Wireless local loop (WLL) is the use of a wireless communications link as the "
last mile / first mile" connection for delivering
plain old telephone service
Plain old telephone service (POTS), or publicly offered telephone service, is basic Voice band, voice-grade telephone service. Historically, POTS has been delivered by Analog signal, analog signal transmission over copper loops, but the term also d ...
(POTS) or
Internet access
Internet access is a facility or service that provides connectivity for a computer, a computer network, or other network device to the Internet, and for individuals or organizations to access or use applications such as email and the World Wide ...
(marketed under the term "broadband") to telecommunications customers.
Various types of WLL systems and technologies exist.
Other terms for this type of access include broadband wireless access (BWA), radio in the loop (RITL), fixed-radio access (FRA), fixed wireless access (FWA) and metro wireless (MW).
Licensed Point-to-Point Microwave
In 2017, a company called Climate Resilient Internet, LLC, formed to develop a new standard and certification for point-to-point microwave ("fixed wireless") for enterprise and government resilience to extreme weather, grid outages and terror attacks. The company was co-founded by David Theodore, founder of
Microwave Bypass, who pioneered the first use of point-to-point microwave for internet access.
Unlicensed multi point wireless service
The growing interference problem
Next-Web,
Etheric Networks, Gate Speed and a handful of other companies founded the first voluntary spectrum coordination, working entirely independently of government regulators. This organization was founded in March 2003 as BANC.
wbanc.com
Mobile technologies
These include Global System for Mobile Communications
The Global System for Mobile Communications (GSM) is a family of standards to describe the protocols for second-generation ( 2G) digital cellular networks, as used by mobile devices such as mobile phones and mobile broadband modems. GSM is also ...
(GSM), time-division multiple access
Time-division multiple access (TDMA) is a channel access method for shared-medium networks. It allows several users to share the same frequency channel by dividing the signal into different time slots. The users transmit in rapid succession, ...
(TDMA), code-division multiple access
Code-division multiple access (CDMA) is a channel access method used by various radio communication technologies. CDMA is an example of channel access method, multiple access, where several transmitters can send information simultaneously over ...
(CDMA), and Digital Enhanced Cordless Telecommunications
Digital Enhanced Cordless Telecommunications (DECT) is a cordless telephone, cordless telephony standard maintained by ETSI. It originated in Europe, where it is the common standard, replacing earlier standards, such as CT1 and CT2. Since the DE ...
(DECT). Earlier implementations included such technologies as Advanced Mobile Phone System
Advanced Mobile Phone System (AMPS) was an analog mobile phone system standard originally developed by Bell Labs and later modified in a cooperative effort between Bell Labs and Motorola. It was officially introduced in the Americas on October ...
(AMPS).
Deployment
The wireless local loop market is currently an extremely high-growth market, offering Internet service providers immediate access to customer markets without having to either lay cable through a metropolitan area, or work through the ILECs, reselling the telephone, cable or satellite networks, owned by companies that prefer to largely sell direct.
This trend revived the prospects for local and regional ISPs, as those willing to deploy fixed wireless networks were not at the mercy of the large telecommunication monopolies. They were at the mercy of unregulated re-use of unlicensed frequencies upon which they communicate.
Due to the enormous quantity of 802.11 "Wi-Fi" equipment and software, coupled with the fact that spectrum licenses are not required in the ISM and U-NII bands, the industry has moved well ahead of the regulators and the standards bodies.
WLL methods
* Mobile:
** CDMA
Code-division multiple access (CDMA) is a channel access method used by various radio communication technologies. CDMA is an example of multiple access, where several transmitters can send information simultaneously over a single communicatio ...
(USA).
** TDMA (USA).
** GSM
The Global System for Mobile Communications (GSM) is a family of standards to describe the protocols for second-generation (2G) digital cellular networks, as used by mobile devices such as mobile phones and Mobile broadband modem, mobile broadba ...
(ITU – Worldwide).
** UMTS
The Universal Mobile Telecommunications System (UMTS) is a 3G mobile cellular system for networks based on the GSM standard. UMTS uses Wideband Code Division Multiple Access, wideband code-division multiple access (W-CDMA) radio access technolog ...
3rd Generation (World).
