PISCATAWAY, N.J.—A comparison study from The Broadband Wireless Internet Forum looking at adapting current third-generation technologies based on CDMA as a possible alternative transmission system for delivering non-line-of-sight, high-speed wireless broadband services concluded that the tradeoffs in quality would be unacceptable to consumers and too expensive for service providers.
Current 3G systems developed for mobile applications deliver a level of service acceptable in the mobile environment for consumers, the study said. But consumers have much higher expectations surrounding Internet access, streaming audio and video and other high-rate data services. The study said customers using DSL, cable and fiber will not accept the slower data rates that CDMA systems would deliver in a fixed-wireless environment.
The costs for providing a 3G fixed-wireless system also would be unacceptable to service providers, the study said. For example, the Chicago metropolitan area would need 15 base stations to provide fixed-wireless broadband service using technologies such as Vector Orthogonal Frequency Division Multiplexing. In contrast, CDMA-type 3G systems would require 1,208 base stations to cover the same geographic area.
