VM, what you say is very true, some applications, possibly many in the
future, will exploit lampposts and other extant structures to support their
perching. But even here, with vandalism and exposure to the elements
being what they are, if given the choice between a secure tower facility
and an exposed siting just adjacent to it, many operators will opt for the
former. I believe that it will be when there is no tower to exploit that
you will see alternative methods used. And these will no doubt be many.
But I suppose it will also depend to a great degree on the criticality of the
service, and the locale in question. Notwithstanding, the erection and
ongoing maintenance --as well as the facilities management and technical
operations in-- wireless towers constitutes a huge and constantly growing
business, and I don't see any let up in sight.
One also needs to take into account all other forms of networking,
besides just those which could exploit existing structures like the
lampposts and highway structures I've mentioned. These would include
the continuing buildouts of conventional cellular and pcn networks, as well
as other forms of special service mobile comms used in industry and
governmental services.
Metricom has been using pole mounted antennae and transceivers all
along, as you suggest will be used for HDR related operations. I wonder
what their track record has been. But even Metricom uses towers, to wit:
from: internettelephony.com
"METRICOM PREPARES FOR BUILDOUT
Metricom signed a 10-year master lease agreement with Crown Castle for up to 500 wireless data sites. Metricom will place its Wired Access Points components of its network on the towers to launch its high-speed wireless data service next year."
But the latter brings out an interesting set of distinctions, in that a wireless data site need not necessarily be a "tower," per se. They could be high rise rooftops, or other enclosures, as well.
And here is an earlier Metricom story that addresses their lamp post and utility pole strategies head on. Keep in mind when reading this one, though, that this story is eight months old:
internettelephony.com
Here's a story shown in two separate articles about the largest tower deal to date:
internettelephony.com
internettelephony.com
One on outsourcing of wireless tower activities:
internettelephony.com
And one that talks about how they are now starting to pay off:
internettelephony.com
A story concerning the cellular/pcs situation, and to buy or lease tower space?
internettelephony.com
For more stories, go to Telephony Magazine and do a search at:
internettelephony.com
And finally, a very rich set of data on this subject can be found in some articles at the Wireless Week site at:
wirelessweek.com
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Regards, Frank Coluccio
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