Da-Chief
05-22-2008, 11:21
http://i.dslr.net/urls/72/4172.gif (http://www.dslreports.com/shownews/Microwave-Sprints-Weak-Backhaul-Link-94640)
In April I told you (http://www.corpsman.com/shownews/93257) that Sprint was delaying their planned WiMax launch because they were having a hard time finding enough backhaul links. The 1.5Mbps provided by T1 links clearly won't work for a service where each customer is expected to see speeds around 3-4Mbps, so Sprint is working to find additional fiber and microwave backhaul connections. Gearmaker Proxim says their microwave gear can offer 200Mbps at 20 miles (30 if you've got enough height) but Unstrung (http://www.unstrung.com/document.asp?doc_id=154434) revisits Microwave's Achilles heel: rain storms.Microwave links can also be adversely affected when it rains, a condition known in the industry as "rain fade." At higher frequencies, the radio signal can get progressively attenuated by fog, rain, ice, or snow in the air. Operators can get around this to a degree by automatically increasing system gain at the site. That's an issue that hampered many of the free space optics "wireless laser" startups that emerged around the turn of the century.
A good network engineer should be able to handle rain, which is why AT&T and Verizon Wireless should start planning coordinated pigeon attacks.
read comment(s) (http://www.dslreports.com/shownews/Microwave-Sprints-Weak-Backhaul-Link-94640)
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In April I told you (http://www.corpsman.com/shownews/93257) that Sprint was delaying their planned WiMax launch because they were having a hard time finding enough backhaul links. The 1.5Mbps provided by T1 links clearly won't work for a service where each customer is expected to see speeds around 3-4Mbps, so Sprint is working to find additional fiber and microwave backhaul connections. Gearmaker Proxim says their microwave gear can offer 200Mbps at 20 miles (30 if you've got enough height) but Unstrung (http://www.unstrung.com/document.asp?doc_id=154434) revisits Microwave's Achilles heel: rain storms.Microwave links can also be adversely affected when it rains, a condition known in the industry as "rain fade." At higher frequencies, the radio signal can get progressively attenuated by fog, rain, ice, or snow in the air. Operators can get around this to a degree by automatically increasing system gain at the site. That's an issue that hampered many of the free space optics "wireless laser" startups that emerged around the turn of the century.
A good network engineer should be able to handle rain, which is why AT&T and Verizon Wireless should start planning coordinated pigeon attacks.
read comment(s) (http://www.dslreports.com/shownews/Microwave-Sprints-Weak-Backhaul-Link-94640)
More...