[LINK] NBN Wireless Service Looks Good: So do we need fibre?

[Stilgherrian]

On 20/08/2010, at 5:12 PM, Richard Chirgwin wrote:
> Thought experiment: wireless broadband for all Sydney with (say) three 
> million households
> Using the LTE data from slide 16 of this presentation:
> <http://www.nbnco.com.au/publications-and-announcements/latest-announcements/doc/presentation-to-the-australian-information-industry-association>
> 
> 10 users per cell with a good signal can expect approx 10 Mbps.
> 
> By that maths, and with the next technology, to serve 10 Mbps at peak 
> periods you'd need 300,000 cells in Sydney.

Not that outrageous an assessment. On my "Patch Monday" podcast this week, network engineering consultant Narelle Clark, most recently research director of the CSIRO's Networking Technologies laboratory, said that by her modelling to provide fibre-equivalent broadband to every home in a district you'd have to have a base station at the end of every suburban street. The relevant bit of the conversation is about 17 minutes in.

    http://www.zdnet.com.au/understanding-the-broadband-election-339305235.htm

This was followed up in stories by Crikey, by me, and ZDNet Australia, by a staff writer,


   http://www.zdnet.com.au/tower-per-street-for-lib-wireless-expert-339305240.htm
   http://www.crikey.com.au/2010/08/16/coalition-broadband-a-wireless-tower-in-every-street/

> One of these days I'll find the Magic Wireless Fairy and whack it 
> against the rock of physics until it's good and dead...

I'll join you, and then stomp on its head a few times just to make sure it IS dead.

Stil



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