A new wireless technology
to provide rural areas faster broadband speed was experimented at Cornwall. Shoppers
went to St Newlyn East, near Newquay, to witness Long-Term Evolution (LTE) project, or
called 4G.
Up to now most users at
rural areas cannot have had high-speed wide broadband due to cost of providing
fixed infrastructure in remote areas and lack of reliable national mobile
coverage.
The experiment, operated
together by BT and Everything Everywhere mobile firm, was checked
by using mobile data via USB dongles, BT’s hubs connected eternally with LTE,
and then with devices through Wi-Fi or Ethernet.
Speed monster
Initial results from the experiment prove to be promising.
An illustration carried out far from the nearest cell station at a distance of
5 km shows a speed from 6.83 Mbytes/s and
20.55 Mbytes/s,
measured by www.speedtest.net. This
set-up uses a hub with external aerial to improve receiving and speed.
Because this is a direct network and there are not many
connections, you can wait for change. Despite so, the lowest speed of
connection is equivalent to basic package in an area with fixed wide broadband.
Higher speed can be reached but reliability may reduce.
LET does not provide 100% coverage, but it reduces the
numbers and sizes of message packages that are currently not receiving signals.
Another big benefit of LET is that unlike 3G, it can change signal
energetically to process far transmission. This means speed does not reduced
when you move afar from the cell station.
‘It is descending, with many people receiving a speed of 8 Mbytes/s, and
others quite afar from cell station receive 4 to 5 Mbytes/s,’ said Dave Axam,
BT Wholesale’s business development manager.
While these experimental speeds may not be compared to the
speed of 30 Mbytes/s that was said to be necessary for all internet
users by European Urban, it is still a big increase for most people in rural
areas.
For many people, this change is very considerable. Hailey Gaffney, living at
Quintrell Downs, Cornwall, tried
LET service when it was launched, and saw that her wide broadband speed
increased from 1.53Mbytes/s in average to 11Mbytes/s.
‘It means I can work at home, watch TV according to needs,
as well as upload photos and videos to
Facebook,’ said she.
Quick responses
Mobile networks are also impeded by the time of lateness –
the time it takes to send a message package and receive a reply. The higher the
lateness on connection is, the slower the website responses. This causes using
websites requiring quick response time such as website for game playing becomes
infeasible.
LTE’s lateness is very low although it is dependent on the
number of people using network at that time and the kind of connection used. In
ping check by using a 4G dongle, we measured lateness time lower than 30ms,
which is quite good for playing game. On a laptop connected to hug through
Wi-Fi, we saw ping time was 69ms, which was extremely impressive.
How about
frequency?
The key for 4G experiment’s success is low frequency
transmission. The network uses 800MHz bandwhich
expands network’s coverage range beyond current restriction, and it means that
data can go through thick objects such as a dry stone wall. If compared, high
frequencies such as 2600MHz band do
better at a short range, which makes it more suitable for rural areas.
Problem with 800MHz band is that it will not be free until analogue TV
channels is cut off and sold. With the estimated auction at the end of 2012,
the 4G network will not be sure to be launched until 2013 as the soonest.
Another problem with spectrum and the way it is divided is
that O2 and Vodafone firms are using 900MHz band, which gives them initial advantage in 4G. BT and Everything Everywhere hope that the auction will upgrade the playground.
‘What
we want is re-balance,’ said Paul
Coffey, Everything Everywhere’s strategy development manager. ‘Everything Everywhere should have access to 800MHz band.’
For
customers to have real choices, new spectrum distribution also makes sure that
Three, the smallest mobile network firm at the UK, has a part of 800MHz band.
Development’s
cost
One of the biggest barriers for 4G’s success is cost.
Checkers to whom we talked are all unanimous that the service needs a price
similar to current wide broadband package.
‘We paid similar amount of money to receive less,’ said Hailey Gaffney, implying current wide broadband services at Cornwall. ‘If
it is much more expensive, we will not pay for it.’
To reduce cost, BT
and Everything Everywhere are sharing resources anywhere possible such as current
mobile aerials used in the experiment, and current optic cable with BT 21CN
network. Then, data are sent to BT or
Everything Everywhere’s data
centre, depending on the fact that its source is mobile or fixed connection.
Such cost savings can decide the network’s success.
‘We have to consider financial factor,’ explained Coffey.
‘We will not build new websites.’
The biggest problem for launching new mobile networks is
that infrastructure is usually placed at big cities at first since high
population density assures higher investment profits. With BT and Everything Everywhere providing two different services via 4G network, it can be
stable in financial side.
Next steps
Currently, BT or Everything Everywhere does not have any clear plan to start selling 4G service
because spectrum is not available to support it. Internet users in rural areas
will have to wait for successful result of the auction at the end of this year
before everything can progress.
4G’s fast connection speed gives it a potential to provide
another real choice in addition to fixed wide broadband services. Therefore, it
is a pity if rural communities have to wait one more year for it to appear. As
a person commented in the experiment, ‘certainly I will need psychological
consultancy when you take these boxes.’
