P, limited downlaods, little streaming etc. Then for some reason take up will be slow and the networks wont understand. That and it'll be £100 per month :)

[3GScottishUser]

I'm not sure the mobile operators will want to mess about if they have a product like LTE available.

They have all played out the cost per minute, cost per MB, bundles of SMS etc and the market is moving to 'all you can eat' for a fixed fee. 3 have stated the only thing stopping them offering this is the current termination charging pricing. With voice moving to IP and the EU on the tail of that particular pricing policy the day of the £30 a month contract for all your mobile communication needs looks closer and LTE and its associated technology should make the cost to provide it attractive to the mobile ops who will have a product in place that can effectively replace what the fixed line operators provide.

BT, Virgin and CPW should be worried and may end up being the losers as the market moves further towards wireless. The winners look like being customers who should see communications pricing fall dramatically.

[Ben]

I suppose a lot of it will come down to just how much capacity the mobile networks can get to each of their cell sites. I mean, for these sorts of speeds being delivered from relatively centralised points surely we're going to be talking about a significant investment in fibre optics. Sure, it'll be much cheaper than running fibre to the home, but each mobile mast is going to need more like the capacity of a telephone exchange!

[3g-g]

I suppose a lot of it will come down to just how much capacity the mobile networks can get to each of their cell sites. I mean, for these sorts of speeds being delivered from relatively centralised points surely we're going to be talking about a significant investment in fibre optics. Sure, it'll be much cheaper than running fibre to the home, but each mobile mast is going to need more like the capacity of a telephone exchange!

How about the 155Mbit links I'm running out to cell sites... now! ;)

[Ben]

See that's a start. Are they microwave or fibre?

[Hands0n]

How about the 155Mbit links I'm running out to cell sites... now! ;)

Awwwww, go on, why not go the whole hog and make it 622Mbps (I'm presuming these are SDH rings or is this new fangled ethernet stuff :D

[3g-g]

See that's a start. Are they microwave or fibre?

These are MW, as it's nice and easy to break down for current GSM and WCDMA sites. And also the network then owns the license to run the HW and do what it pleases, rather than have to go through a service provider... and it's cheaper!


Awwwww, go on, why not go the whole hog and make it 622Mbps (I'm presuming these are SDH rings or is this new fangled ethernet stuff :D

There is some STM4 stuff out there, backhaul mainly, and on fibre, so yes, rings. It'll be quite easy to break them out to individual cell sites, there's already plans afoot with the lot I work for to do just that, they're just taking their time the French idiots! ;) But just with reference to the radios above, they're all coming out Ethernet ready, and for the Nokia Node B's it's just a card change to make them Ethernet capable (so that's T-Mobile, Orange and 3's networks). And I've also read there'll be the ability to have a fibre right onto the front of the Node B, so I imagine it'll just be down to the modulation technique over the air that is the limit to the speeds you'll get as the end user!

[Hands0n]

If they're putting fibre direct into the Node B does it have any DWDM capability? Or is that going to simply be total overkill? I'm just thinking that it would not take many three-figure megabit OTA connections to start to hose down even an STM4 (unless it was DWDM'd into a suitable number of channels :D). Gawd, its been a long while ;)

[3g-g]

If they're putting fibre direct into the Node B does it have any DWDM capability? Or is that going to simply be total overkill? I'm just thinking that it would not take many three-figure megabit OTA connections to start to hose down even an STM4 (unless it was DWDM'd into a suitable number of channels :D). Gawd, its been a long while ;)

Man, you're away with yourself there! God help any network designers that let you run away with a budget! ;) TBH I don't know, but I'd doubt it. Having the multiplexers built into a node to deal with that, I imagine would be pretty complicated... and quite possibly the biggest overkill! Unless situated directly outside your house! I am seeing more of these (http://www.alcatel-lucent.com/wps/portal/products/detail?LMSG_CABINET=Solution_Product_Catalog&LMSG_CONTENT_FILE=Products/Product_Detail_000109.xml&LMSG_PARENT=#tabAnchor1) for dealing with the ever increasing link capacities, but until either BT get off their arse with a fibre install at street level or perhaps Virgin do a bit more, we're still a little bit away from a fibre supplied 3/4G cellular network!