What is Mobile Broadband?

Mobile broadband is defined as broadband access (e.g. cable and DSL) in the cellular environment. The term is synonymous with FLASH-OFDM, a 3G alternative system.

Just as the cellular phone revolutionized voice telephony by freeing the user from wires and stationary constraints, mobile broadband is doing the same for high-speed data. Users are no longer confined to desks, no longer tethered to wires, no longer restricted to a stationary environment.

Mobile broadband is a step up from local wireless data applications like WiFi (and eventually WiMax), which gets rid of the wire, but not the confinement. Users still must be stationary and in a certain area (mostly inside) when using such technologies. One can think of WiFi as the data equivalent of the cordless phone, whereas mobile broadband is analogous to the cell phone, enabling everywhere access to high speed data – at any range of motion.

Mobile broadband performs like DSL and cable, with typical user speeds of 1 to 1.5 Megabits per second (Mbps) and latency (network delay) below 50 milliseconds. This is 20 times faster than wired dial up service and twice as fast as any other mobile data technology in existence.

FLASH-OFDM mobile broadband technology provides wide area coverage and works in mobile and fixed environments (the latter as a replacement for DSL and cable). This makes it ideal for the nuances of a wide area (e.g. campus environment). Students, faculty, and other campus employees are constantly moving across a wide area. Therefore, it’s not just in-building coverage they require, but everywhere and always on access (outside, in-dorm, in bus, in-library, etc) to exchange information, research and create.

How does it work?

Mobile broadband network works like a typical cellular network. The area is divided into cells, allowing for frequency reuse so that many subscribers can access the network simultaneously. Each cell contains an antenna tower and a base station, which handles all incoming and outgoing data traffic. The cells together make up a wireless access network, which will enable users in that coverage area with fully mobile broadband connectivity.

Users would subscribe to the service through Citizens, a prominent service provider in southwest Virginia . They would also need to purchase a PC card or desktop modem, which will be plugged into the laptop for plug and play mobile broadband access.

Mobile Broadband vs. WLANs

Currently, the only wireless access being deployed on campus is WiFi, a radio technology used for wireless local area networks (WLANs). WiFi is used primarily in classrooms because of its restrictions to stationary usage. In short, it is broadband access without the need for wires. One can think of it as the cordless phone equivalent for data.

The disadvantages of the WiFi technology are as follows:

No mobility or wide area coverage: WiFi does not truly represent a wireless experience. Users must be able to access wireless data with the range and ubiquity of cellular phones. WiFi, on the other hand, represents the cordless phone in that they are still confined indoors and to one location. Additionally, most dorms and other campus living spaces do not offer WiFi access because of the cost involved of deploying access points. Therefore, WiFi doesn’t really act as an upgrade over wired LANs.

Security concerns: Because WiFi operates in unlicensed spectrum (the same spectrum as microwaves and cordless phones), there are major security concerns. Hackers can intercept data that is being transferred over the air, including financial information.

Interference will drastically limit performance: again, because WiFi operates in unlicensed spectrum, it is prone to interference from microwaves, cordless phones, and other WiFi users (many WiFi users in a small area will negatively impact each other).

Mobile broadband addresses these concerns. It allows for fully mobile (at vehicular speeds), wide area coverage, which means everywhere/ anytime broadband access. In this instance, students and professors aren’t the only group to benefit off from wireless access; everyone in the campus community does.

Security is better maintained because FLASH-OFDM operates in licensed spectrum, meaning that it shares its spectrum with no other technologies or devices.

Interference is also avoided because of this licensed spectrum attribute, which equates to better overall performance.

Conclusion

FLASH-OFDM is the ideal network for wide area. All segments of the population can benefit from everywhere broadband access at full mobility.

FLASH-OFDM mirrors the performance of cable and DSL, but extends it all over the area and across town. The community can work on the bus, in the courtyard, cafeteria, shopping mall, and everywhere in between.

FLASH-OFDM is the most advanced technology in the wireless space, with faster speeds than other mobile technologies, and larger, more flexible coverage than WiFi.