Repeater Warns Of Deficiencies In CDMA
1X Coverage
telecomweb.com
These guys are supporting trails, they should know. Then again they are selling products to address this problem so...
Jeff Vayda (my bolds)
CDMA network operators deploying 1X overlays as they move to CDMA2000
third-generation coverage are likely to leave data users unsatisfied unless they
boost their 1X signals, Repeater Technologies [RPTR] is saying.
Although 1X networks provide higher data rates enabling advanced data services
while also creating more capacity for voice services, data throughput drops as
users move away from base stations, said Chris Branscum, Repeater's president
and chief executive officer. "If you are looking for data services at the fringe, you
probably would be very disappointed," Branscum said.
Sunnyvale, Calif.-based Repeater supplied its RC1920C CDMA repeater for the
CDMA2000 1X trial that data service provider Monet Mobile Networks is
conducting in Sioux Falls, S.D.
Repeater also is providing its RC1920C repeater for the CDMA2000 1X trials Sprint
PCS [PCS] affiliates are conducting. The company has not landed deals to supply
its technology for the 1X rollout by Sprint PCS itself, or for Verizon Wireless,
which turned on 1X service this week for 20 percent of its footprint.
The quality of voice service on CDMA networks remainS somewhat steady, until
calls are dropped in the event of capacity or coverage problems. But data quality of
service is affected by distance.
"When it comes to a data application, it's all about power per bit, it's all about data
rate and data rate is all about the energy you put behind each bit," Branscum
said. "We give a big boost to the data rate as you get toward the edge of the
network design."
John Soliday, Repeater's vice president of engineering, said data rate deficiencies
will be a problem particularly when carriers tout improved data rates on their
networks. "I think the quality of service in data applications is going to be much
greater for carriers than voice applications because the difference is fundamentally
noticeable to the end user," he said.
Soliday added that he noticed a difference in service connecting to Monet's
network from different locations in the trial area in Sioux Falls. "I could tell a huge
difference in surfing the Web when I was up to a cell site and when I was out on
the edges," he said. "It was not acceptable in my opinion."
CDMA operators could solve the problem by building more base stations in their
footprints, either 2G or next-generation systems, but Repeater expects those
companies to find it more acceptable to use a boosting technology. Soliday said
CDMA operators would pay 20 percent the cost of adding a new base station to
their footprint to install an antenna from Repeater.
CDMA operators won't satisfy key customers unless they provide uniform rates
across their footprints, Branscum said. "The same people who are going to be
driving the sales of data services for these carriers are the same people who are
going to be driving ARPU," he said.
Warren Wilson, wireless practice director for research and consulting firm Summit
Strategies, said most wireless subscribers probably won't notice differences in
data rates at different points within a cell site's coverage. That's not to say some
wireless users won't notice inconsistencies in throughput rates and will question
whether next-generation service is all its cracked up to be.
"I think it's true the industry will be a victim of its own hype to some extent, but
then again the services will be better than anything that's gone before," Wilson
said. |
