I Want My Metro Wi-Fi
Making the Most of Metro Wi-FI Networks from Home
The Meteoric Rise of Metro Wi-Fi Networks Driven by Wi-Fi Economics
Over the past few years there has been dramatic growth in the number of metro Wi-Fi networks being deployed. The market is still in the early stages, but it is clear that many more cities and service providers will embark on metro Wi-Fi projects. Although the 802.11 standard was initially intended as a short range indoor technology, the tremendous success of Wi-Fi and the availability of low cost client devices led to this expanded use of the technology. Early metro Wi-Fi networks have already demonstrated that the technology will work on a city-wide scale.
Wi-Fi networks deliver enough bandwidth to support multiple applications and most metro Wi-Fi networks can support several different applications with different security and Quality of Service (QoS) policies on the same physical network. Typically a network is installed to support a single application and then grows to support additional applications and services over time.
Clearly one of the most important applications for city wide Wi-Fi networks is residential broadband. Service providers and cities are using unlicensed Wi-Fi to deliver broadband to the home as an alternative to DSL or broadband over cable. Wi-Fi is an attractive broadband solution because the infrastructure cost is lower. It is not necessary to bring a wire to each subscriber and Wi-Fi uses unlicensed frequencies, so it is also lower cost than wireless broadband based on cellular technology.
| USING METRO Wi-FI AT HOME | |
| The Challenges | The Requirements |
|---|---|
| Coverage and throughput | Long range connectivity |
| In-building penetration | Automatic provisioning |
| Mitigating interference | Adaptability to variations in Wi-Fi signal |
| Broadband expectation | Consistent, near-broadband, data rates |
