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Technology Stocks : Qwest Communications (Q) (formerly QWST) -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: Alejandro who wrote (4778)	8/3/1999 9:05:00 AM
From: Frank A. Coluccio	Read Replies (2) \| Respond to of 6846

Ali, "...can wireless move the same info as fibre ? Or would the last mile slow it up somewhat?" I'd like to answer this, not from a theoretical perspective, but from one which is based on current service offerings in order to make my point. Both fiber and wireless services tend to bundle information in the same manner for the most part, respecting the North American Digital Hierarchical rules based on the voice channel building block of DS-0 (64 kb/s), working its way up to T1 (at 1.544 Mb/s), T3 (at 44.736 Mb/s) etc., and onto the SONET Hierarchy of OC-3s and higher. I say "for the most part," because recent fiber deployments have begun to depart from these limitations in some ways by allowing IEEE and other ANSI protocols (aside from SONET) to traverse their spans, as well. For example, today's fiber routes will support Gigabit Ethernet, FDDI and Fiber Channel derivatives which are not normally supported by wireless in their native form. Wireless can usually support up to a certain speed, typically up to a T3 rate of ~45 Mb/s without undue stress, and even higher speeds under special conditions. But wireless can't begin to approach the larger capacities of fiber in ways which are either economical or commercially feasible, if so, at all. Therefore, and in these regards, yes, wireless would slow things up if the intended payloads were higher than T3 rates, or thereabouts, and where the native fiber protocols [some of which I've mentioned above] come into play. Beyond these examples, there are also some emerging optical techniques which do not align well with radio system practices and established constructs, too. But I think the above explanations adequately addressed the areas you were concerned with. If not, let me know. Regards, Frank Coluccio