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Comcast testing WiMAX femtocells
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Comcast confirmed that it is currently testing WiMAX femtocells, actions that hint at an expanded wireless broadband effort on the part of the nation's largest cable provider.
The news does not necessarily come as a surprise. Last year, Unstrung reported that part of Comcast's deal with Clearwire (Comcast resells Clearwire's mobile WiMAX service) calls for 5 MHz of spectrum across the U.S. to be set aside solely for WiMAX femtocells--and that Comcast was gearing up for a trial. That Comcast is in the midst of a trial simply indicates it is executing on its WiMAX plans. Further, the effort apparently remains in the early stages; a commercial WiMAX femtocell deployment likely won't happen until next year--if at all--according to one person familiar with the situation.
Nonetheless, Comcast's femtocell intentions could signal a larger femtocell push by the U.S. WiMAX community. Indeed, WiMAX offerings from Comcast, such as dongles or other WiMAX kit, often appear at Clearwire or one of its resellers such as Time Warner Cable or Sprint Nextel. Further, femtocells are slowly worming their way into the heart of the U.S. wireless industry: Sprint Nextel, Verizon Wireless and AT&T Mobility all offer cellular femtocells.
A Clearwire representative did not immediately respond to questions about possible WiMAX femtocell plans. However, at a recent 4G World conference in Chicago, Clearwire CEO Bill Morrow did emphasize that both femtocells and picocells would play a large role in 4G networks in the future.
Already, WiMAX femtocells are for sale by vendors including Samsung in other WiMAX markets in the world. The devices plug into users' existing, wired Internet connection and create a bubble of wireless connectivity. The technology allows operators to offload the burden of patching wireless coverage holes (and the requisite backhaul) onto users.
Related Articles:
Comcast will use WiMAX Femtocells
Is Comcast's move toward WiMAX femtocells reactive?
Morrow stresses Clear's open architecture, vendor-agnostic network
AT&T reveals more femtocell details
Comments
Posted by The evil Spawn of some baby bells | November 11, 2009 - 12:18pm
Is this a sign that Comcast is looking to "cut the cord" from the customer to the network?
I like the idea of a femto cell but it's current common application is to bring wireless services to a customers home (or business) via an existing IP or wired connection, such as CABLE/DSL services. If I have a Cable connection to my wifi router, and all my devices use that wifi connection for internet access, file sharing, media streaming, etc... Doesn't having a home based wimax femto cell seem pointless? unless there is a push to only have wimax as the sole wireless technology in personal electronics.
Or... Is this a way for Comcast to deliver it's content and services to the customer wirelessly? I can see bringing pico cells to feed neighbor hoods, but a femto cells are serving 5000sq ft. So what's the point of a femto cell?
I ask this because WiFI A/B/G/N exist, and is very cheap, reliable, and in some cases exceeds the throughput of WiMax with a 5MHz carrier.
Consumers demand for bandwidth is similar to moorses law, it almost doubles on a periodic basis. WiMax does have some limitations in bandwidth that could be met in the short term with our bandwidth consumption.
Posted by Investment for the future | November 12, 2009 - 2:59am
Someday, macro WiMAX BS will be deployed and consumers don't have to have both WiMAX and WiFi chipsets in their laptop computer if WiMAX femto is available in their home.
I believe unifying the access technology for indoor and outdoor is the main key for this femto cell buzz.
Posted by fembot | November 17, 2009 - 11:53pm
Please help me understand.
Bang on "The evil Spawn of some baby bells" plus smartphones now work on wifi. Where is the need for a wimax clould in a home that has fixed connection + wifi router? Wifi gets you 16 mbps wimax 5 mbps - (this will increase but not anytime soon).
Posted by Anonymous | November 25, 2009 - 1:38pm
The point is to offload 4G wireless traffic onto the broadband network, not necessarily to replace wifi. For example, AT&T has serious network congestion issues because of the popularity of the iPhone. A femtocell is supposed to improve cellular reception and ease network congestion.
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