OBAN, Exploiting the Local Loop for Public Wireless Broadband
The OBAN project is funded by the European Community’s Sixth Framework Programme, project partners and the Swiss Bundesamt für Bildung und Wissenschaft
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J. Charles Francis Swisscom Innovations
Dec. 11–14, 2006 BroadBand Europe, Geneva
Overview
• Public WLAN
• OBAN Approach
• OBAN Service Examples
• Opening WLAN
• Opportunity for Service Providers
• Deploy Now or Later?
Dec. 11–14, 2006 BroadBand Europe, Geneva
Dec. 11–14, 2006 BroadBand Europe, Geneva
Today, there are many initiatives & approaches for offering public WLAN
• Hotspots• Airports, hotels etc.• Municipal networks• Use mesh technology• Access points located on street furniture• WiFi sharing initiatives• Grassroots• Third party • OBAN (operator focus)
Dec. 11–14, 2006 BroadBand Europe, Geneva
Some approaches have drawbacks
• Hotspots– Limited availability
(hotels, airports etc.)– Expensive
• Municipal networks– Poor indoor bandwidth – Most WLAN usage is indoors!
Dec. 11–14, 2006 BroadBand Europe, Geneva
Dec. 11–14, 2006 BroadBand Europe, Geneva
The OBAN concept is to share residential broadband with the public using WiFi
Dec. 11–14, 2006 BroadBand Europe, Geneva
There are many potential OBAN base-stations
• High broadband penetration
• Growing WLAN usage at home
• Conveniently located where people live
• OBAN service possible anywhere there are houses
Dec. 11–14, 2006 BroadBand Europe, Geneva
Several OBAN-enablers have evolved
• Standards– 802.11e available (QoS)
– WiFi Pre-n product certification announced (range extension)
• New WLAN products– Phones
– Cameras
– MP3 players
– Video recorders
Dec. 11–14, 2006 BroadBand Europe, Geneva
Dec. 11–14, 2006 BroadBand Europe, Geneva
Many potential services
VPN Connectivity
Video Uploads Photo
Uploads
VoIP Calls
Music Downloads
Dec. 11–14, 2006 BroadBand Europe, Geneva
High-speed connection to the work place
Dec. 11–14, 2006 BroadBand Europe, Geneva
Holiday photos or videos shared and secured
Dec. 11–14, 2006 BroadBand Europe, Geneva
Music download
Dec. 11–14, 2006 BroadBand Europe, Geneva
Cheap phone and video calls
Dec. 11–14, 2006 BroadBand Europe, Geneva
Dec. 11–14, 2006 BroadBand Europe, Geneva
The resident has two main reasons to open bandwidth to the public
• Community membership– Get access to resources of others in
return for offering own
• Financial reward– Service provider subsidy of access
line or WLAN equipment– A share of revenue from public users
• Preconditions– No impact on privacy & security– No impact on residential QoS– No legal implications
Dec. 11–14, 2006 BroadBand Europe, Geneva
Dec. 11–14, 2006 BroadBand Europe, Geneva
ISPs currently waste most local-loop value
Local-loop capacity waste – Dedicated to one family– Not used most of the time– Bitrate is limited by Internet
bottlenecks towards the server– Bitrate is limited by subscription
ADSL Example (5 mbs capable copper)
– 2 Giga Bytes download per month => less than 0.2 % downlink used
– 99.8% for exploitation
Dec. 11–14, 2006 BroadBand Europe, Geneva
Cellular operators can benefit
• Extend capacity at lower cost • Avoid public concerns about
unsightly masts• Avoid costs of site acquisition
cabling, maintenance• Use cheap base-station equipment
(from the Internet world)• Off-load high-bandwidth traffic,
low margin traffic• Enter new residential business
Dec. 11–14, 2006 BroadBand Europe, Geneva
Dec. 11–14, 2006 BroadBand Europe, Geneva
There are good reasons to deploy OBAN now
• Leverages existing investments (local loop, WLAN)
• Excellent indoor coverage
• New WiFi products appear
• First ventures on the market (Fon)
Dec. 11–14, 2006 BroadBand Europe, Geneva
But, there are also reasons to wait
• Not well understood technology• Small cell size and delay in pre-N standard for range
extension• Unlicensed spectrum remains an issue for QoS due to
inference• Economics of installing external antennas versus mounting
on street furniture unclear• New WLAN terminal types appear, but usage habits not
yet established (e.g. WLAN VoIP phones)• Cheap WLAN VoIP will cannibalise cellular
Dec. 11–14, 2006 BroadBand Europe, Geneva