Backhaul is not as big a deal as forwardhaul. We are much greater consumers of data than producers. MediaFLO for example, will be nearly all forward haul and almost no back haul.
But apart from that, there are 6 billion people, billions of sensors, and billions of processors, busily producing data. Each of us can inspect a microscopic fraction of that data even if we allocate all our brainpower to doing so. We are swamped with data. We scan a lot of it, search through lots of it, keep an eye on some of it and generally consume a lot of it. Then, we send out our own little bits of data up the backhaul and not much of it.
Speed is where it's at. "Adequate" is not what people want. They want bang for buck and 0 - 100 kph in 3 seconds, not 6 seconds, if they can afford it. They will compromise depending on the cost, but if it costs no more, they'll go for the speed. Humans are not sloths. We like to race around and we like it NOW! There are the quick and the dead. We prefer to be the quick.
Maybe W-CDMA is "adequate", whatever you mean by that. Maybe GPRS is "adequate". Heck, maybe analogue was "adequate". But by the look of it, the data race is still on in a big way. WiFi, WiMax and Flarion's OFDM are all champing at the bit. Fast, faster, and fastest.... cheap, cheaper and cheapest .... go go go....
AND, I want it in smooth running 3D. NOW!! And cheap.
Fibre is nearly free. It's the wireless interface where the log-jam occurs, and therefore the cost. Any amount of fibre can be laid. There's dark fibre all over the place and more can be strung around the place.
Air-fibre tried to fill the air with lasers to help solve the air interface crowding. They failed. There are lots of people and $billions on the case. Success follows success and the process continues apace.
Mqurice |
