Archive for January, 2010
Welcome to the real world!
Jan 22nd
I have just read two recent articles that every operator should pay attention to. The first one discusses the lower-than-expected download speed that a typical user terminal experienced, i.e. 5Mbps versus the 40Mbps advertised speed. This is not surprising given that the speed depends very much on many factors including distance from the basestation, the number of active users in the cell, intra-cell interference, etc.
The second article discusses the fact that the lack of a proper scheduling algorithm that is suitable for 4G may hinder the expected performance and consequently user experience. This demonstrates that we still have a long way to go before we can have a reliable 4G network. My fear is that in their rush to compete for market share operators may end up doing more harm than good when it comes to promoting the use of their newly installed 4G mobile network. If the end user has a bad taste for 4G repairing the damage may not be possible.
User experience will ultimately decide the fate of 4G
Jan 4th
It is ultimately the user experience that will make or break mass adoption of 4G technologies such as LTE and WiMax. The end user does not really care what kind of PHY layer, MAC layer or network protocols these technologies use.
The end user needs to be able to surf the Internet reliably, to stream audio and video efficiently while paying the lowest price possible. The promotional headlines highlighting the fact that 4G will provide 100Mbps data rates is of no meaning to most consumers.
In my opinion, providing a reliable network access for HD video streaming, HD live TV and two-way HD video conferencing will be the main challenge for operators as the demand for these services is on the rise while compression technologies have reached their theoretical limits.
For 4G to be a success operators have to meet the above consumers’ expectations while managing to make an acceptable ROI. Despite the bandwidth efficiency of OFDMA, as is used in LTE and WiMax, making money will be a huge challenge if QoS needs to be maintained at an acceptable level. This is because a substantial percentage of subscribers in a typical cell will either be streaming HD video or will be having a two-way HD videoconferencing session.
For the technical folks out there, let us remember that the advertised 100Mbps rate is a peak over-the-air data rate. What that means is that the average user will experience much less effective rates. This is fine if the majority of users are only surfing or talking, both of which are either bursty in nature (i.e. surfing) or requires very low data rate (i.e. voice) .
Will beyond-4G technologies such as LTE-advanced will be the answer? Only time will tell.
