Fast wireless gets moving

New developments in wireless mobile broadband look set to provide mobile staff and commuters with a greater range of high-speed internet and intranet connectivity options whilst travelling.

T-Mobile is currently testing a data-only wireless mobile service based on Flash orthogonal frequency-division multiplexing (OFDM) technology, defined by the IEEE's 802.20 proposed Mobile Broadband Wireless Access (MBWA) specification, scheduled to be finalised in 2007.

The trial, being conducted in Den Haag in the Netherlands, will offer average data rates of around 1Mbit/s downstream (bursting up to 3.2Mbit/s), and 300kbit/s to 500kbit/s upstream, according to equipment provider Flarion.

The necessary transmission equipment can be overlaid onto mobile operators' existing GSM networks to provide the same coverage as voice services, with handoff enabling unbroken data connections for vehicles travelling at up to 250km/h.

Flarion's European director of marketing, Joe Barrett, said MBWA is better suited to transmitting data than rival third-generation (3G) technologies that focus more on voice services.

"3G is only partially delivering on expectations, and is not providing the sort of mobile broadband data services that will allow it to penetrate the enterprise," said Barrett. "Also, 3G technology is circuit-switched and not optimised for IP."

But operators interested in providing MBWA-based services in the UK would first need licences from the government.

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