WiFi

Since my first post on fifth generation (5G) mobile networks, in August 2013, there has been a dramatic upsurge in activity and publicity on the topic. Leading organisations in the mobile industry have become increasingly vocal, in white papers, conferences and press releases, about the benefits of 5G, the technologies they expect to feature and the… Read more

As we have regularly discussed in this blog, WiFi offloading is an important mechanism to curtail the traffic demands on mobile networks. With relatively limited deployment of LTE in many markets, WiFi offers significant benefits for smartphone users, in terms of speed, usage allowances and costs. Devicescape has just reported the results of a smartphone… Read more

In his wireless blog, Alastair Brydon compares Vodafone’s Sure Signal UK femtocell offering with T-Mobile’s US smartphone WiFi applications, with some surprising findings. Offloading to femtocells or WiFi allows a mobile operator to bypass its expensive radio network infrastructure and should allow a mobile customer to freely use intensive applications, such as video streaming. However,… Read more

Mark Heath of Unwired Insight discusses how 3G offloading will be needed to protect 3G capacity as 3G traffic levels continue to rise. With widespread deployment of LTE networks many years away, and with wireless traffic volumes continuing to increase, 3G offloading is becoming a necessity for mobile operators, to protect 3G capacity. Dedicated broadcasting… Read more

Indoor systems will support an increasing proportion of total service usage on mobile devices, with WiFi access points and femtocells deployed more widely. Indoor wireless systems will be a core part of the delivery platform for 3G operators and they will use both WiFi and femtocells to deliver services through fixed broadband connections. By the… Read more

Attempting to predict a single forecast for the evolution of the wireless service and traffic mix is risky, because there is significant uncertainty over how mobile markets will evolve. In particular, there is uncertainty over the extent to which complementary platforms (including WLAN, femtocells and sideloading) will be used alongside 3G macrocell networks to deliver… Read more

Not all services and content consumed via 3G devices have to be delivered by 3G macrocell networks. There are a number of complementary delivery methods for the delivery of some, or all, services and content, particularly for users with access to a fixed broadband service. Dedicated mobile broadcasting technologies, such as DVB-H, DMB and MediaFLO,… Read more

With a 20-fold increase in 3G traffic volumes forecast over the next five years, alternative means of delivering services to 3G handsets will be essential in order to prevent major capacity problems, according to Unwired Insight. A new report, entitled ‘Will 3G Networks Cope?’, shows that complementary distribution methods, including femtocells and broadcasting solutions, could… Read more

With the imminent launch of its 3G iPhone, Apple has a window of opportunity to have a significant impact on the mobile TV market, according to a report written by Unwired Insight. There is of course considerable speculation about what next to expect from Apple’s iPhone ahead of CEO Steve Jobs’ keynote at the annual… Read more