WLL - Oxymoron

Wireless Local Loop = Fixed Wireless = Oxymoron

My old boss used to say, "Fixed Wireless is an oxymoron". Not that there's anything wrong with that. Yesterday, Mark Evans wrote:


The concept of fixed-wireless broadband service has been a dream since AT&T rolled out its much-ballyhooed "Angel" project five years ago. With all the talk about Wi-Fi and Wi-Max (see Om Malik's posting on how the market is slow to develop), you would think fixed wireless is poised to make a huge comeback.

Like voice recognition, fixed wireless never really took off, making a comeback rather a longshot. QUALCOMM tried it in India in the mid -90s with CDMA. In somewhat of a coverage miracle, more than 50% of Dehli was covered by a single CDMA cell atop the Hyatt Hotel (Bhikaji Cama) at 65 meters radiation center. Not a good design for a high capacity network, but the coverage was awesome.

Outside of the U.S. licenses are often granted for "fixed use only", so you'd think whith THAT sort of regulatory help the market would have really exploded. Nope. Once people are untethered, well, they move. Have a look at the photo above from 1997. Note that the taxi driver, with this "fixed" terminal is driving around Dehli.

Mark's right of course, Fixed Wireless is back, in the press anyway. But it's chance of success will reamain only if it's truly a trojan horse for mobile wireless.