[opendtv] Wireless VoIP previews LTE capabilities

This is very interesting, IMO. You often see modulation and services
confused royally in the trade press, and this article gives a perfect
example of a company that has unconfused the issue. And the other
interesting aspect is the use of cellco links to provide broadband
access to homes, rather than just to cell phones.

4G differs from 3G not just by moving from W-CDMA to LTE, but by going
all-packet-switched. Whereas 3G is still circuit-oriented. Even when
optimized for data, 3G still sends data over a circuit.

So what these guys do is use just the RF link of 3G, and then right at
the base station, they feed the data packets directly into a
packet-switched, standard Internet connection. Much the way it would be
done with DOCSIS, but right at the local cell base station.

W-CDMA, used in 3G, can go up to 14.4 Mb/s these days. Not half bad for
home broadband. What they have done, by usurping the 3G RF link for just
the RF link function, puts 3G cell towers in direct competition against
WiMAX. They provide exactly the same function as WiMAX.

Bert

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Wireless VoIP previews LTE capabilities

R. Colin Johnson
(07/10/2009 2:11 PM EDT)
URL: http://www.eetimes.com/showArticle.jhtml?articleID=218401518

PORTLAND, Ore. - Starting in about 2012, 4th generation (4G) long-term
evolution (LTE) technologies promise to convert today's wireless mobile
networks from dependence on traditional circuit switching to a flat,
Internet Protocol (IP) networking architecture. But starting next month,
wireless voice-over-IP services will begin previewing 4G-like
capabilties for the "last mile" to the home.

One service to be launched in August is from Zer01 Communications, Inc.
(Las Vegas). "Wireless VoIP still has to be proven, and some major
companies [must] commit to using it, but companies like Zer01 are
pioneering the all-IP wireless network ahead of LTE," said Gartner Inc.
research director Tole Hart.

Boost, a division of Sprint, already offers wireless VoIP services for
handsets only. If you live in Baltimore or Portland, you can get
home-based VoIP services using WiMax wireless modems that connect
computers to the Internet. Zer01 claims to be the first wireless service
provider to offer VoIP handsets that can double as wireless modems for
home or laptop computers.

Zer01's service "runs through the managed voice network, but solves the
last-mile problem for tethered Internet connections too," said William
Ho, research director at Current Analysis (Sterling,, Va.).

Zer01's architecture offers LTE-like performance by using a technique
that siphons signals away from switched circuits directly onto the
Internet at the basestation.

"Zer01's relationship with the carrier--the way its set up--is unique.
They hook right up to the basestation and use voice-over-IP end-to-end,
the way the carriers will when LTE comes out," said Hart. "This is the
beginning of a trend that you're going to see more and more of as other
voice-over-IP players enter the market."

Zer01 said it solved the last-mile problem at speeds as high as 7.2
Mbits per second using of cell towers owned by major carriers. Unlike
mobile virtual network operators like Virgin Mobile, Zer01 claims to be
the only service provider that has installed its own network connections
in basestations. It will roll out its service to Canada, Mexico and 38
other countries starting on Aug. 1.

"We've created a common protocol with our application on it, so it
doesn't matter what device you have. Literally all devices look the
same," claimed Ben Piilani, CEO of Zer01. "We've developed a proprietary
technology called 'veritable mobile convergence.'"

Zer01 will offer a variety of HTC handsets designed to convert analog
voice signals into IP signals. Later this year, Zer01 plans to start
offering SIM cards for the popular mobile operating systems that can
convert existing handsets into VoIP handsets, starting with
Symbian-based GSM handsets.

Zer01 currently operates only on GSM networks, but as wireless
technologies build-out to full LTE status, the company plans to extend
its VoIP model onto the other network topologies as well.

"Our technology is network-agnostic too. Even though we are working with
GSM carriers right now, it doesn't matter what kind of network, it
doesn't matter if its Wi-Fi, CDMA, GSM, WCDMA or WiMax," Piilani said.

All materials on this site Copyright (c) 2009 TechInsights, a Division
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