Verizon, T-Mobile oppose delaying LTE-U to test WiFi interference claims

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story imageThe debate over LTE-Unlicensed is heating up after the Wi-Fi Alliance asked the Federal Communications Commission to postpone equipment testing that uses unlicensed spectrum until the Wi-Fi industry group can run its own tests to make sure that the technology does not interfere with traditional Wi-Fi. Recently, U.S. carriers Verizon Wireless and T-Mobile US teamed up with major equipment manufacturers Alcatel-Lucent, Ericsson and Qualcomm to write its own letter urging the FCC to oppose the Wi-Fi Alliance's proposal, which could halt Verizon Wireless' plans to begin deploying LTE-U in the 5 GHz band beginning in 2016, as well as T-Mobile US' goal of using the technology in its smartphones by the end of this year.

Companies such as Microsoft and big cable companies support further testing. Microsoft said it worries that the LTE-U signal could "degrade the performance of services delivered over Wi-Fi." Big cable TV and Internet companies are worried that their investments in Wi-Fi hot spots throughout the country could be greatly impacted if there is interference from LTE-U. "Research demonstrates that both LTE-U and LAA would severely decrease the performance of any nearby Wi-Fi network. Widespread deployment of LTE-U or LAA would therefore harm American consumers, schools, and innovators by dramatically reducing the utility of the unlicensed bands for everyone but the companies that already hold licensed spectrum," the NCTA said in its letter to the FCC. "Furthermore, there is already a growing amount of research, such as that published by Google and CableLabs"indicating that Wi-Fi networks will be negatively impacted by the current version of LTE-U technology. The risk to users who depend on Wi-Fi every day for their connectivity needs is too great."
Reply 8 comments

i have a solution! (Score: 2)

by gravis@pipedot.org on 2015-09-12 09:54 (#M7G5)

obviously, parties involved have an interest in holding back LTE-U to make additional profit. instead of just giving in or ignoring them, i think the answer should be that those that oppose have to agree to pay an anti-competitive fine (and not contest the results) if lab testing shows LTE-U to not cause significant interference. the fine would be equivalent to the projected profits of holding back the technology during them time it takes multiple third party labs to do the testing and analysis. if they honestly think it will be a problem then they will pay for the test but if they a just full of it then they will refuse.

Re: i have a solution! (Score: 1, Insightful)

by Anonymous Coward on 2015-09-12 19:05 (#M8J5)

Equally though, you could say that the other parties involved have an interest in pressing ahead to make additional profit at the potential expense of the established technology in the 5GHz spectrum. Since that also includes every private user with a modern WiFi router and it would be impossible for there to be no interference, I'd be more inclined to wait and see just how bad it is before pressing ahead and damn the torpedos.

pipecode question (Score: 0)

by Anonymous Coward on 2015-09-13 18:47 (#MAYR)

This story is followed by the line (blue) "4 comments".
But I only see 2. ...

I logged out and then back in and it stayed the same.

Re: pipecode question (Score: 1)

by Anonymous Coward on 2015-09-13 19:11 (#MB02)

Sorry, my question was answered in another thread -- I turned on "show spam" (whatever that check box is called) and now see all the posts.
I was mistaken, setting to -1 isn't enough to see *everything*.

To really clarify things, perhaps the blue status line could read something like:
4 comments, 2 new, 2 marked as spam