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Section 2

Delivering broadband by FWA, WLAN and Wi-Fi

FWA systems are a means of making fixed connections between users' premises and telecommunication networks. They can deliver a complete range of electronic traffic, including telephony, high speed data, television and multimedia services.

FWA has a number of advantages over wired and cable systems. Its range of operation is less limited than ADSL, which has a maximum reach of 6 km from a local exchange. It can be more quickly deployed than cable because there is no need to dig up roads to lay down a network before connecting customers. It is cost effective because base stations do not have to be established until there are customers in an area (so costs are also scaleable to the size of the customer base). It can provide very high data rates.

WLAN systems allow nomadic and mobile broadband connections. They are used extensively to deliver broadband to individuals in hotspots within such public places as airports, hotels and retail locations. They are predominantly used in laptop computers for wireless data connection, but other devices may also use the functionality. They are also used to build low power community broadband networks. Wi-Fi is a popular term for WLANs: strictly speaking it is the certification logo given by the Wi-Fi Alliance for wireless networking equipment that passes the Alliance's tests for adherence to IEEE 802.11 standards and for interoperability. Presently Wi-Fi systems operate at 2.4 GHz and the lower parts of 5 GHz (bands A and B)

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