Verizon rolled out the first large-scale 4G LTE (Long Term Evolution) network on December 5. Voice and data sessions on a device will be able to operate simultaneously with voice on 3G and data on 4G LTE. Longer term, Verizon will migrate traditional voice to VoIP on LTE (VoLTE) probably in late 2012 or early 2013, when the LTE network footprint is comparable to 3G. Deployed over the 700 MHz spectrum, the data network will allow downlink rates of 5 to 12 megabits per second and uplink rates of 2 to 5 Mbps. It is not about just getting faster email and making faster voice calls. It is finally allowing public safety personnal and first responders access to advanced communications and massive data files (video, mapping, and GPS applications). 700Mhz also allows better penetration of buildings. 850MHz is cellular and 1900MHz is PCS, thus the tighter requirement for -85DBm. The lower the frequency, the better the penetration. Imagine now physicians having the ability to being able to share PACs images from the clinic to the hospital on the fly or from the ambulance to the emergency room! This not to discount WiFi or 802.11n, but both serve very unique markets are are complementary to each other. Any in-building DAS being contemplated has to be planned for this…ironically a lot of current installed DAS is questionable here, in other words what will be the cost to upgrade to provide these capabilities? All the need present in 2011 to have healthcare institutions draft a Strategic Technology Wireless Business Plan. Often technology decisions have been made in a silo without considering the overaall business strategic requirements. That is something we can help with. (Sorry plug here for what we do). So in final how do you create the best TCO for an overall wireless strategic plan for not just what we know as WIFI, but everything else?
The pre-4G technology 3GPP Long Term Evolution (LTE) is often branded "4G". LTE has a theroretical net bit rate capacity of up to 100Mbit/s in the downlink and 40Mbit/s in the uplink if a 20MHz channel is used and more if MIMO is used. The physical radio interface earlier was named HSOPA (High Speed OFDM Packet Access), but is now named Evolved UMTS Terrestrial Radio Access (E-UTRA). LTE Advanced is expected to be released in 2012. It is essentially an enhancement to LTE. LTE-Advanced is similiar to the upgrade from WCDMA to HSPA. Additional spectrum and multiplexing will allow for higher data speeds. Coordinated multi-point transmisison will allow for more system capacity to help handle enhanced data speeds.