** Personal Handy-phone System (PHS in Japan, PAS/Xiaolingtong in China)
* Fixed or local area network:
** DECT
Digital Enhanced Cordless Telecommunications (DECT) is a cordless telephony standard maintained by ETSI. It originated in Europe, where it is the common standard, replacing earlier standards, such as CT1 and CT2. Since the DECT-2020 standard ...
, for local loop
** LMDS
** IEEE 802.11
IEEE 802.11 is part of the IEEE 802 set of local area network (LAN) technical standards, and specifies the set of medium access control (MAC) and physical layer (PHY) protocols for implementing wireless local area network (WLAN) computer com ...
, originally designed for short-range mobile Internet and network access service, it has emerged as the facto standard for wireless local loop.
** WiMAX
Worldwide Interoperability for Microwave Access (WiMAX) is a family of wireless broadband communication standards based on the IEEE 802.16 set of standards, which provide physical layer (PHY) and media access control (MAC) options.
The WiMA ...
or IEEE 802.16 may become the dominant medium for wireless local loop. Currently more operators are running on the 802.11 MAC at 2 and 5 GHz. 802.16 was unlikely to outperform 802.11 until at least late 2008. Intel is promoting this standard, while Atheros
Atheros Communications, Inc., was an American computer networking company independently active from 1998 to 2011. It produced semiconductor chips for network communications, particularly wireless chipsets. The company was founded under the nam ...
and Broadcom
Broadcom Inc. is an American multinational corporation, multinational designer, developer, manufacturer, and global supplier of a wide range of semiconductor and infrastructure software products. Broadcom's product offerings serve the data cen ...
are still focused largely on 802.11.
** Satellite Internet access
Satellite Internet access is Internet access provided through communication satellites; if it can sustain high-speed Internet, high speeds, it is termed satellite broadband. Modern consumer grade satellite Internet service is typically provide ...
for autonomous building
An autonomous building is a hypothetical building designed to be operated independently from infrastructure, infrastructural support services such as the electric power grid, gas grid, municipal water systems, sewage treatment systems, storm dr ...
.
Manufacturers
* Huawei
Huawei Technologies Co., Ltd. ("Huawei" sometimes stylized as "HUAWEI"; ; zh, c=华为, p= ) is a Chinese multinational corporationtechnology company in Longgang, Shenzhen, Longgang, Shenzhen, Guangdong. Its main product lines include teleco ...
* Airspan
* Alvarion
* Axxcelera
* Cambridge Broadband
* Intracom Telecom
* P-Com
* Redline Communications
* Sony Ericsson
Sony Mobile Communications Inc., originally Sony Ericsson Mobile Communications AB, was a Multinational corporation, multinational consumer electronics and telecommunications company, best known for its Mobile phones, mobile phone products. The ...
* SR Telecom
SR Telecom Inc. was a broadband wireless systems manufacturer headquartered in Montreal, Quebec, and present in over 130 countries around the world. Established in 1981, SR Telecom provided urban and rural telecommunications providers with wirele ...
See also
* 5G NR
5G NR (5G New Radio) is a radio access technology (RAT) developed by the 3rd Generation Partnership Project (3GPP) for the 5G (fifth generation) mobile network. It was designed to be the global standard for the air interface of 5G networks. It is ...
* 8P8C
A modular connector is a type of electrical connector for cords and cables of electronic devices and appliances, such as in computer networking, telecommunication equipment, and audio headsets.
Modular connectors were originally developed for ...
(RJ-45)
* Antenna
* Basic exchange telephone radio service
* Electrical cable
Electricity is the set of physical phenomena associated with the presence and motion of matter possessing an electric charge. Electricity is related to magnetism, both being part of the phenomenon of electromagnetism, as described by Maxwel ...
* RF connector
An RF connector (radio frequency connector) is an electrical connector designed to work at radio frequencies in the multi-megahertz range.
RF connectors are typically used with coaxial cables and are designed to maintain the shielding that t ...
* Wi-Fi
Wi-Fi () is a family of wireless network protocols based on the IEEE 802.11 family of standards, which are commonly used for Wireless LAN, local area networking of devices and Internet access, allowing nearby digital devices to exchange data by ...
* Microwave Bypass
* Wireless Internet service provider
A wireless Internet service provider (WISP) is an Internet service provider with a network based on wireless networking. Technology may include commonplace Wi-Fi wireless mesh networking, or proprietary equipment designed to operate over open ...
(WISP)
References
{{Wireless video
Local loop
Wireless Internet service providers