Clearwire, the 4G network company, has begun talks with major carriers, such as AT&T and Verizon Wireless about providing wireless capacity through their 4G LTE network upgrade. A Clearwire press release quotes Dr. John Saw, their Chief Technology Officer, "The 2.5 GHz spectrum band in which we operate is widely allocated worldwide for 4G deployments, enabling a potentially robust, cost effective and global ecosystem that could serve billions of devices," Saw added. "We anticipate that the economies of scale derived from this global ecosystem will act as a catalyst for the development of thousands of low-cost devices and applications.”
The fact that large carriers are talking with Clearwire is a sign that their upgrade may be opening up important new dialog. Currently, Clearwire’s version of 4G LTE, called TDD-LTE, although popular with major carriers in China, India and Japan, is not compatible with some major carriers in the United States. According to their upgrade plans, major carriers will be able to simply and inexpensively add a chip to their equipment in order to use the Clearwire network. Clearwire has also conducted tests that have shown compatibility between the 4G and LTE versions, demonstrating that both versions can run in a single device.
Clearwire has also conducted tests that have shown compatibility between the 4G and LTE versions, demonstrating that both versions can run in a single device. In a video describing their test results, they state, “With our much larger 4G spectrum position than any other US carrier, we can plan to deploy these larger channels. The wider channels can deliver much faster connections with greater capacity. These early results are very promising and clearly show the type of performance deep-spectrum resources can offer a 4G network.”
Wireless Network signals are billions of times more powerful than GPS signals and it is unknown if any devices exist that can remedy this problem. This can wreak havoc with high-precision GPS satellite services used by aeronautics industry, commercial, military and private pilots, to name just a few. The emissions can interfere with ground-based endeavors as well: mining, agriculture and scientific research. The signal interference issue is something all wireless network providers must face, as it puts their projects and development in jeopardy with regulators and lawmakers. The FCC is likely to want all interference issues fixed before granting permission to launch the network upgrade. One of Clearwire’s competitors, LightSquared, a start-up in the wholesale LTE network business, claims to have solved the GPS interference problem with a newly developed device, although it is still in testing. In Clearwire’s press release, Saw doesn’t see this as an issue, “Since we currently support millions of customers in the 2.5 GHz band, we know that our LTE network won't present harmful interference issues with GPS or other sensitive spectrum bands."
First Clearwire must finish raising hundreds of millions for network operations and complete the LTE upgrade. With financing, it will still take another 12 months, they estimate, to build the new capacity. In the next year, much will depend on their partner Sprint’s success in pushing products that already use Clearwire’s WiMax network. As for the impact of Sprint getting the iPhone (a possibility) and customers buying Apple’s 3G, Eric Prusch said in an article that “4G will not be impeded. It won’t “slow demand for 4G." Saw adds, "This is the future of mobile broadband."
Gabi Samuel - Gabi Samuel is an author who writes in the fields of psychology spirituality, technology and science.
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