I have left messages with my technical contacts at CAWS about the LOS issue but will not hear back from them today. But I remember speaking with them specifically about the LOS issue before and they said they had solved the problem with repeaters, beambenders, multiple antennae sites, etc Basically, the same stuff Zorro mentioned in his post.
LOS was a serious issue when working with analog transmission. I remember one small college used MMDS on their campus to network everything togteher. They put it in during the winter and everything worked great. But then came the spring and they had all sorts of problems. The culprit: leaves! That's not the case with digital and using multiple antennae sites and repeaters, etc... Realize, also, with multiple antennae sites you can target one location from different directions.
Another thing to keep in mind is that CAWS is looking for a 70-75% penetration rate. They have never claimed, or promised, a higher rate of penetration. They know that this technology can reach a large majority of home, but not all of them. That is why it is important for them to concentrate on highly populated markets; 70-75% of New York City, Boston, Philadephia, etc., is a lot of people. BANX knew going in that they could not blanket an entire market with this technology. But, they could reach a large majority at little cost. I know it doesn't seem fair to those who cannot/will not be able to receive their signals but hey, when was anything fair? The key is not the fact that 25% or so of the homes in a market will not be reached; instead, it is that 75% or so can, and real cheaply!
In Boston, NYNEX claimed that there was only 72% (approximately, and this is based on my recollection without looking it up) penetration during their trials and they were supposed to get 75%. When I spoke with CAWS technical folks at the time they said that problem was easy to resolve. I got the impression, though, that they weren't going to spend the money to correct it while NYNEX was stalling and not moving.
Thus, I really think the allegations in the lawsuit regarding the technology not working and reaching the promised penetration rates is totally innacurate.
I thnk the post from my partner, Zorros, backs this up.
When I do hear back from my technical contacts at CAWS I will relay their response to you, but my guess is it will be basically what I wrote above (which is how they responded when I sked them about this after the GKM downgrade).
Hope this helps. |
