Chapter 1: Introduction to Wireless Personal Area Networks (WPANs), Public Access Locations (PALs), and Hotspot Services

Overview

There is an increasing trend toward being always on, always active, and always connected. Already over 600 million people worldwide have wireless telephones, a number that is approximately twice the number of people who have Internet access. It is predicted that by 2006, 1.3 billion people will have wireless service. Although the initial entry of wireless was to support voice services, there is now a major thrust (with hundreds of billion dollars of investments already behind it) to deliver high-speed data and Internet applications to these subscribers.

The trend toward wireless data services has already resulted in major deployments of wireless local area networks (WLANs), wireless personal area networks (WPANs), early-generation wireless wide area networks (WWANs), which we also call nomadic networks with service available anywhere in a metro area, and public access locations (PALs) that support hotspot services^[1] in specific local environments (which are sometimes called smart spaces).^[2] Approximately 5 percent of all business personal computers (PCs) (about 10 million) are already on WLANs.

The desire of being always on, always active, and always connected will drive the deployment of location-specific hotspot services. This book focuses on two areas: designing and deploying nomadic Internet Protocol (IP) networks with data (telematic) service available continuously everywhere in the country and designing and deploying hotspot networks that support hotspots with data service available in various locations that may or may not be contiguous. Both nomadic and hotspot networks are expected to see major deployment in the next one to three years. Mobility is viewed by proponents as the killer application. Information is only valuable to the potential consumer when it can be readily accessible. Information can have location-based value and/or time-based value. Hotspots support both kinds of values, but focus on the former. Providers of hotspot services are known as Wireless Fidelity (Wi-Fi) operators.

After researching the Wi-Fi market, Gartner/Dataquest estimates that there were over 4,000 public wireless access points (APs) in the United States by the end of 2001 and that in the next three years, 30 percent of professional notebook PCs will have WLAN cards. Wi-Fi, along with other emerging license-exempt communications standards, will gain significant market share against licensed frequency systems, radically reforming several industries.^[3]

At the time of this writing, it was reported that Korea Telecom planned to roll out about 10,000 802.11 hotspots in Korea in Phase 1 and more later. Hanaro Telecom, which is also in Korea, plans to launch 15,000 hotspots. In Japan, thousands of 802.11 APs also are being installed; one service, called WIS-net, had 9,000 subscribers in the first month. Other companies in Japan, including J-Phone, are actively exploring WLAN-based hotspot service. Boingo Wireless, which was recently launched in the United States, has about 400 hotspots.^[4] Other carriers are reportedly looking into these services.

Clearly, there is a major opportunity for service providers in the United States and elsewhere because there is a major market opportunity and a long way to go.

Figure 1-1 depicts the taxonomy of the various technologies that are discussed in this book. The WPAN space is a subset of the WLAN space. Nomadic services rely on the continuum of WLAN-MAN-WAN connectivity, whereas PALs tend to rely more on WLAN connectivity (see Table 1-1). The term mobile refers to an entity that is in motion during a (data) transmission or session; movement could be at a low speed (for example, a pedestrian) or high speed (for example, a car or train). The term portable refers to the ability to access information while at a remote location; typically, there is no motion during the session. The term nomadic (wanderer) has the connotation of not being part of a fixed community, such as a specific company (enterprise); however, the user will eventually have to pass some sort of authentication test, implying that the user is ultimately a member of the community of registered subscribers. The term fixed wireless refers to point-to-point or point-to-a-few-points transmission over a (directional) radio link. The term wireless can apply to all these scenarios, but it most often implies mobility. Wireless communication can take place within a building (the range is called a picocell), within a city (the range is called a microcell), in greater metropolitan areas including suburban locations (the range is called a macrocell), or globally (the range is called a worldcell).^[5]

Figure 1-1: Technologies addressed in this book

Table 1-1. Basic technologies and services

Services	Technologies
Hotspot services	WPANs WLANs
Mobile/nomadic	WWANs services Enhanced second generation/third generation (2.5G/3G)

A recent article^[6] opens with the following quote:

If you want an easy way to get high-speed Internet access, forget your local phone company or cable company and head to a coffee shop or an airport. Seriously. The reason: wireless Net access, which is showing up more and more in public places.

The article continues:

Somehow, the people developing wireless technology have figured out how to make getting online at broadband speeds painless, and they’re getting better all the time . . . the system known as Wi-Fi is generating the kind of excitement marked by the early years of the World Wide Web.

This book focuses on the pragmatic aspects of designing, deploying, and maintaining hotspot networks and less on the infinitude of architectural alternatives that have been advanced, particularly for WWANs. The emphasis is on hotspot services that are delivered via WLAN technology. Lower-speed WWAN and lower-range WPANs are also addressed. We look at standards, technology, performance, security, Internet and other service delivery, and end-to-end networking. Broadband services are addressed and 2.5G/3G concepts are discussed at an intermediary level. References 23—28 at the back of this book provide a short bibliography of the wireless topic. Also see references 1—22.

This book is targeted to planners, designers, engineers, and managers involved in the current or future deployment of hotspot and nomadic networks. The book is intended for people who want to know more about the underlying technology. It is also aimed at venture capitalists and financiers who may look for a value proposition in this space. Educators and students can also benefit from this book.

This chapter provides an overview of the WPAN, WLAN, and WWAN technologies and the market potential for these services. Chapter 2, “Standards for Hotspots,” discusses the key standards that are applicable to hotspot services. Chapter 3, “Technologies for Hotspots,” covers each of these technologies in greater technical depth. Chapter 4, “Security Considerations for Hotspot Services,” addresses the critical issue of security, particularly given that there has been early negative press about the first-generation security systems in place. Chapter 5, “IEEE 802.11,” discusses in some detail the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE) 802.11 standard, whereas Chapter 6, “IEEE 802.11b and IEEE 802.11a,” covers the newer IEEE 802.11b and IEEE 802.11a. Chapter 7, “Wireless Application Protocol (WAP),” discusses the WAP, a de facto standard that has been around for several years. Chapter 8, “Designing Nomadic and Hotspot Networks,” covers design aspects of nomadic network. Finally, Chapter 9, “Migrating to 3G WWANs,” addresses the migration to 3G WWANs and the future direction of the technology.

The following is an interesting quote from an article written by Rick Perera. The purpose of this text is to address the issue raised:

. . . He [an executive at top wireless vendor] said that what he called Bellhead-based mobile networks need an infusion of Nethead thinking. “We have got to stop thinking about this network-centric, very defined world,” he (the executive) said, pointing out that IP systems are highly decentralized. Even 3G is a very traditional, network-centric concept, he said, one that “assumes the terminal is not much more intelligent than (an ordinary telephone). This is not how Netscape (Communications Corp.’s Internet browser) got on everyone’s PC in 1994 and 1995 . . .”^[7]

^[1]Some people just use the term hotspots. The terms location specific and location based are also used interchangeably to discuss hotspot services.

^[2]S. Stemberger, “New Body Art,” IBM DeveloperWorks, www-106.ibm/developerworks/library/wi-wear.html?dwzone=wireless, January 2002.

^[3]S. Mathison, conversation with author, March 14, 2002.

^[4]http://reiter.weblogger.com, February 8, 2002.

^[5]These terms are used by the International Telecommunication Union (ITU) in describing the IMT-2000 vision, namely its concept for future nomadic/wireless networks.

^[6]“High-Speed Wireless Offers Internet Access without the Hassle.” Wall Street Journal, February 4, 2002.

^[7]Rick Perera, “Researchers Outline Vision of 4G Wireless World,” IDG News Service (March 7, 2001).