LTE Seen as Better Data Access Technology
Industry experts speaking at United Kingdoms’ Wireless 2.0 conference expressed their view that LTE or Long Term Evolution technology will not have problems competing with today’s fixed broadband connections in future markets.
Professor Michael Walker, director of Vodafone UK’s research and development group, said that the new data technology coined Long Term Evolution or LTE will be able to match or even surpass the connection speeds of current hard line regular fixed broadband connections.
The mobility and heightened experience of wireless internet combined with the high speeds of today’s fixed line broadband speeds will results in a richer and higher quality experience, said the professor. By matching land based fixed broadband lines with wireless connections former concerns of data speeds and reliability will be put to rest.
Long Term Evolution, WiMax, and FTTH or Fiber to the Home are now competing technologies vying for market share in the United Kingdom. This competition is key to learning the future of broadband technology in the country. Currently Vodafone’s stance is clear that LTE is their choice for future broadband connections.
Current HSPA networks employed by the United Kingdom’s mobile broadband operators use a lower spectrum that is less efficient in data transmission. Long Term Evolution will use the 20 MHz spectrum which can carry a download speed of 15 Megabits per second. Field trials of the technology has shown 20 Megabits per second transfer speeds at the center of a Long Term Evolution cell and 1.3 Megabits per second transfer rates at the edges.
Learning from its mistakes using 3G technology, Vodafone’s says that it will ensure the viability of Long Term Evolution before purchasing a radio spectrum. "3G was going to give 1Mbit/s but in some places you were lucky to get 300Kbit/s. It's not going to be like that with LTE." said the professor.
