Wireless Cable

One of the best ways to get over the broadband gap is with what I call wireless cable.

WiMax was originally designed as a standard for wireless cable. The idea is that you create a point-to-point radio link, then use directional antenna to pour as much data across the link as possible. The link runs from a competitive fiber co-location to wherever you want to provide Wireless ISP service. Since your backhaul is free and radios are cheap, you can undercut the Bells on price, then beat them by offering Real Internet service -- that is network neutrality.

Now comes word from The Wireless Report that Motorola has bought Orthogon Systems, which makes a wireless Ethernet bridge (perfect for wireless cable) that can send 300 Mbps up to 125 miles on a single haul. As a practical matter it would mean serving, say, Americus Georgia with an Atlanta fiber.

The question is, will anything come of this? Might this become an urban legend, like the fabled "car engine that gets 100 miles per gallon) that the auto industry supposedly buried? One reason Orthogon may have been for sale was that it has had a hard time getting customers. The Bell-cable monopoly is currently locked-up so tight that no one wants to finance a competitive start-up, which is what we need if we're to maintain a competitive backhaul market.

And in other news, the U.S. continues to tread water in the global broadband market, now ranking in the middle of the OECD, the organization representing developed countries.

Comments

[Jesse Kopelman]

Actually, the Orthogon product is more for backhaul than last mile access. Point-to-multipoint is generally better for the access layer as it allows one to take advantage of the inherent multiplexing advantages of packet-based networking. Motorola was already using the Orthogon products as backhaul for their PTMP Canopy system and plan to use them as backhaul for their new WiMax platform. This is Motorola buying a suplier, not a competitor. Also their is nothing mythic about Orthogon's data rates. Others offer similar data rates and comparable range, but few do it in as nice a package and price as Orthogon.

[J]

It's curious that you mention Americus GA. There is a new ISP there trying to do just that.

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