1.1: Introduction to Current and Upcoming Technologies
When it comes to traditional types of Internet connections, dial-up is at the top of the list. For years, dialing in to a remote Internet Service Provider over analog phone lines was the only way for homes and businesses to access the Internet. Modem speeds continued to increase until they hit a brick wall: the maximum theoretical bandwidth of 56 Kbps. As Internet users continued to exchange more and more information online, demand for higher-speed connections increased. One technology that will not be covered by this thesis, ISDN, provides speeds of up to 128 Kbps over phone lines. It was not widely deployed, nor affordable, nor popular. It was very quickly forgotten when ADSL was deployed.
In the late 1990s, cable television and telephone companies began rolling out high-speed cable and DSL in urban areas to give Internet users a higher-speed connection. When these networks first launched, downstream bandwidth was about 512 Kbps, or ten times the speed of a dial-up modem. DSL and Cable are now widely available at speeds of 1000 Kbps to 8000 Kbps, and together they make up the overwhelming majority of broadband Internet connections in use today. DSL operates over the existing telephone network and cable operates over the existing cable television network. Both technologies, however, require upgrades to the telephone or cable network infrastructure in order for broadband Internet access to be made available in a community.
Another technology that is being explored as a possible broadband solution for rural Canada is Broadband over Power Lines, or BPL. The electrical grid is the largest, widest-reaching network in any part of the world, so it could potentially provide inexpensive broadband Internet service to any place that has electricity. At this point, however, first-generation BPL technology is not making it past the testing phase due to interference issues. New, second-generation BPL technology may hold some promise for rural deployment.
The concept of wireless connectivity to the Internet was introduced within the last few years by WiFi. This flexible technology has exploded over the past year, with many wired home and office networks being replaced with WiFi networks, and just about every new laptop shipping with built-in WiFi connectivity. Communities and companies have recently been rolling out large-scale WiFi networks to provide people with high-speed, mobile access to the Internet. Large-scale coverage, however, requires an array of several WAPs due to their short range. Wireless mesh networking is an upcoming technology that uses a large number of WiFi Access Points to provide a seamless grid of broadband wireless connectivity to an entire community.
The area of greatest promise is fixed wireless. Unlike WiFi, fixed wireless operates at much higher power and at different frequencies, giving it a range of up to 50 kilometres and a bandwidth of up to 1.5 Gbps. Five different flavours are available: cellular 3G broadband, MMDS, LMDS, proprietary fixed wireless (Motorola Canopy), and WiMAX. Each implementation involves a central antenna or cluster of antennas, usually on a tower or tall building, and an access module at each subscriber location. Some implementations require a line of site between the tower and subscriber, while others do not. Because of its high bandwidth, long range, ease of deployment and widespread industry support as a new standard, WiMAX has a very bright future, as do the rural communities that could soon have broadband Internet access thanks to this emerging technology.
Up to this point, this thesis has been saying that broadband Internet access is unavailable in rural Canada, but this is not entirely true. For a few years now, several satellite solutions have been offering broadband access to the entire country. Two issues have been preventing satellite from gaining widespread popularity, however: expense and latency. High bandwidth is certainly possible with satellite broadband, but at a cost. The inherent latency with satellite limits its capabilities. Many popular Internet applications, such as videoconferencing, voice over I.P. and online gaming are impossible over a satellite connection due to a long latency on all traffic relayed by the satellite.
© Jake Cormier, 2006 [jake (at) stormcloudstudios.com]
Completed as a partial requirement for the degree of Bachelor of Science (specialized)
Department of Computer Science :: Algoma University College :: Sault Ste. Marie, Ontario :: Spring 2006