Broadband wireless service

Broadband wireless service

 The Internet is increasingly a multimedia experience. Graphics, video, and audio abound

on the pages of the World Wide Web. Business communications are following the same

trend. For example, e-mail frequently includes large multimedia attachments. In order to

participate fully, wireless networks require the same high data rates as their fixed counterparts.

The higher data rates are obtainable with broadband wireless technology.

Broadband wireless service shares the same advantages of all wireless services:

convenience and reduced cost. Operators can deploy the service faster than a

fixed service and without the cost of a cable plant. The service is also mobile and can

be deployed almost anywhere.

There are many initiatives developing broadband wireless standards around

many different applications. The standards cover everything from the wireless LAN

to the small wireless home network. Data rates vary from 2 Mbps to well over

100 Mbps. Many of these technologies are available now and many more will

become available in the next several years.

Wireless LANs (WLANs) provide network services where it is difficult or too

expensive to deploy a fixed infrastructure. The primary WLAN standard is IEEE

802.11, which provides for data rates as high as 54 Mbps.

A potential problem with 802.11 is compatibility with Bluetooth. Bluetooth is

a wireless networking specification that defines wireless communications between

devices such as laptops, PDAs, and mobile phones. Bluetooth and some versions of

802.11 use the same frequency band. The technologies would most likely interfere
with each other if deployed in the same device.