The Internet and Mobile Wireless are the defining technologies of our times. Today, they are converging and promising to dramatically reshape society. Mobile Internet services will help people work, entertain, and communicate anytime, anywhere—using a variety of devices such as cell phones, Personal Digital Assistants (PDAs), and laptops. Driven by the Wireless Internet’s enormous potential and reacting to declining Mobile voice revenues per subscriber, operators are pegging their future growth on Wireless Internet services.
While operators agree that Mobile Internet services are critical to their future success, there is less agreement on what technology will best help them achieve their goals. The conventional wisdom is that voice centric 3G1 technologies will help operators deliver Wireless Internet services. But are they the right choice?
Recently 3GPP2, a global 3G standards organization, adopted a new air interface standard for Wireless Internet called 1xEV-DO (1x Evolution – Data Only). 1xEV-DO, officially known as IS-856, embodies a new air interface technology specifically designed for packet data and offers bandwidth efficiency for data traffic that is 3-4 times greater than current 3G standards such as W-CDMA or 1xRTT. 1xEV-DO achieves a peak data rate of 2.45 Mbps on the forward page link (from the Base Station, BTS, to the user) using only 1.25 MHz of spectrum. The technology is ideal for high-speed Mobile as well as Fixed Wireless Internet services. In this white paper, we explain what it is in 1xEV-DO that makes it so superior compared to 1xRTT and W-CDMA for Wireless Internet.
The upcoming shift in wireless networks from voice to 3G-packet voice and data networks also raises the question of what Radio Access Network (RAN) architecture is best suited to meet the demands of 3G-multimedia traffic. Many believe the answer lies in Internet Protocol (IP). There is wide expectation that operators can reduce operating and equipment costs and make their networks more scalable by migrating to All-IPF
Architectures. Several global standards bodies such as 3GPP, 3GPP2 and MWIF are developing IP architectures for next generation RANs. 1. 3G is the generic name for mobile wireless systems that offer advanced voice and data services, the first two generations refer to the existing analog and digital cellular networks respectively. W-CDMA and 1xRTT are popular voice centric 3G standards. 1xEV-DO is an emerging Data Only 3G standard.
However, operators are being cautious in migrating to IP networks due to the technical complexity associated with delivering voice services on IP networks. 1xEV-DO’s data-only architecture offers an excellent, low-risk opportunity for operators to deploy All-IP RANs and gain experience with IP-based technologies prior to evolving their voice network to IP. In this paper we will show how the combination of 1xEV-DO with an All-IP architecture can offer significant financial, operational and technology benefits to wireless operators.