802.11 Works-An Overview of the Installation and Operation of Wireless Networks

802.11 Works—An Overview of the Installation and Operation of Wireless Networks

The evidence of successful deployments of wireless networks for both data and voice applications raises questions as to whether this technology could be deployed as an alternative to the PSTN. If it carries data and voice competently, why should a business or residence continue to subscribe to expensive (and often monopolistic) wireline services? The emergence of voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP) and its associated infrastructure technologies (for example, softswitch) reduces the transmission of voice to the simple routing and transportation of data packets. Hence, it is no longer necessary for a subscriber to contract with a telephone company for local or longdistance voice services.

Despite the popularity of the Internet and its myriad services, incumbent service providers, telephone companies, and cable TV companies have failed to offer a ubiquitous broadband Internet service. If broadband Internet access were as ubiquitous as telephone service was at the time of this writing, the American economy, for example, would reap a $500 billion annual benefit.^[1] This book explores wireless architectures that will potentially compete with the PSTN for the delivery of voice and data services.

^[1]Robert Crandall and Charles Jackson, "The $500 Billion Opportunity: The Potential Economic Benefit of Widespread Diffusion of Broadband Internet Access," Criterion Economics (July 2001): 69.